Overview:
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The Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) is the Department of Energy’s lead agency for managing the nation’s delivery of electricity to homes, businesses and government buildings. OE oversees maintenance and improvement to the US electrical grid to minimize the risk of large blackouts, such as the one that hit large parts of the Midwest and Northeast in 2003. In the wake of that outage, the Bush administration pushed through a controversial provision in the 2005 energy bill that gave the federal government the ability to override local and state government objections to building new power lines and transmission towers.
History:
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On August 14, 2003, the US experienced one of the worst power disruptions in the nation’s history. Large portions of the American Midwest and Northeast, as well as Ontario, Canada, were hit by a massive blackout that affected more than 50 million people and caused between $4 billion and $10 billion in damages in the US.
Only five months earlier, the US Department of Energy had created two offices to handle different aspects of electrical energy delivery: the Office of Electric Transmission and Distribution (TD) and the Office of Energy Assurance (EA). TD was charged with advancing new energy technologies to improve the performance of the US electrical grid, while EA coordinated federal response to energy crises and developed strategies to better protect the electrical grid from blackouts.
During the August blackout, EA staff helped power companies bring power back online to parts of New York City. TD staff worked with a US/Canada Power System Outage Task Force to analyze the causes of the blackout and recommend future steps to avoid a reoccurrence. The cause of the blackout was ultimately blamed on FirstEnergy Corporation, an Ohio power company, which federal investigators blamed for not cutting off power to the Cleveland area to avoid the cascading effect that brought down power across other states and Canada.
Despite these efforts by EA and TD, the Bush administration decided, as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, to consolidate the work of both offices into a new organization: the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE), led by a director. Along with elements of the DOE Fossil Energy office, OE became the federal government’s lead agency for all matters pertaining to the delivery of electricity.
The 2005 energy bill included among its many provisions a controversial move to force private and public landowners to give up their property for the building of new electrical towers and transmission lines designed to expand the power capacity of the national grid (see Controversies).
In 2007, OE was elevated in status when its director, Kevin Kolevar, was made an assistant secretary.
Utility Could Have Halted '03 Blackout, Panel Says (by Richard Pérez-Peña, New York Times)
What it Does:
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Located within the Department of Energy, the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) is in charge of overseeing the availability of electricity throughout the country. OE makes sure the US electrical grid is working properly, both now and in the future as new technologies become available to better provide electrical service to American homes, businesses and governments. OE funds research and development programs that explore new means of storing and delivering electricity. The office also works to identify any infrastructure problems that could potentially cause large-scale power outages, such as the 2003 blackout. Working with other federal agencies, OE prepares for responding to any outages that might stem from terrorist-related attacks on the electric grid.
OE’s operating structure consists of three primary divisions that carry out the office’s myriad responsibilities. Those three divisions, and their subordinate offices and programs, are as follows:
The Electric Power Systems Research and Developmentdivision focuses on developing “next generation” equipment, software, tools and techniques to help modernize the electric grid. Projects are planned and implemented in collaboration with other federal programs, utility companies, equipment manufacturers, local and state governments, national laboratories and universities. R&D efforts include:
· High Temperature Superconductivity (HTS) helps develop high temperature superconducting wires and electric equipment to modernize the electricity grid and improve its performance.
· Visualization and Controls (V&C) systems allow operators to detect disturbances in the electric grid and take action before problems cause widespread outages. V&C research efforts involve control systems security, smart grid and transmission reliability programs.
· Renewable and Distributed Systems Integration (RDSI) programs are geared towards increasing available power in the grid during peak load periods. RDSI programs involve research in the areas of climate change, distributed energy and renewable energy integration.
· Energy Storage and Power Electronics (ES&PE) research is being conducted to lower costs in capital, installation and operations and maintenance for existing storage systems. Building on advances in semiconductor materials, power electronic building blocks are being created to replace traditional electromagnetic and electromechanical ones. Some examples are available through the energy storage program.
TheInfrastructure Security & Energy Restoration (ISER) division works with the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and other national, regional, state and local governments and commercial organizations to deal with emergencies affecting the electric grid. ISER analyzes infrastructure vulnerabilities and recommends preventive measures, helps other agencies prepare for power outages, carries out emergency energy operations during a declared emergency or national security special event in accordance with the National Response Plan and develops and maintains a national energy cyber security program. ISER utilizes the National Energy Technology Laboratory to assist with research efforts.
