The challenges facing the US electricity system

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Electricity Advisory Committee (EAC) has released three reports prepared for the Secretary of Energy's consideration. These reports review challenges facing DOE and the Nation in many important electricity areas, and include recommendations for policy and program initiatives. They address issues surrounding generation and transmission adequacy, energy efficiency and demand response, deployment of energy storage technologies, and deployment of smart grid technologies. The EAC was chartered by Secretary Samuel W. Bodman in April 2007 to provide senior-level counsel to DOE's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) in carrying out its mission and meeting requirements of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

The following reports are the Electricity Advisory Committee’s first products.

Keeping the Lights on in the New World addresses current challenges with respect to construction of generation and transmission; use of demand-side resources and increased efficiency; and plans for meeting future electricity needs to provide reliable, cost-competitive supplies of electricity, with regards to the health of the environment. The report further lists specific action the EAC believes DOE should consider in meeting these challenges.

Bottling Electricity: Storage as a Strategic Tool for Managing Variability and Capacity Concerns in the Modern Grid fulfills requirements of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 Title VI, Section 641, which directs the Secretary of Energy to establish an Energy Storage Advisory Council and requires the Council to develop a five-year plan not later than December 18, 2009. It evaluates the applications, regulatory implications, and barriers to implement energy storage technologies and considers the potential energy storage applications in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. A five-year plan is set forth in the report for the integration of basic and applied research, which looks to enable the U.S. to retain a globally competitive domestic energy storage industry for electric drive vehicles, stationary applications, and electricity transmission and distribution.

Smart Grid: Enabler of the New Energy Economy presents the Committee’s recommendations to DOE on how to transform the nation’s electric power grid into a more intelligent, resilient, reliable, self-balancing, and interactive network that enables enhanced economic growth, environmental stewardship, operational efficiencies, energy security, and consumer choice. The Report addresses barriers and opportunities to deploying Smart Grid technologies to enhance the nation’s electric power delivery system to meet the challenges of the 21st century and focuses on specific actions DOE can take to implement Smart Grid technologies.