Navigating the electricity gauntlet

Electrification should be a field day for utilities. As we electrify the economy, adding gigafactories, charging stations, and green hydrogen hubs to the grid, the demand for power is growing for the first time in decades. For savvy utilities, there’s a lot of money to be made. But only if they can keep up. 

Utilities face massive challenges to deliver the power needed for electrification – years-long interconnection queues, a shortage of transformers, an uncertain regulatory environment—the list goes on. It’s the electrification gauntlet. 

Can utilities make it through? 

In this episode, Shayle talks to his colleague Andy Lubershane, partner and head of research at Energy Impact Partners. 

They cover topics like:

• Why power demand flatlined over the past twenty years—and what’s changing now
• Big industrial loads like data centers that face delays because utilities aren’t able to deliver enough power 
• The differences between big industrial load growth, like green hydrogen hubs, and distributed load growth, like heat pumps.
• The current EPA’s proposed power plant regulations, which might require carbon capture and storage
• The shortage of electrical transformers 
• Why microgrids might become even more valuable as utilities struggle to deliver power

Recommended Resources:

• Reuters: Global power demand growth to rebound in 2024 after slowdown, IEA says
• Utility Dive: Full industrial electrification could more than double US power demand. Here’s how renewables can meet it.

Catalyst is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.

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