Jim Robb

17Dec

Answering the Grid Reliability Call

Winter’s bite has arrived. Much of the country is already facing a polar blast and regional electricity grids are ramping up generation to meet high demand. Electricity prices in some regions are already soaring. But not everywhere. Notably, there’s a sharp divide emerging on affordability between the grids that have access to coal generation and […]
10Dec

A Coal Salve for Rising Electricity Prices

Energy affordability – particularly electricity affordability – has become a top-tier issue for voters and policymakers. U.S. electricity prices have risen 32% over the past five years and relief – at least immediate relief – is hard to see. Sharply rising power demand and surging natural gas prices are only adding headwinds to an already […]
19Nov

Surging Power Demand Adds to Winter Reliability Woes

New analysis sees U.S. peak power demand jumping a stunning 166 gigawatts (GW) in the next five years. The surge in new demand comes overwhelming from data centers. To put this new demand into perspective, the jump is equivalent to 15 times the peak demand of New York City. The estimate comes from Grid Strategies, […]
05Nov

Electricity at the Ballot BoX

Electricity prices were on the ballot in several states yesterday. Democrat wins of governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey, and a sweep of public service commission races in Georgia, are adding to the sense energy issues – particularly electricity prices – will be center stage in the midterms. Ratepayers are frustrated—and rightfully so. Residential […]
29Oct

Reliability is a “Five-Alarm Fire”

Rising electricity prices and their impact on the economy and ballot box have become front page issues. However, the nation’s teetering grid reliability is the crisis we must not ignore. With power demand surging, and utilities struggling to get new infrastructure and dispatchable generation onto the grid, alarm over the state of the nation’s power […]
08Jan

Beginning the Year in Crisis

While Americans rang in the new year with “auld lang syne,” the electricity grid regulators at the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) were singing a very different tune: another winter grid crisis is here. On New Year’s Eve Jim Robb, NERC’s president and CEO, took to YouTube with a strong warning to the power […]
30Dec

2024 in Review

Happy almost new year! Before we turn the page on 2024, it’s worth looking back on the stories and major developments that shaped – even reshaped – the energy landscape over the past 12 months. Years of warnings about rapidly eroding grid reliability collided with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA’s) regulatory agenda and the […]
11Dec

Power Demand Growth Gets Another Enormous Upward Revision

As we approach the end of the 2024, it is fitting that electricity demand growth has gotten another huge upward revision. According to new analysis from Grid Strategies, a leading power sector consulting firm, U.S. electricity demand could jump an astonishing 128 gigawatts (GW) over just the next five years driven largely by the data […]
23Oct

The Numbers Aren’t Adding Up

At the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s annual Reliability Technical Conference on Oct. 16, the nation’s top grid reliability expert sounded like a doctor delivering grim news. Despite the many warnings, despite countless reports and congressional testimony, the reliability of the nation’s grid is going from bad to worse. North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) CEO Jim Robb […]
24Jul

A Desperately Needed Step Forward for Grid Reliability

A new, bipartisan energy and mine permitting bill from Senators Joe Manchin and John Barrasso is a critical step forward to addressing a host of delays and obstacles derailing urgently needed projects. It’s also a very important step forward in bringing much-needed daylight to a singularly alarming threat to the nation’s grid reliability: the U.S. […]