Blog

02Jun

It’s Time to Reform and Refocus the AML Program

When Congress considers reauthorization of a program or a fee on an industry, it’s a moment for review and analysis. Is the program working as intended, does the structure and funding meet the moment or need to reflect changing facts on the ground? These are important questions that often come with enormous price tags that […]
26May

The Grid Reliability Warnings Keep Coming

Back in the summer of 2019, Jim Robb, the president and CEO of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), said that when most engineers look at the Texas grid, they conclude that “there’s no way in hell they can keep the lights on. And yet they do.” Robb, speaking to the Federal Energy Regulatory […]
19May

Here Come the Blackouts

We now know that the rolling blackouts that gripped California last summer weren’t an anomaly. They were, in fact, a preview of a reliability crisis that has grown to stretch across the Western grid. The Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) is warning that the West simply doesn’t have enough power supply to meet a region-wide […]
12May

In the Era of Cyberattacks, Fuel Diversity and Security Reign Supreme

The cyber threat to the nation’s energy infrastructure just crossed the Rubicon. A cyberattack forced the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline, which transports 45% of the refined fuel used on the East Coast. Gas stations from New England to Georgia are without fuel and it will be days before the pipeline is operating normally, and […]
05May

An EV Future Means Electricity Demand is Expected to Double by 2050. Will the Grid Be Ready?

Not so long ago the electric vehicle (EV) revolution seemed far more hype than substance. But global EV sales were up 40% in 2020, the world’s major automakers are falling over one another to announce all-electric futures and the Biden administration appears to be all in, announcing that the federal vehicle fleet will go all […]
28Apr

The Carbon Capture Moonshot

For all of the momentum building towards tackling the climate challenge, a sobering reality remains: according to the International Energy Agency, fully half of the key technologies needed to produce globally effective solutions need significant support to bring to full maturity and market use. Or as Bill Gates quipped last week, “using today’s technology, it […]
15Apr

Reliability Crisis Déjà vu

Texas, again. Just weeks after the February power disaster that left more than 130 dead, thousands homeless and put 70% of the state in the dark, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) came stunningly close to declaring another grid emergency on Tuesday. On a relatively mild day – no deep freeze nor roasting summer […]
08Apr

Not All Jobs Are Created Equal

How we manage the energy transition will have huge implications for the reliability and affordability of our energy supply and for the millions of workers that are the foundation of our current energy system. While there are strong voices – including from labor – calling for caution during the transition, the Biden administration has now […]
31Mar

Infrastructure Go-Time for America’s Met Mines

Today, President Biden is laying out his vision for reinvesting in and modernizing the nation’s infrastructure. Few issues are more in need of attention and even fewer have such bipartisan support. There will be fighting and horse trading over what ends up in a final infrastructure package, but both parties recognize the urgency of action. […]
24Mar

When Dispatchable Fuel Diversity Goes, Affordability Does Too

Coal power proved invaluable across the Midwest this February in keeping the lights on and homes warm during the deep freeze. But coal is not just a reliability backstop. As we’re now seeing, it’s also a critical piece of a balanced generation portfolio that holds down wholesale electricity prices. On the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) […]