Energy Policy Now

As natural gas has grown in importance as a fuel for electricity generation, have gas pipelines become the electric grid’s Achilles heel? A cybersecurity expert discusses the risk posed by the grid’s growing dependence on gas. --- Natural Gas fuels a third of the nation’s electricity generation, and the strong economics of natural gas are likely to cause its use to widen its use in years to come. Yet the growing reliance on natural gas may increase the risk of electricity supply disruption should pipelines fail due to severe weather, or physical and cyber attacks. States, federal government and electricity market operators are well aware of this vulnerability, but differ in how immediate they view threats to gas networks to be, and whether they believe regulators should dictate preventive action. Kleinman Center Senior Fellow and grid cybersecurity expert Bill Hederman talks about the growing dependence of the electric grid on natural gas, and the implications of gas pipeline vulnerability to the reliability and resilience of the electric grid. Listen to the companion podcast episode on state and federal action to address cyber risk, Grid Resilience in the Cyber Age. Bill Hederman is a Senior Fellow with the Kleinman Center and founder of the Office of Market Oversight and Investigations at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Related Content Grid Resilience in the Cyber Age: https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/energy-policy-now/grid-resilience-cyber-age New FERC Rule Grows Clean Energy’s Role in Grid Resilience https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/blog/2018/02/21/new-ferc-rule-grows-clean-energys-role-grid-resilience Distributed Energy’s Cyber Risk https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/energy-policy-now/distributed-energy’s-cyber-riskSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can the U.S. electric grid remain resilient as the threat of cyber and physical attack rises? Pennsylvania PUC Chair Gladys Brown talks about state and federal efforts to safeguard the electric power system. --- The electricity industry has taken advantage of network communications technologies to deliver power more efficiently and reliably. But as information technology becomes interwoven into the electricity system, the industry has also become more vulnerable to cyber attack. In recent years, hackers have gained access to utility customer information and to energy control systems, and may ultimately threaten to disrupt power delivery itself. Gladys Brown, Chairman of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and head of the Critical Infrastructure Committee at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), talks about cyber risk and electric grid resilience. She also looks at current efforts involving state and federal regulators, and agencies such as the Department of Homeland security, to ensure electricity supply as cyber risks proliferate. Gladys Brown is Chairman of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. She also leads the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioner’s Critical Infrastructure Committee, a forum where state utility commissioners examine grid security risks and best practices. Related Content New FERC Rule Grows Clean Energy’s Role in Grid Resilience https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/blog/2018/02/21/new-ferc-rule-grows-clean-energys-role-grid-resilience Distributed Energy’s Cyber Risk https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/energy-policy-now/distributed-energy’s-cyber-riskSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can policymakers effectively prepare for an uncertain future climate? The Kleinman Center’s Mark Alan Hughes discusses emerging decision models for climate mitigation and adaptation. --- Policymakers increasingly face the challenge of deciding on pathways to mitigate and address the impacts of climate change, yet no clear view exists into the impacts of rising temperatures, changing weather patterns, and the timing of sea level rise. And, as we enter unprecedented climate territory, past climate patterns offer an ever less reliable view of the future. As a result, leaders in government and industry can be wary of making bold investments necessary to address a changing climate. Mark Alan Hughes, founding Faculty Director of the Kleinman Center, discusses an emerging area of decision science that aims to provide decision makers with tools that may help them to better account for climate uncertainty, potentially freeing them to make the investments needed to transform energy systems and address climate impacts. Mark Alan Hughes is founding Faculty Director of the Kleinman Center at Penn. Mark leads the center’s Pathways Project, which seeks practical solutions to the challenge of decision making under deep uncertainty (DMDU). Related Content Comparative Pathways Interim Report https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/paper/comparative-pathways-interim-reportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can EPA’s Clean Power Plan replacement survive the courts? An architect of the Clean Power Plan weighs in. --- In August the Environmental Protection Agency revealed its replacement for the Clean Power Plan, the Obama-era regulation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the electric power industry. The replacement plan, championed by current EPA acting administrator Andrew Wheeler with backing from President Trump, does away with broad carbon emissions reduction targets for the electricity industry. Instead, the proposed regulation, called the Affordable Clean Energy Rule, or ACE, would require only that existing coal plants become more energy efficient. The result is likely to be modest reductions in carbon emissions, at best, from the electricity sector, while the lives of some coal plants could be extended. Joseph Goffman, a principle architect of the (original) Clean Power Plan during the Obama Administration, weighs in on the litany of legal challenges to ACE that are sure to come, and whether the EPA in fact has the legal latitude to weaken the very carbon dioxide standards that it had deemed essential to limiting climate change, and protecting human health, just a few years ago. Joe also discusses legal challenges facing the EPA’s current, parallel effort to relax automotive emission standards. Joseph Goffman is Executive Director of the Environmental Law Program at Harvard University. From 2009 to 2017, he served as