NH business: Electricity demand in the 2030s requires “large amounts of clean and reliable electricity”
Updated: May 5, 2024 7:03 AM EDT
work. I'm Fred Kocher. Due to the increase in electrical equipment, electric heating, electric vehicles, and data processing centers, the demand for electricity is increasing, and the peak use of electricity cities is shifting from summer to winter. Look at this graph from ISO New England. ISO New England is an independent organization that regulates the flow of electricity throughout New England. Significant growth, demand, growth. And this is it. The yellow bar is the summer peak demand, and the blue bar is the winter peak demand. So notice the increase in winter demand from 2000 to 23 on the left and 2050 on the right. All of this is due to the shift to electric cars, electric vehicles, and data centers. Over the next quarter century, will New Hampshire make the necessary changes to accommodate this shift? Well, we have EV charging, we have electric vehicles, we have charging stations. The state is expected to receive about $70 million over five years to support the development of electric vehicle charging stations on transit corridors such as Interstate 93 and Interstate 89. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced this in New Hampshire on April 24th. New Hampshire was chosen as the host state. $43,510,000 from the Solar for All Competitive Grant Program. Now, who's going to look at this with me is Sam Evans Brown, executive director of New Hampshire Clean Energy. This includes key board members, including former Department of Environmental Services Secretary Tom Barrack. right. That's right. Sam. welcome. I'm glad to be here. Thank you for inviting me. Changes this summer. From peak to winter peak. Just add it to the peak. And demand will increase. Is New Hampshire ready for this? Well, I think there are two answers to this. electricity is generated. And I'm pretty optimistic that it will be delivered to your home on the generation side. I would like to say. Looking at ISO New England's interconnection queue, tens of thousands of megawatts of clean energy and energy storage projects are currently being built to meet that demand. So I'm pretty optimistic. If you look at the Legislature here in New Hampshire, we are making the necessary changes to accommodate a growing generation. We are making adjustments to make the installation procedure more streamlined. Two bipartisan bills have been introduced in the state Legislature to accelerate this year's seat. And then there's another one about interconnects, which is a little bit controversial. What is interconnection for our audience? So now when we talk about small scale projects and community-scale solar projects, there's that. Approximately 500 MW of projects currently under construction in New Hampshire are suspended in the interconnection study process. I just want to know how much it costs to connect to the power grid. exactly. right. And we need to speed up that process. To be able to build these projects, we need clear and transparent timelines and guidelines. And both of these bills are moving forward on a bipartisan basis. So I'm pretty optimistic about this generation. Distribution side. What I'm concerned about right now is that the Legislature that you mentioned, the Public Utilities Commission, the Department of Energy, and of course the utilities themselves, play a critical role. Well, are they working together to do what I just said? Well, I think the real issue is that the regulatory model that utilities operate in is from last century and needs to adapt to this modern challenge. Now, utilities benefit by building more capital and infrastructure. And the reality is that if we just build more infrastructure to meet peak demand, electricity prices will rise. On the other hand, if you can shift demand away from these peaks, sell more kilowatt-hours of power than your existing infrastructure. As you know, electricity bills are a simple matter. Really. It is the cost of capital divided by sales. Therefore, lower capital costs and higher sales mean lower electricity bills. What does this mean for the average small business in New Hampshire? What does this mean for the average New Hampshire homeowner? If we get this right, a large portion of the electricity sector of our economy could see lower electricity bills. This would bring significant economic benefits to all of New Hampshire. If you do it wrong, the opposite will happen. That is why we need reform of these regulatory models. Next week is Energy Week in New Hampshire. New Hampshire Energy Week, a lot happening More than a dozen events will be happening across New Hampshire next week. Most events are free to attend. Please come check out our website and learn more about how energy works. NH ENERGY WEEK.ORG ENERGY NH ENERGY WEEK.ORG I think it's the NH ENERGY FUTURES DOT ORG website. There you can find ENERGY FUTURES DOT ORG. One or the other. Try both. thank you. Sam Evans Brown, executive director of New Hampshire Clean Energy; Clean Energy New Hampshire. thank you. Thank you, Fred. If you missed any part of this briefing on energy and peak energy demand changes, you can continue to the next page.
NH business: Electricity demand in the 2030s requires “large amounts of clean and reliable electricity”
Updated: May 5, 2024 7:03 AM EDT
Sam Evans Brown, executive director of NH Clean Energy, talks about the future of clean, reliable energy, when energy demand will be highest, and how electric vehicles will impact that demand.
Sam Evans Brown, executive director of NH Clean Energy, talks about the future of clean, reliable energy, when energy demand will be highest, and how electric vehicles will impact that demand.
