grid reliability

18Aug

Hidden in Plain Sight: Existing Coal Plants offer the Generation that Today Demands

Thanks to this new age of electricity demand and power-hungry data centers, the U.S. currently has record amounts of electricity generation in development. But that build out is getting both harder and more expensive, in the face of demand that waits for no one. What’s the holdup? Baseload power projects requiring natural gas turbines are […]
24Jun

Germany’s Coal Phase-Out Meets Energy Reality

Germany’s coal phase-out, or kohleausstieg, is colliding with energy reality. This August, the German government is expected to publish a review of the coal phase-out, including its impact on energy supply, security and prices. Once envisioned as a report that could justify accelerating the coal exit, Germany’s current energy situation may instead make the case […]
17Jun

Global Coal Investment is Rising and a New Energy Security Playbook is Emerging

Has the Iran energy crisis driven new demand for coal? Certainly. But as the International Energy Agency (IEA) reveals in a new report on global energy investment, coal was already very much in demand. The war with Iran and its energy disruptions have only supercharged it. According to the IEA, investments in coal have reached […]
03Jun

Surging AI Power Demand is Here, Like It or Not

Artificial intelligence promises economy-wide transformation and a pace of innovation we may have never seen before. But the impact of AI on the electricity grid and the public’s concern over data center development and rising power prices are rapidly becoming significant barriers to the AI revolution. According to the International Energy Agency, global electricity consumption […]
18Feb

Coal Answers the Natural Gas Bottleneck

American manufacturers are facing an energy crisis. Despite the U.S. being the world’s largest natural gas producer, manufacturers are increasingly being cutoff from natural gas supplies during periods of peak winter and summer demand. The critical challenge is a lack of pipeline capacity to meet the competing needs of power generation, heating and manufacturing. And […]
11Feb

Coal Power Saved Americans $30-40 Billion in 2025

Coal has been the nation’s grid reliability MVP this winter. It was also consumers’ affordability MVP in 2025. A new report by Energy Ventures Analysis (EVA) finds that last year coal generation served as an important buffer against energy inflation delivering $30 to $40 billion in total savings, lowering Americans’ power bills an average of $100 to $150 […]
04Feb

Reinforcing Winter Grid Reliability

The weather predicting skills of a certain groundhog remain up for debate, but Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this week and, sure enough, the brutal cold is sticking around.   Eastern states are likely to face frigid temperatures for much of February as the polar vortex pushes arctic air south. The forecasters at AccuWeather say to […]
26Jan

Thank Heaven for Coal and Sound Energy Policy

The Wall Street Journal hit the nail on the head this weekend in an editorial titled “Thank Heaven for Coal Power in the Cold.” Winter storm Fern has wreaked havoc across a 2,000-mile stretch of the country leaving hundreds of thousands without power. If not for coal generation, it would be millions more. Electricity grids […]
21Jan

The Affordability Crisis Is a Reliability Crisis

Soaring electricity prices have become a top-tier political issue and will remain so through midterms and likely far longer.  That was underscored last week when the Trump administration hosted several state governors from PJM Interconnection territory, the nation’s largest electricity market, to urge the grid operator to hold an emergency capacity auction for data center […]
12Nov

Another Winter Living on the Edge

The November wind has arrived with winter nipping at its heels. Here in Washington, the mercury dropped below freezing for the first time this fall as snow began to blanket Midwestern states. Right on cue, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) previewed its annual Winter Reliability Assessment. NERC warns region-wide cold snaps – much […]