Hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee - The Reliability of the Nation's Electricity Grid

Federal News Service

HEADLINE: HEARING OF THE SENATE ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE

SUBJECT: THE RELIABILITY OF THE NATION'S ELECTRICITY GRID

CHAIRED BY: SENATOR PETE V. DOMENICI (R-NM)

LOCATION: 366 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.

WITNESSES:

MICHEHL R. GENT, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NORTH AMERICAN ELECTRIC RELIABILITY COUNCIL;

JIMMY GLOTFELTY, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY;

LOUISE MCCARREN, CEO, WESTERN ELECTRICITY COORDINATING COUNCIL;

JAMES P. TORGERSON, PRESIDENT AND CEO, MIDWEST INDEPENDENT TRANSMISSION SYSTEM;

PHILLIP G. HARRIS, PRESIDENT AND CEO, PJM INTERCONNECTION

BODY:
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY): Yes. Thank you. I thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate.

I just have one question of the panel. I'm interested in all of these issues but so many hearings. And it's for Mr. Glotfelty and it follows up on what the chairman, Chairman Domenici had asked and this is about superconductivity. You know, when I look at my area, New York City, our biggest problem is probably not new power plants being built in upstate New York in the Hudson Valley, hydropower in Canada, because we're going to need more power and I've been supportive of trying to do that, but it's rather transmission, getting the lines here and it's very crowded and hard to do, holds things up. And superconductivity seemed to be our manna from Heaven.

To produce lines that allow three times, eight times, even 10 times the amount of electricity to go through the same line, is just a godsend, not only for New York, but for any other area, crowded area that needs power. And so I had worked actually with Senator Domenici, he representing Los Alamos, I representing one of the companies, IGC, in Schenectady that is interested in this, and Energy and you, frankly, have been very supportive of these roles.

Now, because of earmarking, the amount of money allowed to superconductivity has gone way down and I am told by the people at both Los Alamos and IGC this is going to have-this is not just going to slow this down. But, you know, they're on the verge of many different important breakthroughs in terms of research and it could end it. So it's really penny-wise and pound-foolish to slow this. I spoke with Secretary Abraham. I don't know if he informed you of that, and said we have to find the money elsewhere, and I was heartened to hear Senator Domenici say go find the money.

Can you elaborate on what we can do? I mean, to say your hands are tied-none these earmarks that came out of this-I realize it wasn't Energy's doing but Congress's, they weren't from me. And to say that there's nothing to do here because other things not related to superconductivity were earmarked out of this fund just doesn't answer the question in terms of our large, large energy needs down the road when we have the breakthrough technology that could work.

So could you elaborate a little more after hearing Senator Domenici say that you're-I forgot, I was told what he said, I was at another hearing. You know, that go find the money, your handcuffs are off or go do what-what can we do to help make that happen? What can Energy Department do to find it? I'm sure in the huge budget you have this is-I think we're only looking for something, you know, in the range of $15 or $20 million to restore that total fund back up to the $48 million that it was last year. What can we do here? Can you give us some ideas? We won't pin you down, but I just want to make sure that you're going to turn over every rock.

MR. GLOTFELTY: Let me assure you that we will. We and the administration are huge believers in the applicability and the promise that superconductivity shows, not only in terms of transmission lines, but other types of devices, motors, generators and other things that will save electricity, reduce environmental effects of producing electricity for decades to come. This has been a challenging year with the discretion that we have been afforded in terms of our budget. The actual real reduction in terms of dollars from last year to this year is only about $6 or $7 million. It is a much greater decrease from the president's request which was $47 million to the $32 million that they have actually been allocated this year.

I assure you, as I have the chairman, that we are trying to turn over every rock to put more dollars into this program. Your state is the beneficiary of two of the first deployments, in Albany as well as in Long Island, where we would take superconducting cables and actually deploy them in the grid, and we do not want to delay those, we want those to go on as planned. I think this year we're going to have to get through, but I think in the future is it incumbent upon Congress and the industry to help us achieve our success. Minimizing earmarks will allow us to get there.

SEN. SCHUMER: Right. Let me just say in response to what you said, with the chair's indulgence, that I am told if we don't get some money this year, finding it somewhere or other, it's really going to slow progress dramatically in terms of the amount of money. Yes, it's $6 to $10 million but that's of a total budget of about, you know, about 12 or 13, and it really just-you hire scientists, you hire workers, you fire them, you're not sure you're going to be able to get them back again.

MR. GLOTFELTY: I agree with you. The effects delay implementation of any of the technologies.

SEN. SCHUMER: So can we try to look and find some money this year that maybe working with the chairman we can replenish you next year? You know, there must be some little pools of money that are not all going to be spent this year that were allocated?

MR. GLOTFELTY: I would like to work for you and our budget staff and the appropriations staff to see if we can do that.

SEN. SCHUMER: Okay. I thank you, I appreciate that.