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At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Why America's Aging Electric Grid Needs Urgent, Reliable Modernization Now
- Demand from data centers, AI, electric vehicles and electrified homes is rising after decades of flat usage, exposing an aging grid that is producing more outages and more volatile prices.
- The grid is not a monolith: it has three interconnections, RTOs and ISOs, and a patchwork of regulated and deregulated structures, and electricity must be generated at the moment it is used to hold 60 hertz.
- Delivery costs are rising because of a huge interconnection queue of about two terawatts versus a roughly 1.2 terawatt grid, long transformer lead times, security threats and old power lines.
- Solar and wind are cheap but intermittent, so they need proportionally more storage; batteries handle short durations while hydro dominates today and longer-duration storage remains unsolved.
- Natural gas and nuclear provide reliable dispatchable power, and McEntush ends optimistic that policy such as FERC reforms and the IRA can help, while warning that policy itself is a key risk to reliability.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasThe grid is not one entity
McEntush says it consists of three interconnections (East, West, Texas) that can't be directly connected, with RTOs and ISOs beneath and very different regulatory structures depending on location.
Electricity is generated as it is used
Supply and demand must match to keep frequency at 60 hertz; if it falters, equipment can be damaged, load must be shed, and blackouts can follow, with replacement taking weeks or months.
Delivery costs are driving bills up
Generation has gotten cheaper, but infrastructure for lines and plants is very expensive, and in California delivery can be over 50% of a bill.
The interconnection queue is clogged by speculative projects
About two terawatts are waiting, yet maybe 10 to 20% of projects get built because developers submit many proposals; Texas's connect-and-manage approach shifts risk to developers and speeds connection.
Renewables need storage, and storage is mostly hydro today
The duck curve means solar peaks when demand is low, and in 2022 lithium-ion was only about 2% of US storage versus about 94% pumped hydro, so storage must grow with solar and wind.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesElectricity is not like a commodity. It's certainly not magic. Electricity is generated basically at the moment it's being used.
— Ryan McEntush
Renewables, I wanna be clear, renewables are fantastic. They are cheaper. Even without subsidies
— Ryan McEntush
In, in, in a modern country with our modern luxuries, we can't afford for the grid to go down at all.
— Ryan McEntush
That better world near term is not a world with increased blackouts.
— Ryan McEntush
Why would a utility risk bankruptcy?
— Ryan McEntush
High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.
