We're going to be talking about the current incoherent world of US ENERGY POLICY.
ANNA KRAMER joins the podcast to help us get our arms around the future of energy in the United States. Anna is a reporter for NOTUS, a non-partisan longform journalism outlet. She has written a series of stories on the the disconnect and frustration around US Energy Policy and paths forward.
We talk about:
The chaotic policy at the federal level (and beyond)
The huge cost overruns and administrative complexity
The role of nuclear
The increased energy demand in this country
Finally, we muse about what can be done about it going forward.
https://youtu.be/3k-N-AGTNfU
Outline
Section 1: The US Energy Policy Transition:
The Goals and the Problem. Discussing Brandon Shores Coal Plant and electricity prices in the Mid-Atlantic Region.
https://www.notus.org/policy/biden-clean-energy-coal-maryland-brandon-shores
https://www.notus.org/policy/electricity-prices-spiking-biden-clean-energy-transition
https://www.notus.org/policy/nuclear-power-energy-crisis-cost
Evidence that the transition is happening. Electrifying = efficiency. Cheap wind and solar, look at the free markets in Texas — ballooning wind and solar there
The reliability, capacity, and resource problem: Needing certain amounts of energy and voltages at all times of day. Leads to keeping coal plants online past scheduled retirement dates, plus spiking prices
How much do emissions and climate change goals matter to the industry? What role does nuclear energy play?
Section 2: Interconnection Queues and Permitting Reform. Bipartisan and Industry wish for Permitting Reform: Why is it so hard for US Energy Policy?
https://www.notus.org/policy/permitting-reform-bill-manchin-environmentalists
https://www.notus.org/policy/solar-farm-culture-war-biden-climate-change
Section 3: Trump’s US Energy Policy “dominance agenda” disappointing every part of the energy industry.
Idea is not aligning with reality.
DOGE cutting into the basic functions of energy governance.
https://www.notus.org/policy/doge-cuts-trump-drill-baby-drill
https://www.notus.org/policy/donald-trump-tariffs-trump-energy-agenda
Transcript
Frazer Rice (00:01)Welcome aboard, Anna.
Anna Kramer (00:03)Thanks for having me, really psyched.
Frazer Rice (00:04)I went through a bunch of your articles covering the power industry and energy generation and a lot of things that are happening federally, state level, and it's going to be a lot to get our arms around, but you were the person to do it. So just generally speaking, we're at a point in time with energy and transition ⁓ that policy is moving. Maybe take us through a little bit about the goals and the problem we face.
Anna Kramer (00:31)So there are sort of two, I would say, competing problems right now. ⁓ The first one is load growth, which means basically more demand on the electricity grid.
And that is something that we haven't seen in this country in decades. for really around 2000 up until maybe a couple of years ago, energy demand on the grid has been fairly constant or even declining slightly. And the reason for that is that everything has become more efficient. Like every appliance you use, every light bulb, your car, everything that could possibly have a demand on the grid is more efficient than it used to be, which is awesome.
There's a lot of wonderful benefits that we get from that, including the fact that for a long time utilities and transmission planners and states and the federal government have not really ever had to think about the grid or about like where you get your power aside from these sort of technical conversations that the average person doesn't really pay any attention to. That has really started to change as of the last few years.
There's a large number of reasons for that. Basically for the first time in decades we have significant demand expecte...