The Governor’s Energy Advisory Council approves its first set of recommendations for consideration in the updated Delaware Energy Plan.
The council passed all 35 recommendations from two of its four working groups – Environmental Justice and Energy Equity and Grid Modernization.
One recommendation calls for establishing an energy equity framework – council member Bahareh van Boekhold explains this will help ensure data collection on the renewable energy needs of vulnerable communities are prioritized.
“This energy equity framework is basically defining who, what, how and then what are the metrics and indicators for us to track progress," she said.
Other recommendations approved include reducing barriers for low-and-moderate-income customers to adopt electric vehicles, supporting the transition of public transit vehicles to renewable fuels and identifying Delaware heat islands and how to increase heat resilience.
The Grid Modernization working group recommends Delaware continue to study and potentially bolster its natural gas infrastructure as the primary energy backup during the state’s moves to renewables.
“One of the other dispatchable energy sources of hydrogen – it just isn’t going to be ready at scale in enough time, whereas we do have an existing natural gas infrastructure," said Grid Modernization Chair Steve Hegedus.
He goes on to explain that solar and wind energy are only dispatchable – or ready on demand – when they are paired with a battery. Natural gas would be readily available when there is a lack of sun or wind to produce energy.
Other Grid Modernization recommendations include identifying "hot spots" where grid infrastructure will be most susceptible to climate change and sea level rise in Delaware, encouraging investments in EV charging stations in economically disadvantaged communities and studying the state's electrical storage needs and setting incremental goals to achieve them.
GEAC will hear the last two working group’s recommendations – Renewable Energy and Clean Technologies and Energy Efficiency and Electrification – on Tuesday.
Once all the recommendations are finalized, the DNREC State Energy Office will use them to create the updated Delaware Energy Plan, which will go back to the public for input.
