CEO Close-Up, Energy & Environment
Serious Issues Loom, Co-op CEOs Told
INDIAN WELLS, Calif.—What’s going on inside the Beltway that concerns electric cooperatives? Plenty.
NRECA’s Dave Mohre told co-op CEOs there are many serious issues being discussed in Washington. (Photo By: Michael W. Kahn)
NRECA is currently involved with several federal agencies on a wide range of matters. “These are serious times; these are serious issues,” said Dave Mohre, executive director of NRECA’s energy and power division.
“We have 14 issues currently at FERC stretching from the planning of transmission to paying wind generators not to produce,” Mohre said.
“We have 13 at the Department of Energy, some good, some not so good.”
Speaking here Jan. 24 at CEO Close-Up, Mohre noted that NRECA is tackling an additional 33 important issues at four other federal agencies. He outlined a handful, including proposals floating around Washington to enact efficiency standards that would require using an amorphous steel core in distribution transformers.
“Does that term ‘amorphous steel’ mean anything to you?” Mohre asked the co-op leaders. Decades ago, he said, DOE developed amorphous steel patents that were later picked up by foreign companies.
“The result is we have only one small U.S. manufacturing plant—owned, in fact, by foreign corporations—that can produce this technology,” Mohre said. “So we’re worried about costs; we’re worried about where it’s going to come from.”
Most American transformer manufacturers are also concerned, Mohre said. “They do not have the ability to use the amorphous core, they can’t get it, and without getting it they can’t produce transformers.”
But Mohre also brought upbeat news to the co-op CEOs.
“We’re dealing with the secretary of energy’s special assistant for transmission, who is trying to develop a way to hopefully speed up transmission siting on federal lands,” he said. “If she’s successful, it would be enormously valuable to cooperatives across the country.”
Good or bad, Mohre stressed that co-op leaders need to be willing to rally when called upon.
“We’ve got a great team,” Mohre said of NRECA. “But no matter how good the team, member awareness, and willingness to work with us when asked, continue to be our greatest strength and our greatest protection.”
“Be prepared to assist us to protect cooperative consumers, cooperative operations, and the cooperative business model.”
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Tags: CEO Close-Up, Energy & Environment