How clean energy can meet America's growing power demand

The grid needs more new electricity in the next decade than in any other 10-year period in the country’s history. It’s basically like building one-third of our grid all over again. The key will be bringing enough supply to the grid. And I can’t emphasize this enough—IT WILL TAKE AN ALL-THE-ABOVE STRATEGY. Gas is crucial. Delaying retirements that make economic sense is important. Building more wind, solar, and batteries is absolutely essential. Even with that approach, there is a high likelihood that supply can’t keep up with demand. Putting barriers in place that limits supply threatens economic growth, AI leadership, and higher electricity prices.

Clean energy leads as oil demand wanes. Refineries are closing in California as demand for gasoline falls into permanent decline. Meanwhile, Texas and California added more clean power capacity in 2024 than the next 30 US states combined. https://lnkd.in/dmXZhCuE

"Clean, beautiful coal" has become a mantra for the current U.S. administration. But it is neither clean nor beautiful. It is also neither economic nor reliable, as Seth Feaster and I highlight in our op-ed for The New York Times. The administration's stopgap measures to keep aging coal plants open will not be enough to spark a turnaround for coal-fired power generation. The alternatives — #solar, #wind and #batterystorage — are simply less expensive, more reliable and quicker to build, undercutting coal's competitiveness. Read the op-ed here:   https://lnkd.in/egyC3rHV

Not my usual higher ed/sales leadership post, but hey, when your husband co-authors an op-ed in The New York Times, you get bragging rights. He and Seth Feaster take on the myth of “clean, beautiful coal” and lay out why coal simply can’t compete with solar, wind, and battery storage. Spoiler: renewables win on cost, reliability, and speed to market. Proud of his brainpower, and impressed at how he can make a complex market shift sound as clear as a sales pipeline report. Worth a read: https://lnkd.in/egyC3rHV

Contrary to the U.S. administration's claims, coal is neither "clean" nor "beautiful." More to the point, it is neither economical nor reliable, as Dennis Wamsted and Seth Feaster highlight in an op-ed for The New York Times. The U.S. administration is betting that forcing #coal plants to stay open will spark a turnaround for coal-fired power generation. While these measures could prolong the operating lives of some coal plants for a short period, they will not reverse the decline of an industry hurtling into economic and technological obsolescence. As coal power struggles with high fuel, operation and maintenance costs, solar and #batterystorage costs are projected to continue falling while performance improves, further undercutting coal’s competitiveness. 📃Read the full piece here ⤵️ \https://lnkd.in/gFenqcsS

#CoalFactFriday: Coal powers 33% of the world’s electricity today and is projected to remain the largest single source even in 2040. Here’s how coal becomes power: Step 1: Coal is ground into fine powder. Step 2: Blown into a boiler, burning at over 1,000°C. Step 3: Heat turns water into high-pressure steam. Step 4: Steam spins turbine blades at 3,600 RPM. Step 5: Turbine drives a generator, producing electricity. Step 6: Power is transmitted through grids into homes, hospitals, and industries. And with Sustainable Coal Stewardship (SCS), proven technologies are making this process cleaner, smarter, and more efficient. Coal keeps the lights on. Learn more coal facts on our website: https://lnkd.in/eusBHf7x #Coal #electricity #energy

Electricity prices are climbing fast. Joseph Majkut and Kevin Book look at why and if renewables or data centers are to blame. #energyshots #EnergyTransition #fossilfuels #EnergyEconomics

Who Really Controls U.S. Electricity Prices?  “It’s tempting to think electricity prices are simply the product of supply and demand, but the reality is far more choreographed. From fuel markets to regulators, the system is layered and opaque. Consumers think they are paying for power; in reality, they are funding infrastructure projects, policy goals, and investor returns. For investors, the lesson is clear: the winners are those who understand the choreography—who spot assets with guaranteed cost recovery, anticipate regulatory pivots, and hedge against volatility. For everyone else, the price of power is a moving target.” More on the ins-and-outs of electricity prices from Forbes: https://lnkd.in/gR9t5ECw  

As Seth Feaster and Dennis Wamsted highlight in their op-ed for The New York Times, coal is neither economical nor reliable — central concerns for utilities and power producers across the country. Most of the #coal mined in the United States today fuels aging electric power plants that are costly to maintain and increasingly unsound. The current administration's actions to keep these plants open are largely performative and will not prevent coal's declining importance as an #electricity generation resource. The alternatives are simply less expensive, more reliable and quicker to build. Read the full article here 👉 https://hubs.li/Q03MG6y20

Price arbitrage. 66% of US utilities running large-scale batteries use them to store electricity they buy when prices are low to then sell it when prices spike. https://lnkd.in/ee4jee_Z