WASHNGTON, D.C. — Energy experts across the United States are raising alarm bells that shortsighted policies in Washington could have dramatic, long-lasting impacts on our region’s electric grid reliability.
Ohio’s electricity demands are growing at a blistering pace, driven largely by increased manufacturing, the electrification of everyday life, and new economic development. State-of-the-art tech projects, like Intel’s Ohio One facility, and new data centers are being built right in our backyard, substantially increasing our energy needs.
While Ohio’s surge in power demand is certainly historic, it’s nothing that our grid operators and power generators can’t handle—provided we make the right policy choices.
To ensure our grid’s reliability, we need to protect our dispatchable base load power, which can be quickly ramped up to meet real-time changes in consumer needs. Today, our base load power comes primarily from natural gas, coal, and nuclear plants. While resources such as solar and wind do and will continue to play an important role in our energy mix, their intermittent, weather-dependent nature restricts their ability to meet growing demand.
This summer, I held an energy roundtable in Licking County, which has become a hub for high-tech investment. For residents in central Ohio and beyond, these new projects provide a source of optimism, knowing that high-paying tech jobs will be available for the next generation. My top priority is ensuring we have the infrastructure in place to power these projects and still keep the lights on for Ohio families.
The roundtable featured energy leaders from across Ohio, focusing on how the public and private sectors can work together to lay the groundwork for expanded power generation and grid infrastructure. While each expert agreed that we have the resources in place to sufficiently expand energy production, there is major concern over the time it takes to bring new dispatchable power generation projects online.
Proposed projects seeking to connect to the power grid must go through a series of impact studies required by grid operators. These studies determine what new equipment or upgrades are needed and who will pay for them. But before grid operators can begin their studies and reviews, projects must wait in the operator’s interconnection queue.
Due to recent efforts to dramatically expand green energy credits, grid operators have seen an explosion of solar, wind, and battery storage proposals seeking to take advantage of federal subsidies. With the flood of renewable resource projects entering the queue, wait times for all projects have climbed to five years before they can be studied and approved.
A major issue is that many of these renewable projects are never built after moving through the queue, further undermining efforts to ramp up reliable power generation.
U.S. Rep. Troy Balderson of Zanesville, who represents Ohio’s 12th Congressional District, in an undated photo.Courtesy of U.S. Rep. Troy Balderson
To protect our grid’s reliability and ensure we have enough base load power, I recently introduced legislation that would give grid operators the authority to fast-track essential projects, dramatically cutting wait times by allowing projects that improve the reliability of the electric grid to move through the interconnection queue and begin construction years sooner.
The Guaranteeing Reliability through the Interconnection of Dispatchable (GRID) Power Act would ensure that Ohio is well-prepared to handle the surge in electricity demand.
Nobody understands the needs of consumers and the limits of our electricity infrastructure better than our nation’s grid operators. They are the ones responsible for providing reliable power to homes and businesses across America, and we should allow them to do their job and expedite the consideration of the power generation projects we need most.
U.S. Rep. Troy Balderson of Zanesville has served Ohio’s 12th Congressional District since 2018.
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