Open Letter to Bill Gates on Innovation in Competitive Electricity Markets
Mr. Gates,
The COMPETE Coalition – a diverse group of electricity customers, suppliers, innovators and thought leaders – takes note of your recent public comments critical of markets’ failures to develop drugs for the world’s poor and called for innovation and "energy miracles" to address global climate change. COMPETE wants you to know that innovation is thriving in our nation’s organized competitive electric markets, especially when compared to areas of the country under monopoly market systems, and invites you to learn more about the transformative power of electricity market competition.
Our nation's organized competitive markets, which serve two-thirds of the U.S. population and support the same proportion of U.S. GDP, are incubators for innovative energy products and services that respond directly to customer preferences. For example, regional electricity market operators have installed the most advanced systems in the industry for network management and are on the cutting edge of technological advancements to create a"smarter" grid.
In your remarks you called for better energy storage technology. Flywheels are among the latest innovations in energy storage. The largest flywheel energy storage project in the world is under development in New York's competitive electricity market by Beacon Power. A COMPETE supporter, Beacon's business model is based on open competitive electric markets.
A pilot program to facilitate plug-in hybrid electric vehicles is under way in the Mid-Atlantic region’s competitive electricity market. Vehicle-to-Grid technology utilizes the stored energy in electric vehicle batteries to contribute electricity back to the grid when needed.
Organized competitive markets have moved us from an era of energy conservation to truly managing energy consumption through innovation. Price signals in competitive markets allow regional grid operators and consumers to utilize demand response programs and enable consumers to receive payments for making planned reductions in their electricity use during times of high system demand. In our nation's largest electricity market - PJM Interconnection - enough megawatts of demand response regularly clears the market to avoid the equivalent of a large power plant.
Furthermore, renewable energy thrives in our nation's competitive electric markets. Organized competitive markets provide large geographic footprints with a broad array of generation resources to accommodate the variable output of clean renewable energy generation and foster the spread of these technologies. Over the past decade, nearly three times as much wind energy has been produced in competitive markets as in monopoly markets and, as of 2009, nearly 80 percent of wind generation was located within the organized competitive electricity markets.
COMPETE believes a market-based approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and producing clean electricity offers the most innovative and economically efficient means of addressing climate change. We hope you will be interested in learning more and ultimately join us in advocating a better future by fostering competition in our nation’s electric markets.
Federico Pena
Co-Chair, COMPETE Coalition
Former U.S. Secretary of Energy
The COMPETE Coalition represents more than 400 electricity stakeholders, employing nearly seven million American workers, including customers, suppliers, generators, transmission owners, trade associations, environmental organizations and economic development corporations - all of whom support well-structured competitive electricity markets for the benefit of consumers.
