Electric Coops CEO wrestles with ever-evolving factors to maintain reliability, affordability

by Talk Business & Politics staff (staff2@talkbusiness.net)

With energy prices affected by everything from oil and gas supplies to the transportation limitations to the Ukranian conflict and weather, it’s not easy to keep the lights on.

Buddy Hasten, president and CEO of the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas, said Sunday (Jan. 15) on Talk Business & Politics that the U.S. needs an “all of the above” strategy for electricity generation and more investment in the infrastructure to deliver it.

“Every area in the world we talk about today, diversity is a good thing,” Hasten said, noting that coal plants are closing, nuclear plants are on hold, and the most rapidly developing sector of replacement fuel is gas and renewables. “If you go look at what’s being built today, primarily it’s wind and solar and those are great resources. I mean, they’re great because they don’t have a fuel cost, but they have their technical limitations. Meaning you or I don’t control where the wind blows… And then there’s just a natural, the sun rises and the sunsets.”

https://talkbusiness.net/2023/01/electric-coops-ceo-wrestles-with-ever-evolving-factors-to-maintain-reliability-affordability/