NEMA QER Recommendations aim to improve electrical grid.

Press Release Summary:



NEMA submitted 14 recommendations for consideration as part of Quadrennial Energy Review (QER) to improve grid reliability, efficiency, and security to meet America’s current and future energy needs. NEMA President and CEO Evan R. Gaddis called these suggestions "the product of deliberations by some of the nation’s leading electrical manufacturers and innovators" and noted that solutions and technologies are available "today to achieve a reliable, efficient, and secure electric grid."





Original Press Release:



NEMA Recommends Solutions to Improve Electrical Grid Reliability, Efficiency, and Security for Quadrennial Energy Review



ROSSLYN, Va.—The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) today submitted 14 recommendations to the Obama administration to consider as part of the Quadrennial Energy Review (QER), which was announced by the president in January.



Key recommendations to improve grid reliability, efficiency, and security to meet America’s current and future energy needs include:



five-year accelerated depreciation to incentivize investment in Smart Grid technologies that use information and communications to isolate and contain outages, and repair them remotely



incentivizing the construction of highly resilient microgrids—localized electrical generation coupled with energy storage systems that have the ability to isolate from the main grid during outages and operate independently, either on conventional or renewable energy sources



allowing federal disaster aid to be used for smart rebuilding—replacing damaged grid equipment with resilient technologies and installing backup power



permitting federal regulators to facilitate new interstate transmission lines with “backstop” authority to act when states are at an impasse



securing America’s electrical grid from cyberattacks and physical attacks through public-private cooperation, federal funding of R&D, promoting innovation through liability protections, robust consensus-based industry standards, and deployment of advanced sensing equipment



“We are pleased to submit these recommendations to the administration and Congress as the Quadrennial Energy Review process moves forward,” said NEMA President and CEO Evan R. Gaddis. “This is the product of deliberations by some of the nation’s leading electrical manufacturers and innovators.”



“America’s electroindustry has the solutions and technologies today to achieve a reliable, efficient, and secure electric grid,” added Gaddis. “Implementing NEMA’s recommendations will support our current and future energy needs through a grid with the resilience to withstand outages, recover quickly from extreme weather or other disruptions, maintain high quality service, and reduce energy consumption.”



In January, the White House announced the undertaking of a QER to shape long-term national energy policy. Development of the QER is being managed by the Department of Energy’s policy office, along with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the White House Domestic Policy Office. The QER is being undertaken in three phases: (1) energy transmission, storage, distribution, and resilience in 2014; (2) supply and demand issues in 2015; and (3) supply chain issues in 2016. Click here for NEMA’s entire QER submission.



NEMA is the association of electrical equipment and medical imaging manufacturers, founded in 1926 and headquartered in Rosslyn, Virginia. Its 400-plus member companies manufacture a diverse set of products including power transmission and distribution equipment, lighting systems, factory automation and control systems, and medical diagnostic imaging systems. Total U.S. shipments for electroindustry products exceeds $100 billion annually.



National Electrical Manufacturers Association

Visit our website at www.nema.org

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