Jim Robb, the president and CEO of the nation’s grid watchdog, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, said Thursday it has no role in the Trump administration’s effort to subsidize coal and nuclear plants, and has not been approached about providing advice about it.
“We don’t have any role in that discussion or in pricing and economic issues period,” Robb told reporters at NERC’s Washington D.C. office, at an event marking his first six months on the job.
NERC is designated by Congress as the nation’s electric reliability watchdog. It is overseen by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and charged with developing enforceable standards for the utility industry that cover everything from ensuring uninterrupted electricity flows to guarding against physical attacks and cyberattacks.
Robb noted that the debate about saving coal and nuclear plants has become “highly politicized,” but he said NERC is focused on doing non-biased research about the grid’s health.
“My goal is to make sure our work remains technically unimpeachable so it is used to inform people, but not lean into ideological arguments around them,” Robb said. “Anytime you are putting out work on important issues people will pull out of it what they like or don’t like,” he added. “That risk is clearly there. We need to make sure our work is clearly and completely described to minimize that risk.”
He said that NERC, on its “own volition” without a request from the Trump administration, has started an assessment of how retirements of coal and nuclear plants can “affect reliability.”
NERC will publish the study in December, Robb said.
The Trump administration is considering using executive national security powers to force wholesale power operators to buy power from a list of coal and nuclear plants deemed “critical” to the grid.
Critics say the move would be unprecedented and costly, interfering with competitive power markets that reward the lowest cost provider.
Robb said NERC is focused on making sure the grid can remain reliable as it transitions away from coal to natural gas and renewables. He noted his concern about a lack of gas pipeline infrastructure.
“Things are changing and changing rapidly,” Robb said. “We have a lot of tools based largely on a 1950s view of the world. There is a broad range of things as we work through this transition we need to stay on top of. It’s getting difficult to develop gas infrastructure now. We have to keep our eyes on 10 to 15 years down the road on these issues.”
