City utility leaders receive high-level outlook for power industry - Southernminn.com
The delegation heard mixed news in learning that even though their municipal joint action agency is offering stable rates and operating from its strongest financial position in its 27 year history, proposed U. S. Environmental Protection Agency... The EPA is in the process of setting rules that decrease CO2 emissions 30 percent nationally by 2030. These rules establish carbon reductions for each state. In comparison, Iowa is set at 16 percent, North Dakota at 11 and 30 percent for the entire nation. According to presenters from CMMPA and from the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, a regional transmission organization that operates the grid, a regional compliance approach to reduce carbon would cost 40 percent less than an approach... However, the more expensive state-by-state regulatory scheme might be the only option available because states with low reduction targets will want to shield their customers from costs associated with cooperating with states assigned a higher CO2... The effect of EPA’s proposed rules alters the traditional dispatch order of power resources onto the transmission system. Source: www.southernminn.com
