ScottMadden, Inc., one of North America’s leading management consulting firms specializing in energy, recently released the white paper, “Spinning our Wheels: How Nuclear Plant Closures Threaten to Offset Gains from Renewables.” This report explores how the progress created by solar and wind carbon-free generation is “at risk” of being reversed due to early retirement of currently operating nuclear plants.
The U.S. electric-generation sector has been working to address climate change, focusing primarily on investments in renewables. Despite the significant growth in renewable energy in the past decade, meaningful gains in carbon-free generation are in jeopardy. As existing well-running nuclear power plants in the United States face early retirement, the industry is falling back on output from existing fossil plants. In order to project how this could affect the clean energy future of the United States, ScottMadden analyzed “at-risk” nuclear assets in correlation with the potential growth in renewables.
“The white paper focuses on how important all sources of carbon-free generation contribute to achieve an overall goal of decarbonizing the energy sector,” comments Sean Lawrie, partner at ScottMadden.
For more information on the potential loss of carbon-free generation and its implications, please contact us.
About ScottMadden’s Energy Practice
We know energy from the ground up. Since 1983, we have served as energy consultants for hundreds of utilities, large and small, including all of the top 20. We focus on Transmission & Distribution, the Grid Edge, Generation, Energy Markets, Rates & Regulation, Enterprise Sustainability, and Corporate Services. Our broad, deep utility expertise is not theoretical—it is experience based. We have helped our clients develop and implement strategies, improve critical operations, reorganize departments and entire companies, and implement myriad initiatives.