If you are looking for a report that provides a comprehensive overview of today's electricity markets, the principal causes of coal and nuclear retirements and the issues surrounding electric grid reliability and resilience, check out the Department of Energy's Staff Report to the Secretary on Electricity Markets and Reliability. The grid study identifies low-cost and abundant natural gas as the main contributor to coal and nuclear plant retirements, but also notes other factors that include relatively flat electric demand, environmental regulations and the growth of intermittent renewable energy that is heavily subsidized. According to the report, renewable energy negatively affects the economics of baseload power plants, primarily due to "wholesale market impacts and distortions" from state renewable portfolio standards and federal tax credits for wind and solar.
The report makes eight recommendations, including directing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to expedite the study of wholesale market structures; promoting research and development for grid resilience, reliability, modernization and renewables integration technologies; and examining infrastructure permitting and regulatory processes. It recommends that FERC accelerate efforts to improve energy price formation in wholesale power markets and create fuel-neutral markets that adequately compensate resources for essential reliability services to the grid.
