The Department of Energy's (DOE) Electricity Advisory Committee (EAC) has released three reports prepared for the secretary of energy's consideration. These reports review challenges facing the DOE and the nation in many important electricity areas and include recommendations for policy and program initiatives. They address issues surrounding generation and transmission adequacy, energy efficiency and demand response, deployment of energy storage technologies, and deployment of smart grid technologies.
The EAC was chartered by Secretary Samuel W. Bodman in April 2007 to provide senior-level counsel to DOE's Office Of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability in carrying out its mission and meeting requirements of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.
‘Keeping the Lights on in the New World’ addresses current challenges with respect to construction of generation and transmission, use of demand-side resources and increased efficiency, and plans for meeting future electricity needs to provide reliable, cost-competitive supplies of electricity, with regards to the health of the environment. The report further lists specific action the EAC believes the DOE should consider in meeting these challenges.
‘Bottling Electricity: Storage as a Strategic Tool for Managing Variability and Capacity Concerns in the Modern Grid’ fulfills requirements of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 Title VI, Section 641, which directs the secretary of energy to establish an energy storage advisory council. The council would be required to develop a five-year plan no later than Dec. 18. It evaluates the applications, regulatory implications and barriers to implementing energy storage technologies and considers the potential energy storage applications in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
‘Smart Grid: Enabler of the New Energy Economy’ presents the committee's recommendations to the DOE on how to transform the nation's electric power grid into a more intelligent, resilient, reliable, self-balancing and interactive network that enables enhanced economic growth, environmental stewardship, operational efficiencies, energy security and consumer choice.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Energy
