Statement: January 21, 2010	View Printable PDF Version
Docket No.: RM10-11-000

Commissioner Moeller's statement on efficient integration of renewables into the grid

"The recent increase in variable generation entering the grid--mostly wind-power--is having very profound impacts on how our electric system is managed. The challenges facing us are significant, but not insurmountable. Besides the critical need for new transmission lines to deliver these clean domestic resources, we also need to address the difficulties of integrating into the grid an energy supply that is variable, which by its very nature has characteristics unlike those of traditional generation sources that are easily controlled and dispatched.

Today, the Commission is taking steps to address this positive dilemma by asking the question: How can our nation improve integration of the increasing amounts of renewable, variable resources that are entering our electric grid, while at the same time maintaining needed levels of reliability?

I am especially interested in the ability of the industry to improve the supply forecast of these resources, but all of the issues in this Notice of Inquiry (NOI) are significant.

The Commission has been working toward the release of this NOI for most of the last year. I welcome the comments, observations and perspectives of all interested parties in an effort to ensure that we fully address these challenges in ways that ultimately benefit the nation's electric consumers."

View Printable PDF Version