Regional energy solutions combine sun, wind, nuclear

Writing in the Washington Post, David Crane proposes for the US regional solutions to renewable energy generation. And the Wall Street Journal today emphasizes the need for some solutions with a front-page article on the escalating costs of electricity in southern Texas due to the relentless heat wave.

Writes the Journal, "Record-breaking heat in parts of Texas is causing electricity bills to soar, just when most consumers were expecting some relief from sinking natural-gas prices.

"The protracted heat wave—Austin on Monday recorded its 64th day of 100-plus degree weather since June 1—has pushed electricity demand up to record levels, as air conditioners run overtime."

According to Crane’s article in the Post, he would augment Texas’ electricity-generation capacity with nuclear power as part of his regional approaches, designed to minimize distribution costs. Crane, president and chief executive of NRG Energy, a wholesale power producer, writes that his solution "…would start with technologies that are ready for large-scale deployment but are concentrated on regions where they can be demonstrated and deployed at scale to their best advantage." California will be powered by the sun, the Midwest by wind, and the South (including Texas) by nuclear. (Crane’s firm owns and operates wind and nuclear generation facilities and is developing solar power, the Post notes.)

As for the Northeast, we’ll get to drive electric cars, because our cities are close enough together, Crane notes, inadvertently countering Post columnist Robert J. Samuelson’s criticism of trains, which I commented on earlier. (Commenter "Statistics" sarcastically noted, in response to Samuelson’s contention that the US lacks the population density for train travel, "Right, because quoting population densities for the whole of the US clearly is meaningful when talking about train services in the large urbanized areas.")

Crane doesn’t say where the electricity to power Northeasterners’ electric cars should come from. Certainly, it won’t be practical to drive to one of the other regions and plug into its solar, wind, or nuclear power sources. Crane does advocate developing clean coal as a national priority.