Paying for Comforts with Wildlife

[Keep on]

Connection to transmission lines, economies of scale and siting issues. Then you've got the issue of infrastructure spread out across entire towns, etc rather than concentrated in one field (maintenance, etc). I'd like to see better standards for new builds to integrate sustainable energy on a small scale where each residence is a net producer of energy with the excess fed back into a localized grid to provide spot power when needed. Then you can extend the current grant programs and tax incentives for folks to add home-scaled solar as well.

TX shut itself off from the national grid, and now rolling brown outs, black outs and loss of power are normal. A nationalized grid is a national security issue just as much a "I need AC in Houston in July" issue. But, local redundancies and the ability to create mini-grids based on geographic location could be a huge load off of the existing power plants and transmission capabilities. The current administration has been pushing this for a while now, with the infrastructure bill and with the grid modernization stuff: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing...te-initiative-to-bolster-americas-power-grid/

You won't trade public land for private property development. The BLM is legislatively mandated for multiple use. If you don't want large, industrial-scale development on public land you have to change the multitude of laws that mandate it.

Lots of pie in the sky and pleasant generalities in that Whitehouse page.
Can't speak as to the rest of the country, but all of the recent "green" initiatives coming from the Whitehouse have made a mess of power production and distribution in the PJM interconnection, which includes most of the North East.

PJM Capacity Auction Prices Surge Over Nine-Fold, Signal Urgent Need for New Power Generation

Prices at PJM Interconnection’s 2025/2026 base residual auction (BRA) spiked to $269.92/MW-day for most resources in the wholesale power market, pointing

www.powermag.com

Electric generation prices are heading sky high and this administration wants to shut down more base load plants that would cause transmission nightmares because the lines don't exist to move power needed as replacement. Bottom line is they have moved to close plants that green projects can't replace. Every mW of solar and wind isn't a replacement mW of generation, it's an additional mW being propped up by government subsidy. There has been some pretty large transmission projects going on, but with so much new load going into metro areas to support all of the data centers it's probably not enough.
Supply/demand economics is hitting power generation in the NE. Economics is the same reason the "green" energy developers prefer to use BLM land out west where economy of scale, government subsidies and cheap land maximizes profit.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Lots of pie in the sky and pleasant generalities in that Whitehouse page.
Can't speak as to the rest of the country, but all of the recent "green" initiatives coming from the Whitehouse have made a mess of power production and distribution in the PJM interconnection, which includes most of the North East.

PJM Capacity Auction Prices Surge Over Nine-Fold, Signal Urgent Need for New Power Generation

Prices at PJM Interconnection’s 2025/2026 base residual auction (BRA) spiked to $269.92/MW-day for most resources in the wholesale power market, pointing

www.powermag.com

Electric generation prices are heading sky high and this administration wants to shut down more base load plants that would cause transmission nightmares because the lines don't exist to move power needed as replacement. Bottom line is they have moved to close plants that green projects can't replace. Every mW of solar and wind isn't a replacement mW of generation, it's an additional mW being propped up by government subsidy. There has been some pretty large transmission projects going on, but with so much new load going into metro areas to support all of the data centers it's probably not enough.
Supply/demand economics is hitting power generation in the NE. Economics is the same reason the "green" energy developers prefer to use BLM land out west where economy of scale, government subsidies and cheap land maximizes profit.

I'd be even more concerned for the President's ability to cogitate if they put out a scathing PR page on a signature campaign promise.

Every energy source is subsidized in the United States. Coal is subsidized at the mining, transportation and generation stage. Oil is similarly subsidized as is LNG. Leases on public land for minerals have always been cheaper than private or state lands. That creates a different market and different headaches in areas without large federal tracts for leasing.

No disagreement on load delivery versus demand. Data Centers are going in rural areas as well. There is absolutely an opportunity for demand to far outstrip supply in the near future. The loss of traditional power generation is a lot more complex than just the federal energy policy. Electrification is coming as the market has chosen that approach as well as the Fed because that's where the greatest return on investment exists. Other new research is looking at small scale nuke plants (WY & Bill Gates), as well as fusion, etc.

It's an exciting time to be alive when you look at advances in energy solutions, just like when VHS beat out Beta-Max back in the day.











No, wait. that was the adult entertainment industry who got that win.