Pace of Power Plant Closures Causes Grid Concerns, Official Says

Regulatory gaps can imperil power grid reliability when power companies make the decision to shut down plants, a Midwest power grid official told federal regulators Thursday.

“Nobody has, really, the responsibility for: Is this retirement going to cause a resource adequacy problem,” said Jennifer Curran, senior vice president of planning and operations and chief compliance officer for the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO). The Indiana-based regional transmission organization coordinates the flow of electricity to 42 million people across 15 states and the Canadian province of Manitoba.

State utility commissions have some oversight of the power mix through integrated resource planning, ...