Delaware needs grid reliability

Last December, Sussex County Council denied a conditional-use permit for construction of a substation to US Wind. The substation application had been unanimously recommended by the planning & zoning commission as an appropriate use in an appropriate place. The land, which is owned by US Wind, is explicitly zoned for heavy industrial use, and is located next to an existing substation. 

Michael Vincent, then-president of the council, voted to grant the permit, stating it was not council’s job to make state energy policy. He said, “I think this is a bad precedent to set … turning it down because we don’t think it benefits people in Delaware.”

Members of our Senate agree. State energy policy should be enacted by the state for the benefit of all Delawareans. Sen. Stephanie Hansen introduced Senate Bill 159, which requires Delaware counties to issue conditional-use permits for renewable energy projects of 250 MW or greater under certain circumstances.

Reliability of our energy supply is at serious risk. At a joint Senate/House committee meeting last February, our PJM grid, the entity that supplies wholesale electricity to our electric utilities, urged state officials to bring new generation sources into the grid as soon as possible. Without new energy sources, electricity prices could soar, and we may lack electricity altogether when we need it. 

What sources of electricity are available to us? An expansion of solar has benefitted Delaware, but solar projects require considerable land. Increasingly, there is discussion of small-scale nuclear. But this option will not be available for many years. We currently depend on out-of-state natural gas, the price and supply of which is volatile. Off-shore wind, however, is abundant, and could inject copious amounts of clean energy into our grid within a few years. We need to pursue multiple pathways simultaneously, foreclosing no reasonable options.

The US Wind project is a Maryland project in the sense that Maryland negotiated a contract for wind electricity with the developer. But the 1,700 MWs of electricity the wind turbines will generate will displace fossil fuel energy with clean energy throughout the regional power grid, benefitting 600,000 homeowners in and around the Delmarva Peninsula and lowering electricity bills. It is far more than just a Maryland project, as some have said.

Also, Delaware has negotiated a landing agreement with US Wind that will provide 150,000 renewable energy credits to our state. The RECs, valued at $76 million over the life of the project, will also gradually reduce customers’ electric bills. In addition, the project developers will supply $40 million to be used for coastal Delaware dredging projects and will provide clean energy workforce development training at state colleges and high schools. US Wind has also committed to $50 million in projects around Indian River Bay and will pay $25 million to the state for a landfall lease.

Our energy grid is old and needs strengthening. US Wind will spend $400 million to revitalize our regional grid on the Delmarva Peninsula. These grid improvements, coupled with steady new wind energy supplies, will help us meet the anticipated demand from data centers and artificial intelligence installations, whose huge arrays of servers will require far more electricity than we can now provide. 

The work involved in grid improvements and substation construction means jobs for Delaware construction workers, electricians and others. Delaware companies will also be recruited for filling the needs of the supply chain.

When the project is fully built out, its wind electricity will displace more than 4 million tons of carbon dioxide each year, significantly reducing our regional contribution to global warming emissions. It is particularly important for Delaware and its neighbors to do their part to mitigate climate change as we are in a sea-level rise hotspot in the Atlantic Ocean. Delawareans will also realize health benefits from the reduction of other air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and fine particles, all of which can cause asthma, COPD, bronchitis, lung disease, heart disease, stroke and dementia.

Change is difficult. Some resist a clean energy future. But statewide goals and legislative policies should not be derailed by the parochial actions of those resisting change and embracing misinformation. All Delawareans will benefit from the success of our state clean energy goals.

When renewable sources of electricity are generated and delivered to our regional power grid, we simultaneously increase the reliability of our grid, reduce our electricity bills, breathe cleaner air and mitigate the impacts of climate change.