The Permitting, Siting & Analysis (PSA) division coordinates OE’s policy-related activities that include:
· Coordination of Federal Transmission Authorizations to streamline the approval process involving all pertinent federal agencies and related environmental reviews as part of siting interstate electric transmission projects.
· Energy Corridors on Federal Lands to prepare a Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for plans to develop energy transport corridors on federal lands in 11 Western States. This program works with the Bureau of Land Management and other federal agencies.
· National Electric Transmission Congestion Study to analyze every three years the Eastern and Western Interconnects to identify major electric transmission constraints.
· National Interest Electric Transmission Corridorsto oversee efforts to create the Mid-Atlantic Area National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor and the Southwest Area National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor.
· Presidential Permits and Export Authorizationsto issue permits for the construction, connection, operation and/or maintenance of electric transmission facilities at the international borders with Canada and Mexico.
· State and Regional Policy Assistance
to provide technical assistance and other support to help states bolster electricity markets across the country. Key areas include
and
programs.
Where Does the Money Go:
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When it comes to representing the interests of the electrical industry, the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) is the biggest player that OE must deal with. Through its lobbying arm, the Alliance of Energy Suppliers, EEI represents approximately 70% of all electricity companies in matters before Congress and other federal offices.
Another key industry stakeholder is the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, a trade group that sets standards by which utilities operate to ensure the interconnection of power grids across the country.
Because the United States imports and exports electricity to Canada and Mexico, power companies from those two countries are also key participants in OE activities. These foreign electricity providers include:
· ATCO Electric - Alberta, Canada
· ATCO Power - Alberta, Canada
· Altalink - Alberta, Canada
· BC Hydro - British Columbia, Canada
· British Columbia Transmission Corp - Vancouver, Canada
· Brookfield Power - Quebec, Canada
· Direct Energy (Centrica NA) - Ontario, Canada
· ENMAX - Alberta, Canada
· Hydro One - Ontario, Canada
· Hydro-Quebec - Quebec, Canada
· Nova Scotia Power Inc - Canada
· Ontario Power Generation - Ontario, Canada
· TransAlta - Alberta, Canada
· TransCanada - Alberta, Canada
· Comision Federal de Electricidad
- Mexico
Controversies:
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Power Grab
When Congress passed the 2005 energy bill, a provision was included that allowed the federal government to force state, local and private landholders to sell property that was deemed necessary for the creation of new transmission lines and towers. The new electrical infrastructure would help form newly-created National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors pushed by the Bush administration to relieve congestion in key areas of the US electric grid.
The administration’s plan has been met with opposition from both Democrats and Republicans, environmental groups, historical societies and state and local governments. Traditionally, state, local and regional governments have primarily determined the routes of power lines. But under the corridors plan, the federal government would be able to bypass state and local opposition by allowing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) – not states – to be the final arbiter of where the lines are built. In October 2007, OE announced that the first two corridors would be built in the mid-Atlantic region that includes counties in 8 states and the District of Colombia and a Southwest corridor that covers Southern California and parts of Arizona.
Opponents have cited several concerns while opposing the building of the corridors. First, the new electrical towers would be sited through some of the most scenic and historic areas in the eastern half of the country. Officials from Virginia are concerned the mid-Atlantic corridor could impact 11 historic districts, one national historic landmark, 19 state or national historic sites, seven Civil War battlefields and the Appalachian Trail. Some of the most famous sites of the Civil War – Manassas, Antietem, and Gettysburg – lie within the Mid-Atlantic corridor.
The mid-Atlantic corridor would also undermine Northeast states’ efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by causing them to rely more on cheaper coal-fired power from the Midwest, rather than cleaner but higher cost electric generators fired by natural gas.
US Trumps States over Siting Power Lines: Designated as part of a national power 'corridor' Tuesday, Virginia could see transmission towers near Civil War sites (by Mark Clayton, Christian Science Monitor)
Mindlesser and Mindlesser (by Carl Pope, Huffington Post)
US Lists Places Where It Could Force New Power Lines
(by Matthew L. Wald, New York Times)
- Table of Contents
- Overview
- History
- What it Does
- Where Does the Money Go
- Controversies
- Suggested Reforms
- Comments
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Founded: 2005
Annual Budget: $138.5 million
Employees: 80
Official Website: http://www.oe.energy.gov/
Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability
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