Unleashing the Economic and Technological Power of America’s Existing, 185 GW Backup Generation Fleet
Today, the EPA has unleashed the power of these resources. Having worked in concert with US Representative Nancy Mace, whose staff worked with the White House and the EPA, AiGent is proud to correct a flaw in the EPA regulations that in 2016 prevented these resources from delivering desperately needed electricity capacity, energy, and ancillary grid services to American consumers.
According to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), US Utilities, and US wholesale power markets, peak electric demand will grow by 128 GWs by 2029, to 947 GWs, an unprecedented growth in US electricity demand. Fueling this growth in demand are industries that are vital to American prosperity and global leadership, including AI data centers, hydrogen production, domestic manufacturing, and the "electrification" of American prosperity including growth in electric vehicles.
According to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the US is facing a high risk of running out of reliable, dispatchable generation resources without major additions to supply. Unfortunately, the 85% of “in-queue” projected electricity generation additions are intermittent renewables (i.e., solar and wind). Renewable resources bring tremendous benefits but these resources also bring tremendous challenges that some are reluctant to acknowledge, which often undermines the very industry that we would all like to see prosper.
The average construction time for new, dispatchable, thermal power plants is more than four years with current projections from the largest natural gas power plant turbine manufacturer, GE, delivering new orders in 2029.
Currently, according to Guidehouse Insights research, the US has approximately 185 GWs of highly reliable, diesel and natural gas-based, backup generation resources, in the ground, and ready to deliver power when called upon. These resources exist at every data center, college and university, hospital, military base, wastewater treatment facility, and many other industries. Realistically, the only way we can support new demand growth with reliable (i.e., non-intermittent) resources is to make use of these existing backup power resources. However, these resources were taken out of the market by an ill-advised EPA regulation that went into effect in 2016.
By revisiting and correcting the RICE NESHAP rules that impacted these resources, these resources can once again deliver grid services that 1) significantly reduce American consumer’s power prices (in 2013 alone these resources saved $11 billion for 60 million Americans in the PJM wholesale power market), 2) dramatically improve grid reliability during a time of unprecedented demand on the grid, and 3) are actually an environmentally preferred outcome for all consumers according to an EPA-commissioned report conducted by Synapse.
