The head of the organization responsible for electrical power transmission across a large part of the South addressed several issues that affect Hempstead County and the need for growth in the electrical power industry Wednesday the Hempstead County Economic Development luncheon at the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope.
Nicholas Brown, president and CEO of the Southwest Power Pool, said it is a difficult process to calculate how much energy will be needed in the future due to the fact that usage can be random based on so many factors.
“We need more than 20 new units in our footprint within the next seven years,” Brown said during a power point presentation. “Clearly you can see that we are expecting about 1.2 percent long-term growth, but in any given year it could be high as four percent or as low as negative four percent.
“Trying to guess based on the previous consumption pattern becomes a real challenge for our industry.”
Change is a constant factor, he said.
“Last year our industry had two things that impacted us and resulted in almost a five percent reduction peak demand, an extremely mild summer period and the economic downturn,” Brown said.
Nevertheless, Brown was consistent in portraying a huge need for more energy transmission and a more “robust transmission.”
Brown stressed the need Brown stressed the need for all types of energy research.
“The call for action includes: One, a broad portfolio approach to our generation supplies going forward,” he said.
Brown said he is bothered by those who say we need to take coal off the table because of carbon dioxide output, or by those who say we should take natural gas off the table because the price is too high and too variable.
He is also bothered by those who say wind should be taken off the table because it's installation capacity is too high.
“I really discount all of everyone of those. We need every thing on the table. We do not need to take options off the table if we are going to meet the electrical demands that our economy deserves going forward,” Brown said.
Brown stressed the need for research and development in the energy industry.
He said so many times it is hard to get approval for research and development money because so much research funding is spent “finding out what doesn't work.”
When asked about future power plant construction in Arkansas, Brown talked about one of his biggest fears.
“What next is going to get tied up in litigation?,” he posed. “When we are at a point in our nation's history that we need economic development, and we are not going to have economic development without electrification, and without efficient electrification, and again we need everything on the table. We do not need to take options off the table.
“The biggest challenge for our utilities today is not the technical aspects of building a power plant.
“It is all the legal hurdles of people who say, 'Well, I do not want it in my back yard.'”
|
|
|
The head of the organization responsible for electrical power transmission across a large part of the South addressed several issues that affect Hempstead County and the need for growth in the electrical power industry Wednesday the Hempstead County Economic Development luncheon at the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope.
Nicholas Brown, president and CEO of the Southwest Power Pool, said it is a difficult process to calculate how much energy will be needed in the future due to the fact that usage can be random based on so many factors.
“We need more than 20 new units in our footprint within the next seven years,” Brown said during a power point presentation. “Clearly you can see that we are expecting about 1.2 percent long-term growth, but in any given year it could be high as four percent or as low as negative four percent.
“Trying to guess based on the previous consumption pattern becomes a real challenge for our industry.”
Change is a constant factor, he said.
“Last year our industry had two things that impacted us and resulted in almost a five percent reduction peak demand, an extremely mild summer period and the economic downturn,” Brown said.
Nevertheless, Brown was consistent in portraying a huge need for more energy transmission and a more “robust transmission.”
Brown stressed the need Brown stressed the need for all types of energy research.
“The call for action includes: One, a broad portfolio approach to our generation supplies going forward,” he said.
Brown said he is bothered by those who say we need to take coal off the table because of carbon dioxide output, or by those who say we should take natural gas off the table because the price is too high and too variable.
He is also bothered by those who say wind should be taken off the table because it's installation capacity is too high.
“I really discount all of everyone of those. We need every thing on the table. We do not need to take options off the table if we are going to meet the electrical demands that our economy deserves going forward,” Brown said.
Brown stressed the need for research and development in the energy industry.
He said so many times it is hard to get approval for research and development money because so much research funding is spent “finding out what doesn't work.”
When asked about future power plant construction in Arkansas, Brown talked about one of his biggest fears.
“What next is going to get tied up in litigation?,” he posed. “When we are at a point in our nation's history that we need economic development, and we are not going to have economic development without electrification, and without efficient electrification, and again we need everything on the table. We do not need to take options off the table.
“The biggest challenge for our utilities today is not the technical aspects of building a power plant.
“It is all the legal hurdles of people who say, 'Well, I do not want it in my back yard.'”
