“The Electric Supply Chain Act would direct the Department of Energy to assess the power generation and transmission supply chains and report to Congress within one year.”
Why this is important: Just as many electric utilities are facing unprecedented load growth in their service territories as a result of data center construction, increased use of electricity by customers’ homes, businesses and vehicles, and population increases – as reflected in recent Integrated Resource Plan and Rate Case filings by utilities in Florida, Georgia, and North and South Carolina – the supply of certain critical component parts needed for grid enhancements has been “grid-locked” or delayed. As a result, the U.S. House Energy Subcommittee passed legislation, supported by Representative Bob Latta of Ohio, that has been passed on to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. If ultimately passed by the U.S. Congress, the Electric Supply Chain Act (Act) would direct the Secretary of the Department of Energy (DOE) to evaluate “any trends, risks, and vulnerabilities in the supply, demand, and availability of components that are necessary for the construction or deployment of facilities that generate or transmit electricity.” The Energy Secretary would then have to submit periodic assessments of the DOE’s evaluations, as well as a report to Congress on its findings within one year of the legislation’s enactment.
The intent of this legislation is to be proactive with respect to how the supply chain issues are affecting utilities and to identify measures to address those issues as quickly and early as possible. This, in turn, is intended to enhance domestic grid reliability. To achieve these goals, the Act allows manufacturers of grid components and supply chain vendors to provide information to the DOE and energy sector as a whole in relation to their own capacities, growth, and shortfalls. To the extent issues related to “foreign entities of concern” are raised, the DOE can address those head on.
One supply chain issue impacting grid security that was identified by the energy and transportation security nonprofit organization Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE) and its Center for Critical Mineral Strategy was the supply of minerals needed for the manufacture of certain component parts. Some of the critical minerals needed include aluminum, cobalt, copper, electrical steel, fluorine, gallium, graphite, lithium, magnesium, nickel, platinum, silicon, silicon carbide and certain rare earth elements. The Center’s Executive Director Abigail Hunter noted that the Act, if passed, “will unearth supply chain vulnerabilities affecting [the U.S.’s] bulk power system and midstream challenges to process those minerals at home.”
It is likely that, if passed, the Act will generate more domestic production of certain key components, which will support construction of new generation facilities and upgrades to existing facilities. We will follow the progress the Act makes in its journey to become law and report back. --- Stephanie U. Eaton
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