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The Loss of Dispatchable Fuel Diversity Reverberates in Europe

U.S. coal generation came roaring back last year, rebounding 17% from 2020 and grabbing market share from higher priced natural gas. The U.S. coal fleet is proving to be an invaluable price shock absorber amid energy-driven inflation here at home and coal is also an equally important missing price shock absorber in Europe. The U.S. […]

The Grid Crisis is Only Getting Worse

The New Year has arrived with bitter cold and winter storms that left almost 1 million households without power along the East Coast. The reliability of the nation’s energy systems is being tested once again and there is ever-growing concern they’re not up for the challenge. The North American Electricity Reliability Corporation (NERC) ended 2021 […]

Looking Back as We Begin to Look Forward

The year is coming to a close, but before we look forward to 2022, it’s worth looking back on 2021 and the moments and themes that have shaped how we think about coal and its future. Over the course of 2021, this blog has tried to offer insight and perspective on an energy conversation that […]

The Grid Crisis is International

The grid reliability warnings keep coming. Both here and in Europe, electricity grids – particularly those that have raced away from dispatchable fuel diversity and allowed their reserve margins to erode – are facing ever-mounting warnings that available capacity may not keep up with demand. In the U.K., the national grid operator issued its first […]

New Energy Taxes during an Energy Crisis?

As the global energy crisis marches on, Europe and the U.S. seem to be in a nightmarish game of one-upmanship over who can produce the most dire warnings over energy-induced inflation, energy insecurity and blackouts. The North American Energy Reliability Corporation is warning that much of the U.S. will face unprecedented reliability challenges this winter, […]

Turning the Unprecedented into the Ordinary

While all eyes have been on the eroding affordability of the nation’s energy supply, the reliability of the grid and the natural gas delivery system are now back in the spotlight. Despite the colossal grid failure in Texas last winter, blackouts in California and countless after-action reports and hearings on national reliability issues, the situation […]

No One Wants the Grid of Tomorrow in their Backyard

With overwhelming evidence accumulating from Texas and California, New England and Europe, it’s becoming evident that dispatchable fuel diversity and robust capacity reserve margins are essential to navigating the energy transition. Even as real-life challenges abound, these cornerstones of reliability and affordability are disappearing in grids across the U.S. States and utilities continue to dismantle, […]

Coal’s Importance is Clearer than Ever

It’s a good thing for American energy consumers that John Kerry doesn’t set domestic energy policy. While he believes the U.S. won’t be using coal by 2030, coal is proving just how essential it remains to the nation’s energy security as well as the reliability and the affordability of our energy supply Not only are […]

Dismantling Energy Security During a Global Energy Crisis

One of the clear lessons of the ongoing global energy crisis is the danger posed by policy that limits supply of essential fuels while demand remains as strong as ever. Across the globe, policy-induced tight supplies of oil, natural gas and coal have left economies reeling and governments scrambling to provide consumers relief and shield […]