Senior Legal Counsel in the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. Related Content: Not an ACE for Coal: https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/blog/2018/08/22/not-ace-coal Reimagining Pennsylvania’s Coal Communities: https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/paper/reimagining-pennsylvanias-coal-communitiesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After a decade of false starts, the U.S. offshore wind industry is poised for real growth. The Chief of the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s renewables office takes a look at offshore wind’s future. --- After years of high hopes but little development, the U.S. offshore wind industry finally seems poised for growth following a series of major offshore project announcements this year. In May and June, the states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut selected a combined 1,400 MW of offshore wind projects for contract negotiation. When complete, they’ll generate enough electricity to power 200,000 homes and help the states meet their clean energy and climate goals. The projects are all the more noteworthy given that there is currently just a single, small offshore wind farm operating in U.S. waters. Guest Jim Bennett heads the Office of Renewable Energy Programs at the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and is the individual charged with overseeing the federal government’s involvement in developing the United States’ offshore renewable energy resources. Bennett offers his insights into what’s driving recent investment in US offshore wind energy, the challenges to offshore wind development, and the potential for the offshore industry to become a vital, economically competitive source of clean electricity. Also featured is Brandon Burke, Brandon Burke, an attorney, offshore wind researcher, and soon to be master’s graduate from the University of Pennsylvania. Related Content Tilting at Windmills https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/policy-digests/tilting-windmills New FERC Rule Grows Clean Energy’s Role in Grid Resilience https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/blog/2018/02/21/new-ferc-rule-grows-clean-energys-role-grid-resilience Clean Energy Costs Continue to Fall https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/blog/2018/01/22/clean-energy-costs-continue-fallSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fresh water resources are becoming scarce even as water demand from cities, industry and agriculture rises. Can seemingly inevitable conflicts over water, and their environmental consequences, be avoided? --- Access to fresh water has become an immediate concern in the United States. In recent years, unprecedented droughts have gripped central and western parts of the country, even as demand for water to supply cities, industry and farming has grown. And competition for water has led to a history of conflict between the states. Most recently in June, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in a decades-long legal battle between Georgia and Florida over the right to water from a river system that is vital to the city of Atlanta and, downstream, to oyster fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico. Yet the court’s ruling leaves the conflict unresolved, a result that reflects the intractability of so many fights over waterway control over the years. New research from Kleinman Center senior fellow Scott Moore suggests, counterintuitively, that water scarcity itself is often not the driving force behind water wars. Instead, a host of political and social factors often drive conflict. Moore discusses his new book on water conflict, Subnational Hydropolitics: Conflict, Cooperation and Institution-Building in Shared River Basins, and how understanding of political and social roots of water conflict can help government and communities find solutions, with positive outcomes for communities and the environment. Scott Moore is a senior fellow with the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and a Water Resource Specialist with the World Bank’s Global Water Practice. Related Content: Sea Change: Desalination and the Water-Energy Nexus. https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/policy-digests/sea-change Water, Waste, Energy: Lessons from Coca-Cola in Africa https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/policy-digests/water-waste-energySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

President Trump has acted to boost fossil fuel development in the U.S. But market forces, and disruptive trade policies have more than offset the administration’s pro-oil and coal efforts. --- In his year and a half in office, President Donald Trump has acted to make good on his campaign promises to grow the U.S. oil, natural gas, and coal industries during his presidency. Trump has taken a series of actions aimed at reducing environmental oversight of fossil fuel producers and opening protected federal territory to new energy development. Yet the ability of the president, and of Washington, to open the door to new fossil energy production has its limits. Market forces—energy supply, demand and pricing—often play the leading role in an energy company's decision to drill new resources. At the same time, state-level energy regulations are often at odds with federal priorities. Energy policy and market experts Anna Mikulska and Michael Maher discuss the president’s strategy to assert global energy dominance, and how the strategy has been reflected in recent investment trends in U.S. oil, gas, and coal. Anna Mikulska is a senior fellow at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and a non-resident fellow with the Baker Institute for Energy Studies at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. Her work focuses on the interplay between energy markets and policy. Michael Maher is senior program adviser at the Baker Institute's Center for Energy Studies. He focuses on U.S. energy policy related to oil and gas production and safety, offshore drilling, and LNG exports. Related Content The (Yet?) Non-existent Pipeline that Already Divides Europe https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/blog/2018/04/11/yet-non-existent-pipeline-already-divides-europe Reimagining Pennsylvania’s Coal Communities https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/paper/reimagining-pennsylvanias-coal-communities Ending Fossil Fuel Tax Subsidies