Two environmental groups are raising concerns about PSE&G’s nearly $4 billion plan to harden the utility’s infrastructure to protect it from future storms. Members of the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club and the New Jersey Environmental Federation say the plan is not environmentally friendly and they’re trying to intervene. Director of the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club Jeff Tittel told NJ Today Senior Correspondent Desirée Taylor that while his organization isn’t against the utility upgrading its infrastructure, members believe PSE&G could do it in a better way.
While Tittel said there’s nothing wrong with PSE&G wanting to implement its “Energy Strong” plan, he said energy should also be made smarter and better. “We design our utility systems to include energy efficiency so we will use less power. It not only saves ratepayers money, it means that when we go to rebuild or to harden the systems, we don’t have to build as many wires, our substations don’t have to be as large,” he said.
Tittel said he is also concerned that PSE&G isn’t using distributive generation, which he explained happens when a company decentralizes the power grid and has multiple sources of electricity. “By decentralizing the grid, again, you don’t need to spend as much money on substations and power lines and hardening because you have more sources of power. And then the final is called smart grid that as you rebuild the grid, you do it in a smarter way, better insulation so you lose less power,” he said.
According to Tittel, 20 percent of the electricity is lost through the grid itself not being properly insulated. He said the smart grid will allow the utility to move power more quickly and easily from places with extra power to the places that need it.
“Unfortunately when we look at the PSE&G plan, it’s all about just elevating and hardening without looking at making the system actually better. And actually in the long term, cheaper because again if you design a system that’s more efficient that is actually smarter, you don’t have to spend as much money rebuilding,” Tittel said.
PSE&G representatives say the company is a leader in energy efficiency and it empathizes with concerns. Tittel said the public needs to be involved in the process, not just PSE&G and its allies. “Not just us, but other citizen groups should also be involved because when you’re talking about almost $4 billion of ratepayer money and how it’s spent becomes very important,” he said.
Tittel said he’s not opposed to PSE&G making improvements. “We want to see the grid made more resilient and better. But we think the way you do it is by reducing demand through energy efficiency, which actually saves ratepayers money because again you don’t have to put as much into the rebuilding by doing it, but also it means that you don’t have to buy as much power or generate as much power and saves ratepayers money because they’re using less power,” he explained.
In addition to saving money on power generation, Tittel said PSE&G could create more jobs with distributive generation. “Solar alone in New Jersey has 5,000 jobs and we have more than a gigawatt, which is 1,000 megawatts, of solar online already,” he said.
Tittel explained that by using different sources of power, like solar, wind and heat, grid protection is increased. “When you have one big plant for half a million people, one line goes down and everybody’s out. But when you have 25 or 30 sources, maybe only a few people will be out versus everybody,” he said.
The Sierra Club would like the utility to make improvements. “We’re not against what PSE&G wants to do. We just think they could do it a lot better by combining it with energy efficiency, conservation, distributive generation and smart grid,” Tittel said.