DOE Releases 3 Reports on Electricity Challenges

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Electricity Advisory Committee (EAC) 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 reports are:

• 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.
• Bottling Electricity: Storage as a Strategic Tool for Managing Variability and Capacity Concerns in the Modern Grid 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 for the integration of basic and applied research.
• 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 and self-balancing network that enables enhanced economic growth, environmental stewardship, operational efficiencies, energy security and consumer choice.

Copies of the report can be found at the link below.