Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Energy Economy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Ohio Business Roundtable urges faster permitting, new Office of Energy Resiience in energy competitiveness study
Summary
An invited witness representing the Ohio Business Roundtable told the House Energy Committee the state needs faster siting and permitting, a non‑regulatory Office of Energy Resilience, and incentives to speed new generation and transmission to meet rising demand from data centers and industry.
Alexandra Denney, representing the Ohio Business Roundtable, presented invited testimony to the House Energy Committee summarizing the group’s Energy Competitiveness Study and a set of state‑focused recommendations to speed new generation and transmission.
Denney said Ohio is seeing a rapid rise in electricity demand tied to advanced manufacturing and data centers and warned that retirements in the PJM footprint are creating a growing gap between supply and demand. “We need more generation, in order to meet that demand as well as transmission,” Denney said.
The study recommended a set of changes the Roundtable describes as state‑level, pragmatic steps. Key proposals included a 90‑day “shot clock” to shorten the Ohio Power Siting Board permitting timeline (the current average cited in the study was 366 days), creation of an Office of Energy Resilience (described as economic‑development focused rather than a regulatory agency), and designation of “priority investment areas” to receive faster siting and a shorter 45‑day shot clock plus a temporary tax exemption for new generation in those areas.
Other recommendations highlighted in the testimony included clarifying the legal framework for behind‑the‑meter generation, limiting regulatory lag in rate cases by adhering to the existing 275‑day review clock, and establishing a study committee to evaluate grid‑enhancing technologies (GETs). Denney said GETs can offer efficiency, affordability and potential cybersecurity benefits but acknowledged many aspects are governed by PJM and federal regulators.
Denney also urged coordinated state advocacy at PJM and federal levels, citing recent PJM queue reforms and calling for a more proportionate voice for Ohio in the Association of PJM States. She pointed to Congressman Balderson as a federal ally on generation deployment.
Committee members asked Denney about the Roundtable’s posture toward pending legislation; Denney said the Roundtable offered the study as a consensus product and did not enter as a proponent or opponent of specific bills. She confirmed many of the study’s recommendations overlap with provisions in Senate Bill 2 and said the group could provide more targeted comparisons on request.
The testimony emphasized that the study is intended as a practical, state‑level set of fixes to speed projects into service while noting some issues — interconnection queue reform, capacity market cadence and some transmission decisions — fall to PJM or federal authorities.
The Roundtable’s full study was submitted to the committee as written testimony and Denney said the organization is available to answer follow‑up questions.
