Power: The Future of Fuel Diversity!

My career began in a nuclear power plant as a reactor operator in training and I was very nervous about my future, but never about the industry. Every experienced person I knew said, "Nuclear is the future". The industry was definitely moving to a mostly nuclear generation fleet and getting my licenses would set me up for a "job for life". I believed and stayed.

Life does not always go as planned and I found myself moving into other forms of power generation. Over the years, I have worked in many forms of generation assets that were fueled by a wide variety of sources; coal, heavy oil, diesel, natural gas, landfill gas, hydro (dam and pump storage), and in the last decade or so wind, solar, fuel cells, and battery storage.

For more than 100 years, sustainability in the power generation industry has revolved around fuel diversity and the predictable characteristics of those fuels during the energy conversion process. I never thought that fuel diversity would ever be threatened because it is absolutely essential to sustainability, fuel costs security (as one fuel cost increases, others fall), and ultimately cost control where it matters the most, the customer’s meter.

In recent years, our headfirst dive into more and more renewables has created an inevitable side effect; electrical energy from non-predictable fuels as a primary source! Capturing the wind and sun light to make electricity is a fascinating and wonderful process and we have gotten very good at it, but we cannot rely entirely on it for our electricity because the supply does not always align with the demand.

Public opinion is forcing the minimization of fuel diversity as part of long-term integrated resource planning. Many utilities try to hold on to the factual science surrounding fuel diversity, but it’s an extreme uphill battle with the regulators. Nearly all independent power producers only consider using wind, solar, and storage.

Without fuel diversity we move closer and closer to unreliable energy supplies and ever-higher prices. Even when wind and solar are coupled with expensive storage assets they will not be the affordable answer to our continuous instantaneous energy demands. These fuels are not always available and will never be fully dispatchable. Unless we are willing to go without electricity in the dark and during calm winds, we have to rely on other fuel sources like nuclear and natural gas.

The brief ‘FirstEnergy Solutions asks Ohio Supreme Court to block proposed referendum on nuke bailout law’ by HJ Mai provides an excellent explanation of this debate.

For those of us that are deeply familiar with the power generation business it is easy to see and understand what is happening. Some people are starting to get very nervous about relying on only a few non-dispatchable fuels.

The brief provides hope that some regulators are starting to realize that closing nuclear generation assets and trying to, or expecting to, replace them with renewables is not realistic and potentially devastating to the energy supply industry. The greatest negative effect will ultimately be to the public at large.

So why has the State of Ohio legislature enacted measure to subsidize the State's nuclear fleet?

Ultimately, it comes down to having the courage to accept the reality of renewables and making decisions that stabilize the State's energy supply. These officials recognize that by retaining fuel diversity, they also provide a supply of predictable, clean, and stable power on demand. It’s also important to realize that nuclear is the cleanest form of renewable energy available to mankind.

Let’s consider the differences between France and Germany…

France gets 75% of its energy from nuclear and their emissions have been dropping for decades, while Germany is closing all nuclear facilities and replacing them with other forms of generation and their emissions are increasing. It’s a fact!

In most cases what replaces the clean nuclear energy is almost always some form of generation that is fueled by natural gas. Contrary to popular public perception, natural gas is not pollution free, it just gets a free pass in the court of public opinion because it is plentiful, cheap, and cleaner than coal. Whereas, nuclear is a much cleaner process than gas!

Fuel diversity has been the foundation of the utility industry since it began. In the late 60’s and early 70’s we realized we needed to stop polluting our world, so laws were passed and the industry started to change. We have complied with every rule enacted by the federal government and cleaned up the industry through a wide variety of efforts.

We cleaned up the air emissions from coal, created coal gasification, nearly stopped using fuel oils, and shifted towards more gas. Additionally, in the last 15-20 years we have included wind and solar on ever increasing scale, but some believe it’s not enough. So, what do we do?

We utilize every clean fuel source we have and do it in a reasonable, safe, and responsible manner.

For those of us who work in the industry, we owe it to the general public and government officials to speak up and share the truth of the science behind all viable energy sources. It’s vital to create a case in support of fuel diversity and present it in the court of public opinion.

Because we all want a cleaner and safer planet… without being left in the dark.