wind
$100 Billion in the Wrong Direction
The debate over Texas’s 765-kV transmission lines is heating up, and your wallet is caught in the middle. Last Friday, the Public Utility Commission of Texas held a hearing on the 765-kV Strategic Transmission Expansion Plan…
Electricity demand in extreme temperatures
During extreme heat waves and cold snaps, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under President Donald Trump has been issuing emergency orders that allow utilities to exceed their environmental emissions limits in order to keep…
What kept North Carolina cool during a recent heat emergency
North Carolina faced an extreme heat event on June 11–12 Duke Energy obtained an emergency order from the U.S. Department of Energy waiving environmental emissions restrictions in order to secure the power grid Once again,…
Forecasting the Future of the ERCOT Grid, Part 1: The Ongoing Winter Reliability Challenge
Written By: Michael Reed and Brent Bennett, Ph.D. Download the full research paper here. Key Points While the operational performance of the ERCOT grid has improved since Winter Storm Uri in 2021, the increasing reliance of…
known and speculative national security risks
Citing classified information, the U.S. Department of the Interior last month halted five offshore wind projects under construction, including Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Offshore wind facilities pose well-known risks to…
Fact-checking a “fact check” on solar and wind energy
On Sept. 5, 2025, the U.S. Energy Department’s official X account posted an Aug. 23, 2025, Washington Examiner article featuring Energy Secretary Chris Wright. The accompanying text in the post stated, “Wind and solar energy…
The Explosion of Transmission Costs in ERCOT: Causes, Forecasts, and Policy Solutions
KEY POINTS • Transmission costs in ERCOT rose from $1.5 billion in 2010 to over $5 billion in 2024 and could increase to over $12 billion per year by 2033.• After adjusting for inflation and overall rising electricity demand,…
Texas Has Strengthened Its Grid, But It Is Still Vulnerable to the Next Winter Storm
With Texas experiencing its first significant cold front of the winter season and the five-year anniversary of Winter Storm Uri on the horizon, it’s worth taking stock of how far Texas has come on grid reliability—and how far…
Examining the ‘too good to be true’ boasts of solar and wind
Center of the American Experiment recently posted a short (2:40) video, “Wind & Solar: Too good to be true?” (see below for the embedded video). The video is based on this recent report by Sarah Montalbano, “Shattered…
Duke plan confirms greater productivity of nuclear, natural gas
Duke’s latest resource plan filing shows how unreliable its planned new solar capacity is relative to new nuclear and natural gas capacity The plan shows that natural gas is roughly twice as productive as solar, while nuclear…
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