Pennsylvania’s Power Gap is Growing
By Doug McLinko
iThe leaves are turning in Bradford County, the woodpiles are going up, and furnaces across the commonwealth are kicking on. For millions of Pennsylvania families, the electric bills that hurt the most are on their way.
Since the start of the shale revolution, I’ve pushed to put more of our abundant natural gas to work here at home, especially in power generation. Pennsylvania has the energy, but we still don’t have enough power plants to turn it into electricity. Meanwhile, Harrisburg keeps pointing fingers in the wrong direction.
Start with the facts. Every year, PJM Interconnection, which runs the grid for Pennsylvania, 12 other states and Washington, D.C., holds an auction to line up enough power plants to keep the lights on three years out. This July, it came up short by about 6,800 megawatts, roughly the output of seven large power plants. The year before, it came up short, too. Until then, that had never happened in PJM’s history. For the third straight year, prices hit the maximum allowed.
Read the entire article HERE: Bundle up. Pennsylvania’s power gap is growing. | Guest Viewpoints | thedailyreview.com
