HEADLINE: “NJ BPU Commissioner Calls Out Dems for Failed Energy Policies”, By Mary-Anna Holden

“New Jersey’s energy policy has “gone off the rails” due to the lack of fact-based planning. The former commissioner, Mary-Anna Holden, should know. She’s someone with a front-row seat…”

NJ BPU Commissioner Calls Out Dems for Failed Energy Policies

ELECTRICAL GENERATION | INDUSTRYWIDE ISSUES | REGULATION

According to a former New Jersey Board of Public Utilities commissioner who was first appointed by Republican Gov. Chris Christie and later reappointed by Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy, New Jersey’s energy policy has “gone off the rails” due to the lack of fact-based planning. The former commissioner, Mary-Anna Holden, should know. She’s someone with a front-row seat to the state’s energy operations. In an op-ed, Holden says ratepayers in the Garden State are paying sky-high electricity prices due to an over-reliance on intermittent (unreliable) renewable energy sources, including solar and wind.

Holden’s op-ed is stellar. She is the consummate insider, having served in both Republican and Democrat administrations. Her aim is not political. Her aim in exposing the lunacy that is happening in NJ is to protect ratepayers from high prices and blackouts. Her arguments are irrefutable.

As energy costs in New Jersey continue to rise, customers are rightfully asking: Why? The truth is that this state’s energy policy has gone off the rails. I’ve seen good intentions turn into costly failures when they lack fact-based planning.

Managing the electrical grid is complex, and energy delivery must be reliable, staying within tight tolerances of voltage and frequency, or blackouts occur. In other words, rushing to transform the grid to 100% renewable energy is simply not sustainable. An aggressive push to replace dependable, dispatchable energy sources like natural gas and nuclear with intermittent renewables is driving up costs and puts grid stability at risk.

Let’s break it down.

What do you need to know about NJ’s energy supplies?

New Jersey’s grid is part of a regional transmission network called PJM. It maintains and balances power with very tight voltage and frequency tolerance, to prevent blackouts.

Infinite renewables and their instantaneous interconnection will not replace dispatchable power in PJM or anywhere else. When PJM sees a shortage, it calls out for more generation. You cannot call wind or solar to generate.

Solar works only when the sun shines. Wind helps only when it blows. Battery storage, at best, can store energy for about four hours, which is not nearly enough to power homes and businesses through long nights or calm weather.

One of the most important factors when weighing cost-effective generation of electricity is capacity factor. That’s the actual output of a generating source over time. It is a critical concept that is continually ignored in this debate over skyrocketing energy costs.

Consider that solar has a capacity factor of 8%; 12% if you’re lucky. This means that installing 100 MW of solar panels might get you 8 to 12 MW of power. To claim 100 MW of solar power, the sun would have to shine brightly for 24 hours, with no cloud cover, and thus work at 100% of its advertised capacity. Offshore wind was predicted to have maybe a 30% capacity factor.

By contrast, a natural gas combined-cycle power plant’s capacity factor averages 64%; 55% for older plants. A nuclear power plant is above 90%. This is why they provide reliable, baseload power for our state. We need a lot more of it, produced in state, if we’re going to aspire to the lofty goals of electrification and reduce the importation of energy from the grid, which raises prices in the PJM capacity market.

Location of generating resources is also an important factor, along with capacity factor, as it is best to have generation close to the load, although that’s not always possible or cost-efficient.

Given the attractiveness of New Jersey’s solar incentives, the PJM interconnection queue is clogged with speculative proposals that seek evaluation and delay real, viable projects.

Speeding up interconnections of solar, however, will not provide the resource adequacy needed to maintain a robust grid and reliable service. Solar and wind do not provide the inertia, or spinning reserves, the grid relies upon to maintain its balance. Those sources can only convert to energy depending upon weather conditions.

Consumers want affordability and reliability — not lofty promises that lead to higher bills and blackouts. Yet the state continues to heavily incentivize solar and wind projects.

Governments that bet too heavily on renewables solely, as Spain did, touting that it was running on 100% alternative energy, surely were regretting closure of their coal-fired plant when a catastrophic cascading outage in Spain, Portugal and parts of France occurred last month. Spain’s grid operator admitted this was due to a sudden drop in solar power that triggered an inability to stabilize the frequency.

Here in New Jersey, high-load operations like data centers, water and wastewater treatment plants and even cannabis farms are placing increasing pressure on a strained grid, driving up costs and competing for out-of-state firm generating sources.

New Jersey needs serious investment in natural gas and nuclear energy generation

We need serious investment in in-state generation — natural gas and nuclear. We can no longer rely on neighboring states to export dispatchable power to us. In-state sources would deliver dependable power and help keep prices in check.

Instead of chasing artificial deadlines and politically popular incentives, our leaders should be focused on real-world physics and economics. This means revisiting the Energy Master Plan, rethinking electrification mandates and supporting a balanced generation mix that includes reliable, low-emission sources like natural gas and nuclear while continuing to develop meaningful renewables at a pace our infrastructure can handle.

New Jersey deserves a practical energy policy that puts ratepayers first. It’s time to stop ignoring reality and start making decisions grounded in facts, not ideology.

Mary-Anna Holden is a former New Jersey Board of Public Utilities commissioner who was first appointed by Republican Gov. Chris Christie and reappointed by Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, and a former council president and mayor of Madison, New Jersey.*

The very same problems are found in other blue-run states, including New York, Massachusetts, California, and others.

*NorthJersey.com/Mary-Anna Holden (Jun 12, 2025) – New Jersey’s energy policy has gone off the rails. Here’s why | Opinion

BOTTOMLINE: “Instead of chasing artificial deadlines and politically popular incentives, our leaders should be focused on real-world physics and economics. This means revisiting the Energy Master Plan, rethinking electrification mandates and supporting a balanced generation mix that includes reliable, low-emission sources like natural gas and nuclear while continuing to develop meaningful renewables at a pace our infrastructure can handle.”