U.S. needs energy reliability and affordability, not power outages Matthew Kandrach

Americans have been hoping for economic recovery and a return to normalcy. Instead, they’re experiencing ongoing pandemic concerns and the ravages of wildfires and hurricanes. And adding to their woes, they’re now increasingly worried that the electricity grid on which they depend could fail when they need it most. 

Blackouts in the West this summer, frequent power conservation notices, and a week-long blackout in Texas this past February (that cost hundreds of lives) have left Americans increasingly concerned about grid reliability. According to new polling, 72 percent of Americans are troubled by the speed of the nation’s transition to intermittent, renewable sources of power — and that it’s coming at the expense of grid reliability. They’re worried, and they want a plan to ensure the grid remains reliable as this energy transition advances. 

Unfortunately, planning isn’t what they’re getting. Instead, Washington appears intent on accelerating this transition without any serious concern for how to manage the challenges of a grid increasingly reliant on weather-dependent energy sources. The same polling also shows that, while Americans want to advance the deployment of renewable energy, they want it done responsibly in tandem with existing energy systems— not in place of them.