Energy is getting it’s time in the spotlight these days (before the power can go out altogether). And it’s putting people in a rage too. But all the anger in the world won’t matter unless it is directed in a way that can help solve the problems that have enraged rather than simply fanning the flames of the fire they created.

At a joint legislative hearing Friday, we saw lots of finger pointing to deflect blame about rising energy prices, growing demand and shrinking supply, but very little attempt to take any responsibility.

But while many in New Jersey would like to point the blame elsewhere, PJM has been honest for years about the situation, even referencing how this was the 5th time they had testified before the Legislature in the last five years saying the same thing about the need for more generation:

We understand it’s easier to point the blame somewhere else rather than take responsiblity for your own failiures. That must be why despite a detailed presentation by PJM, legislators released one misinformed public statement after another that completely contradicted what they themselves said and heard during the hearing.

While legislators and the BPU want to attack PJM for what they say is a backlog in the queue, as PJM specifically testified there are only 14,000 MW of projects in the que — 12,000 are off shore wind. And if you look at solar, that has the ability to produce only a fraction of the energy that nuclear can. So for the math is real crowd, that means there is not near enough supply to meet the spiking demand.

Legislators should be talking about how they can speed up efforts to increase and incentivize generation. While solar and wind can be part of any energy portfolio, the simple fact is that if you’re not talking about building new non-intermittent generation options like gas and nuclear in New Jersey to meet our increasing supply, you’re just not serious about solving the problem.