DURING the past 12 months, we have all witnessed some remarkable events pertaining to electricity security. Last summer, California experienced rolling blackouts, while Texas recently suffered the same fate.
While they were arguably not the single cause for either problem, renewables—specifically wind and/or solar—contributed greatly to these failures. This is an inherent problem when intermittent sources of electricity are added to the grid, while highly reliable non-intermittent sources are removed.
We now have a political party in the Commonwealth of Virginia that has openly stated its desire to make Virginia use California as the model when it comes to our electricity generation. Unfortunately, our politicians have also legislated those goals through the adoption of the Virginia Clean Economy Act, commonly referred to as VCEA.
They have done so even though the technology does not exist to guarantee a reliable grid when it is predominantly fed by intermittent sources, which are anything but environmentally friendly.
With this legislation, they strive to make renewables the sole source of our electricity. Should we go down the path that they promote, much more than just our soon-to-be increasing electric bills will be adversely affected.
To implement the plan, billions of additional dollars must be spent. As a result, we will also be able to enjoy much higher electricity rates, such as residents of California (91 percent higher), New England (average 75 percent higher), Germany (226 percent higher), Denmark (183 percent higher) and Belgium (166 percent higher) do now.
