Julia Pyper for GTM:  A draft version of the Department of Energy's highly anticipated grid study states that wind and solar do not represent a serious threat to electric grid reliability, running counter to comments made by Energy Secretary Rick Perry earlier this year. 

"Costly environmental regulations and subsidized renewable generation have exacerbated baseload power plant retirements," according to a draft obtained by Bloomberg. "However, those factors played minor roles compared to the longstanding drop in electricity demand relative to previous expectations and years of low electric prices driven by high natural gas availability."

Perry ordered the grid study in April to examine if Obama-era clean energy incentives were responsible for undermining baseload resources such as nuclear and coal, thereby making the grid less secure. He went as far as to suggest that the U.S. federal government may need to interfere in state-level policymaking in the name of national security. 

"Are there issues that are so important to the national security of this country that the federal government can intervene on the regulatory side? I’ll suggest there are," he said, while speaking at conference in May. "Being able to have and make sure we’re able to maintain a baseload on our grid is of national security."  Full Article: