Iowa Senator Slams Energy Chief For Grid Study Undermining Wind Energy

Iowa's Republican senator on Wednesday raised concerns that U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry has commissioned a "hastily developed" study of the reliability of the electric grid that appears "geared to undermine" the wind energy industry.

In a letter sent to Perry, Senator Chuck Grassley asked a series of questions about the 60-day study he commissioned.  Grassley also said the results were pre-determined and would show that intermittent energy sources like wind make the grid unstable.

Last month, Perry ordered the grid study and said Obama-era policies offering incentives for the deployment of renewable energy had come at the expense of energy sources like coal and nuclear.

"I'm concerned that a hastily developed study, which appears to pre-determine that variable, renewable resources such as wind have undermined grid reliability, will not be viewed as credible, relevant or worthy of valuable taxpayer resources," wrote Grassley, whose state is home to a booming wind energy industry.

He pointed to a previous study conducted a few years ago by the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which took two years to complete, not two months.

Grassley said Iowa gets 36 percent of its electricity from wind and that its largest utility, MidAmerican Energy Co, is on track to generate 90 percent of its electricity from wind in a few years.  Grassley said MidAmerican has the ninth lowest electricity rates in the country.

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