Energy experts, engineers and grid operators should be setting our energy policy not politicians.

Politicians are often responding to undue pressure from various stakeholders; self-serving industry groups and environmental organizations. Please note our current energy mandates /policies to eliminate fossil fuels [natural gas] and rely on battery storage to back up intermittent wind/solar are in stark contrast to energy experts’ recommendations and warnings.

The North American Electric Reliability Corp [NERC] said in its 2022 State of Reliability Report. “NERC expects 500 GW of solar and 400 GW of wind to come online over the next decade.

“If we’re going to reliably integrate these resources over the next 10 years, we’ve really got to start now,” said Moura. That will mean additional investment in natural gas infrastructure, he said. “Gas is a bridge fuel to where I think policies ultimately want to take us,” Moura said. “Batteries aren’t going to do it, and we’re going to need a backup fuel for wind and solar. So this is important to invest in.”

“Solar resources, which are overwhelmingly the largest share of new resources connecting to the grid, do not provide output during many hours when winter electricity demand is at its highest,” NERC reported last month. “New battery resources can extend the output from solar PV [photovoltaics] for short durations, but winter’s longer hours of darkness, cloud cover, and precipitation will push the limits of today’s battery storage capabilities and installed energy capacity.” [Current battery storage duration is a pathetic 2-4 hrs.].

“NERC has long stated that natural gas is essential to the reliability of the grid during the electricity industry’s unprecedented transformation. We welcome any effort to meet the gas/electric challenge with the sense of urgency that it deserves.”

NYSERDA: “It is a fossil fuel — natural gas — that is by far the state’s biggest source of electrical generation, providing ten times more power (35.8 percent) than wind and solar combined (3.6 percent), according to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. That’s particularly important during the winter, which has already dumped several feet of snow upstate this year.” NYISO: “At current trends, the New York Independent System Operator [ NY grid operator] projects that peak demand for electricity will come in the winter rather than the summer in the 2030s. That poses a particular challenge for renewable energy, since wind turbines don’t turn when the winds blow too hard or not at all, solar farms provide no electricity when they’re covered with snow, and battery storage reaches its limits in extreme weather.”

Also of concern, regarding the highly anticipated Hydro-Quebec /CHPE: “The Hydro – Quebec Project does not guarantee delivery of Tier 4 RECs [electricity] in the winter, despite the fact that [NYISO] modelling predicts that New York’s peak electricity demand will shift to the winter as building electrification progresses,” [CHPE is expected to provide 20% of New York City’s annual energy].

Fact-In 2023, the US saw a significant drop in greenhouse gas emissions, largely due to the increased use of natural gas. Battery storage is unrealistically expensive, prone to dangerous/toxic fires, and of extremely short duration. Reliable, safe, emissions- free advanced nuclear is our future. SMRs [small modular reactors] are currently being developed and deployed. They will soon be available at scale rendering unreliable, land-grabbing, nature – destroying wind and solar energy an unnecessary abomination.

Meanwhile, we will need clean burning natural gas for the foreseeable future. Its use will prove a matter of life and death.

Joni Riggle is a Sinclairville resident.