Cooperative Living August 2015 - 25

IT'S YOUR BUSINESS by Justin LaBerge, Contributing Writer
The Electric Grid Connects Us All
T
he energy industry is in the
midst of an unprecedented period
of transition. As this energy
revolution unfolds, a modern, interconnected
and reliable electric grid
has never been more important.
In April, Elon Musk, the charismatic
billionaire CEO of Tesla, introduced
a new lithium ion battery called the
PowerWall. In typical fashion for this
brash tech entrepreneur, Musk paints
a rosy picture of a future where
homeowners disconnect from the
power grid and meet all their power
needs through a combination of
rooftop solar and battery storage.
It's exciting to imagine a future where
renewable energy systems will allow
us to generate and store electricity in
a reliable and cost-effective way.
Though there are many working hard
to realize that goal - including
electric cooperatives - it is still a long
way from reality.
Unlike gasoline or propane,
electricity is a form of energy that is
difficult to store in large quantities.
Batteries can hold enough energy to
power small devices for moderate
amounts of time, but existing battery technology
cannot practically and economically store
enough energy to power larger items like
appliances and TVs for longer durations.
We don't know when the cost, size, quality
and reliability of battery storage will improve
to the point that it becomes a viable option to
help meet our energy needs. If and when that
happens, it has the potential to transform
countless aspects of our lives, from our smartphones
to our cars to our electric system.
The lack of a viable option for large-scale
energy storage creates another challenge for
power companies. Electricity supply and
demand must always be perfectly matched.
If you're a farmer, imagine what your job
would be like if you couldn't store your product
- not even for a short period of time - until
a truck could come to pick it up. Imagine if the
grain you grow or the milk your cows produce
had to instantly go from harvest to consumption.
Lastly, imagine that the demand for your
product never stops and varies wildly throughout
the day, but you always had to produce
August 2015/www.co-opliving.com
By staying connected to the electric
grid, your home is part of a larger
system. You can usually feed
extra energy back into it when you
don't need it, but more importantly,
the grid is there to make sure you
always have enough power when
you need it.
In addition, the interconnected
nature of the grid means that when
there's a problem with a generator
on the system - whether that's a
homeowner's rooftop solar array or
a large power plant supplying energy
to hundreds of thousands - there
are plenty of other generation
resources available to step in and
quickly meet the need.
In some ways, the electric grid is
the ultimate example of a cooperative.
Every power company, from
electric co-ops to investor-owned utilities
to government-run systems, must
work together across state lines to
ensure there is always enough energy
to power our lives.
Electric cooperatives are leaders
in the renewable energy revolution.
Three of the top four solar utilities in
the exact right amount with no shortages or
overages. That's what electric cooperatives
do every day to keep the lights on.
To meet this challenge, power companies
rely on a complex and interconnected electric
grid to deliver power to homes and businesses
across America the instant that it's needed.
The electricity powering the lamp that you're
using to read this article was generated a
fraction of a second before it was delivered to
your home - most likely at a power plant far
away from where you live.
These same challenges are true for people
who want to generate electricity at their
homes or businesses through technologies
such as solar panels, small wind turbines and
manure digesters that produce methane.
It's unlikely that the amount of available sunshine,
wind or manure is always perfectly
matched to your immediate energy needs.
Sometimes the sun is shining brightly when
nobody is home, but most people still want
electricity after the sun goes down. That's
where the electric grid comes into play.
America are electric cooperatives. The vast
majority of wind turbines in this country are
built in rural areas served by cooperatives. In
fact, America's electric cooperatives support
an entire team of researchers who work on
issues related to renewable energy, power
reliability and future technology.
Great leaders always look to the future but
remain grounded in practical reality. Great
leaders look out for everybody they serve
and strive to ensure their actions will serve the
greater good. These are the same qualities
that make electric cooperatives special.
Though our nation's energy future is
uncertain, there's no doubt that America's
electric cooperatives are helping to write it -
and doing so with our members' best interests
driving every action we take. n
Justin LaBerge writes on consumer and cooperative
affairs for the National Rural Electric
Cooperative Association, the Arlington, Va.based
service arm of the nation's 900-plus consumer-owned,
not-for-profit electric cooperatives.
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Cooperative Living August 2015

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