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2023 in Review

The year is coming to a close but, before the ball drops and we ring in 2024, it’s worth looking back on the energy stories and themes that shaped 2023 and coal’s role in them. Globally, coal demand hit an all-time high while at home – despite ever-louder warnings about imploding grid reliability – the […]

Doomed from the Start

There’s no question that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) power plant agenda – designed to prematurely retire coal power plants – is going to imperil U.S. grid reliability. And this blog has outlined how EPA’s proposals have exceeded the agency’s legal authority under the Clean Air Act. Looking at the facts, this blog has politely […]

A System on the Brink

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC) latest long-term reliability assessment is clear: the bulk power system is in crisis and the energy transition is being woefully mismanaged. The report reveals surging electricity demand, potential supply shortfalls under both extreme weather conditions and normal operating conditions, as well as alarming peak capacity deficits in grids […]

Is China Winning the Energy Transition Too?

As the U.S. digs an ever-deeper grid reliability hole for itself as we fumble the energy transition, it’s worth asking is there another approach? The China playbook, which has given them a strategic global advantage in so many areas, may once again be years ahead of the rest of the world.  While much has been […]

The Power Demand Surge

There is a quiet revolution upending the trajectory of our energy future. For all the extraordinary challenges inherent with trying to stand up a renewable-dominant energy mix nearly overnight, perhaps none is beginning to loom as large as the breakneck speed electricity demand is growing all over the country. Speculation about the impact that electrification, […]

Can the Biden EPA Accept Reality?

As The Wall Street Journal recently put it, “the energy transition is getting a dose of reality.” In the U.S., offshore wind projects are evaporating, transmission lines remain extraordinarily difficult to build, the nation’s first planned small modular reactor project was just cancelled and dozens of renewable-power developers are trying to rewrite contracts to recoup […]

With All Alarms Sounding, EPA Has Few Answers and Less Planning

In the hours before the regulators at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) sat down with stakeholders from across the country to discuss the nation’s deteriorating grid reliability, the urgency of the gathering was underscored by a new and deeply unsettling winter reliability assessment. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) found in its most […]

Will FERC Hold EPA to Account?

This Thursday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is holding its annual technical conference on grid reliability. Of particular interest is the attention FERC and its expert witnesses will give to examining the impact the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) so-called Clean Power Plan 2.0 will have on reliability. FERC is digging into reliability at […]

The Next Winter Reliability Crisis is Almost Here

It may have been a balmy 80 degrees in the nation’s capital this week but make no mistake, winter is coming and with it ever-greater concern about the perilous state of the nation’s electricity grid. For all the white knuckling from grid operators during summer months, when heat waves and record demand stressed power supply […]

Congress Can Act on Grid Reliability

Months of congressional hearings have led to a crescendo of concern over grid reliability and the danger posed by the Biden administration’s regulatory agenda. With eye-opening testimony coming from utilities, co-ops, grid operators and reliability regulators, Congress now has a deeply important opportunity to take action. Today, the House Energy, Climate & Grid Security Subcommittee […]