Why people are opting for generators
Surging demand for power is not only threatening U.S. climate goals but power outages because of an aging grid that is unable to keep up with current needs and predicted future needs. At a time when the Biden administration is doubling down on green energy initiatives to save the planet, initiatives that are breaking the national bank as well as many of its citizens pocketbooks; many who do not have the means or the ability to engage in the plan.
Their survival will be based on having the means to keep warm / cool in extreme weather, ability to prepare and store food, keep their basements dry – simply survive. As the grid becomes more taxed and the certainty of power outages exists, more Americans are opting to purchase generators to fit their needs and pocketbooks. Even then, many Americans will not have the means or ability to generate their own power to provide their basic needs for survival and the government doesn’t seem to be concerned.
The StraitsTimes
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/a...-climate-goals
Something unusual is happening in America. Demand for electricity, which has stayed largely flat for two decades, has begun to surge.
Over the past year, electric utilities have nearly doubled their forecasts of how much additional power they will need by 2028 as they confront an unexpected explosion in the number of data centers, an abrupt resurgence in manufacturing driven by new federal laws, and millions of electric vehicles being plugged in.
Many power companies were already struggling to keep the lights on, especially during extreme weather, and they say the strain on the grid will only increase.
Peak demand in the summer is projected to grow by 38,000 megawatts nationwide in the next five years, according to an analysis by the consulting firm Grid Strategies, which is like adding another California to the grid.
In an ironic twist, the swelling appetite for more electricity, driven not only by electric cars but also by battery and solar factories and other aspects of the clean-energy transition, could also jeopardize the country’s plans to fight climate change.
Burning more gas and coal runs counter to President Joe Biden’s pledge to halve the nation’s planet-warming greenhouse gases and to generate all of America’s electricity from pollution-free sources such as wind, solar and nuclear by 2035.
“I can’t recall the last time I was so alarmed about the country’s energy trajectory,” said Mr. Tyler H. Norris, a former solar developer and expert in power systems who is now pursuing a doctorate at Duke University. If a wave of new gas-fired plants gets approved by state regulators, he said, “it is game over for the Biden administration’s 2035 decarbonization goal”.
Some utilities say they need additional fossil fuel capacity because cleaner alternatives such as wind or solar power are not growing fast enough and can be bogged down by delayed permits and snarled supply chains. While a data center can be built in just one year, it can take five years or longer to connect renewable energy projects to the grid and a decade to build some of the long-distance power lines they require. Utilities also note that data centers and factories need power 24 hours a day, something wind and solar alone cannot provide.
The stakes are high. If more power is not brought online relatively soon, large portions of the country could risk blackouts, according to a recent report by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, which monitors the health of the nation’s electric grids.
More… https://www.straitstimes.com/world/a...-climate-goals