Ron Binz as FERC Nominee
Obama’s nominee for FERC chairman is a battle-hardened green energy supporter and smart grid cost-watcher.
JEFF ST. JOHN: JUNE 28, 2013
Last month, Jon Wellinghoff announced his resignation as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the federal authority that rules the power grid and energy markets. His four-year tenure was marked by lots of support for renewable energy integration, smart grid innovation and other 21st century grid challenges.
On Thursday, President Obama nominated a new FERC chairman who appears likely to carry on that vision. That’s Ron Binz, a long-time utility regulator and former chairman of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission from 2007 to 2011, a time when the state was going through quite a bit of growing pains having to do with green power and smart grid.
Binz’s long-time support for renewable energy hasn’t won him any friends in the coal power industry. As a key backer of the state’s Clean Air-Clean Jobs act, a set of regulations that ended up closing six coal-fired power plants at a cost of about $1 billion, Binz faced down accusations of conflicts of interest from coal and power generator groups, as well as an ethics probe, called for by a Republican state lawmaker, that found no breach of public trust, the Denver Post reported.
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...Binz and fellow former Colorado utility commissioner Ron Lehr have also formed a nonprofit group called Utilities 2020 to work on the complex regulatory and economic challenges that come with integrating lots of rooftop solar panels, energy-aware appliances and other new loads onto the grid....
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/obama-picks-ron-binz-as-ferc-nominee?utm_source=Daily&utm_medium=Headline&utm_campaign=GTMDaily
As well as the outgoing FERC Chair, Mr. Wellinghoff:
Energy Regulatory Chief Says New Coal, Nuclear Plants May Be Unnecessary
By NOELLE STRAUB AND PETER BEHR, Greenwire
Published: April 22, 2009
Bloomberg News
Jon Wellinghoff, the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said renewables like wind and solar will provide enough energy.
No new nuclear or coal plants may ever be needed in the United States, the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said today.
"We may not need any, ever," Jon Wellinghoff told reporters at a U.S. Energy Association forum.
The FERC chairman's comments go beyond those of other Obama administration officials, who have strongly endorsed greater efficiency and renewables deployment but also say nuclear and fossil energies will continue playing a major role.
Wellinghoff's view also goes beyond the consensus outlook in the electric power industry about future sources of electricity. The industry has assumed that more baseload generation would provide part of an increasing demand for power, along with a rapid deployment of renewable generation, smart grid technologies and demand reduction strategies....
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/04/22/22greenwire-no-need-to-build-new-us-coal-or-nuclear-plants-10630.html?pagewanted=all
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