https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/policy-digests/ending-fossil-fuel-tax-subsidiesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the coming years 1.6 million acres of formerly protected Alaskan wilderness will be the site of new oil exploration and drilling. Can the state balance energy development and its environmental heritage? --- In December the Trump Administration opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to energy development, as part of the administration’s tax reform package. The opening was the culmination of a decades-long battle, fought at federal and state levels, to gain access to possibly 10 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil reserves in an area that is also home to some of the United States’ greatest wildlife populations. The move is part of the Trump administration’s plan to increase oil output and achieve its stated goal of global energy dominance. For Alaska, new development has the potential to accelerate a recent uptick in Alaskan oil production that follows nearly three decades of declining output. Energy Policy Now guest Lois Epstein, Arctic Program Director with the Wilderness Society in Alaska, discusses how the opening of ANWR is the latest chapter in a long history of energy development in Alaska, and looks at the historic the tie between the state’s economy and the oil industry’s fortunes. A 17-year resident of the state, she provides her perspective on the way that Alaskans view their relationship to energy and environment, and how the often competing priorities of energy development, budgets and environment are being weighed as a potential new wave of oil development in ecologically sensitive areas looms. Lois Epstein is Arctic Program Director with the Wilderness Society in Alaska. Her work focuses on the safety and environmental impact of Arctic oil and gas operations. A licensed engineer, Epstein has served on a number of federal advisory committees, including two National Academy of Sciences committees studying oil and gas regulations. She has also testified more than a dozen times on energy and environmental issues before the U.S. House and Senate. Related Content The World Bank Moves Away from Fossil Fuels: https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/blog/2017/12/19/world-bank-moves-away-fossil-fuels Unpacking IEA’s World Energy Outlook 2017: https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/blog/2017/11/27/unpacking-iea’s-world-energy-outlook-2017See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A number of states are pushing legislation that would require 100% renewable energy supply. But challenges ranging from high costs to the duck curve could make such targets hard to reach. --- A number of states are taking it upon themselves to lower carbon emissions by adopting aggressive clean energy targets. In states like California, Washington, and Massachusetts, lawmakers are considering legislation requiring utilities to get 100% of their electricity from renewable sources. California already generates two-thirds of its power from renewables on peak days, while in Iowa, wind produces a third of the state’s overall electricity. Yet as renewable energy grows in popularity, the falling costs that helped fuel growth can get turned on their head, and overall costs can begin to rise. At the same time, the incremental environmental benefits of renewables can diminish as more wind and solar connect to the grid. Guest Karl Hausker, senior fellow at the Kleinman Center and author of the Risky Business Project report “From Risk to Return, Investing in a Clean Energy Economy,” looks at the pathway to widespread renewable energy with an eye on likely economic and political challenges along the way. Karl Hausker is a senior fellow with the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and a senior fellow with the World Resources Institute’s Global Climate program. Related Content: Power Over the Twenty-First Century Electric Grid https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/policy-digests/power-over-twenty-first-century-electric-grid Energy Storage in PJM. https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/paper/energy-storage-pjm FERC Clean Energy Policy Roundup. https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/blog/2018/03/29/ferc-clean-energy-policy-roundupSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As distributed energy grows, so does cyber risk to the grid. Two energy security experts discuss solutions. --- In recent months the threat of cyber attack on the nation’s electricity system has come into urgent focus. Earlier this year the FBI and Department of Homeland Security made public a series of cyberattacks that penetrated the control systems of several nuclear power stations. Another recent attack on a network of natural gas pipelines threatened fuel supply to gas-fired powerplants in the Eastern U.S. And both breaches came in the wake of a 2015 cyberattack on three Ukrainian electric utilities that left more than 200,000 people without power. Yet even as awareness of cyber threats has risen, vulnerability to such attacks continues to grow. At the distribution level, behind the meter technologies like rooftop solar, battery storage and demand response make the electric system more efficient, but also provide attackers with new points of entry into an electric system that was, by and large, built without cyberthreats in mind. Cybersecurity experts Bill Hederman and Steve Kunsman discuss the cyber vulnerabilities of the electric distribution system, and political and technological means of addressing cyber risk. Guest Bill Hederman is a Senior Fellow with the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and a former senior advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Energy of during the Obama administration. He was also founder of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Office of Market Oversight and Investigations. Steve Kunsman is Chairman of the Cyber Security Subcommittee at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He is also Director of Product Management and Applications at ABB North America. Related Content: Big Advance for Cybersecurity Also Important for Energy Cybersecurity https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/blog/2017/11/15/big-advance-cybersecurity-also-important-energy-cybersecurity The Energy Sector Confronts Cyber Risk https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/energy-policy-now/energy-sector-confronts-cyber-riskSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.