June 18, 2018 – Spearheaded by New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, the inaugural meeting of the 2019 Energy Master Plan Committee convened on June 18th. Grace Strom Power, NJ BPU Chief of Staff, was named as the Chair of the Committee.
Many of us applaud Governor Phil Murphy’s clean energy initiatives thus far. The new 2019 Energy Master Plan (“2019 EMP”) is a very important step towards 100% clean energy by 2050.
In particular, we note that two of the five areas of focus for the 2019 EMP are “Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure” and “Building a Modern Grid”. In our view, these are important areas of focus because regardless of how power is generated (off-shore wind, solar, etc.) the energy sources must still be connected to millions of end users. Unfortunately, the distribution system for at least one New Jersey electric distribution company is antiquated with wires, transformers and substations that are over 50, 60 and even 70 years old. The result is that when the wind blows or snow falls, there is significant power interruption to many electric consumers. This is one of the reasons we formed CHARGE.
We look forward to the progress of the Committee and the 2019 EMP.
