A study on the electric grid ordered by Energy Dept. Secretary Rick Perry calls for federal agencies to streamline and reduce the burdens of licensing, relicensing and permitting of nuclear and coal plants, hydropower, advanced generation technologies and transmission infrastructure in order to improve the resiliency and reliability of the electric grid.
But the study, released Aug. 23, does not find that renewable generation has harmed the electric grid, as many expected the study, ordered by Perry in April, would do. Instead the report places most of the blame of retiring coal and nuclear plants on low-cost natural gas.