03.15.12

Markey Praises Regional Approach to Building America’s Renewable Backbone

WASHINGTON (March 16, 2012) – Today, Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu sent a memorandum to the administrators of the nation’s four regional Power Marketing Administrations (PMAs) that lays the foundation to use federally-owned electrical systems to lead in modernizing America’s power system.

“When it comes to modernizing our nation’s electric grid, our nation’s Power Marketing Administrations can play an important role in moving our nation towards a cleaner, smarter, and more efficient electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Today, Secretary Chu announced a new process for moving the PMAs forward to meet this challenge, and I commend him for taking this initiative,” said Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over the PMAs.  

A link to the memo from Secretary Chu can be found HERE. 

Rep. Markey added, “The Secretary’s initiative sets a laudable goal for the role of the PMAs into the future and in supporting renewable energy and efficiency. However, the devil is in the details, and I look forward to seeing how the Department implements these strategies while still meeting the PMA’s existing missions.”

The Power Marketing Administrations are federal agencies within the Department of Energy, consisting of the Bonneville Power Administration, the Southeastern Power Administration, the Southwestern Power Administration, and the Western Area Power Administration.  Collectively, they control 38,437 megawatts of installed capacity and 33,730 miles of electrical transmission lines in 34 states. 
 
Rep. Markey has previously called on Secretary Chu to focus the PMAs on challenges the electricity system is facing as renewable energy becomes cheaper, distributed generation more common, and energy efficiency and demand response reduce the need to build much new capacity (May 3rd letter and December 7th letter). Increasing the flexibility of the grid will be critical to adapting these new models, and the nation’s PMAs are uniquely positioned to lead in developing the solutions.