Americans face mass blackouts, rising costs from climate mandates, says study

A study published by the North Dakota Transmission Authority (NDTA) last month has found that American taxpayers are likely to face rolling blackouts and heavy costs due to the Biden administration’s recent climate mandates.

The EPA's new rule

In April, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a rule referred to as the Power Plant Greenhouse Gas Rule. It consists of four regulations that target state power grids, which now must conform to new performance standards. These standards, according to the EPA, will reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. The ultimate goal is to shut down fossil-fueled electrical plants and replace them with ones powered by so-called clean energy such as wind and solar.

Study: EPA’s mandate will cause rolling blackouts

But a recent study from the NDTA says the EPA based its rule on flawed reasoning. The EPA looked at whether there are sufficient resources to convert the electrical grids into more environmentally friendly versions and concluded there are. It did not, however, conduct hourly reliability stress tests, which check whether a power grid can meet the demand for electricity during any given hour of the day.

Had the EPA done these tests, says the NDTA’s study, it would have found that the electrical grids powered by clean energy will not be able to meet the electricity needs of residents. Power plants are likely to become overwhelmed, leading to rolling blackouts.

Specifically, the NDTA studied the power grids in the Midwestern and Southern United States, which are managed by the Midcontinent Independent Systems Operator (MISO) and the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), respectively.

“We determined that the closure of lignite-fired powered power plants in the MISO & SPP footprints would increase the severity of projected future capacity shortfalls, i.e. rolling blackouts, in the MISO & SPP systems even if these resources are replaced with wind, solar, battery storage, and natural gas plants,” said the study.

Climate mandate will increase costs for taxpayers

Blackouts come at a cost called Value of Lost Load (VoLL), which is the loss that consumers suffer from an interruption in electricity. The NDTA estimates that over the next 27 years, taxpayers in the Midwest will experience an additional 377,300 hours in blackouts, with a VoLL cost of $3.77 billion.

In the area covered by the SPP, American taxpayers are likely to suffer 8.3 million hours of blackouts, resulting in a VoLL cost of $83 billion.

All that is in addition to the $447.5 billion it will cost taxpayers to construct new clean energy electrical grids.