Opinion
The latest opinion pieces by industry thought leaders
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Is nuclear the key to powering the data center boom?
To fulfill the promise of an energy renaissance, nuclear resources must overcome complex operational, financial and workforce challenges, writes POWWR Director Nainish Gupta.
Nainish Gupta • Oct. 3, 2025 -
State frameworks are critical to addressing PJM affordability
Affordability concerns have risen in the PJM sphere due to “tightening supply and demand,” writes Senior Vice President Asim Haque. Supply has left the system due primarily to state policy and federal rules, he says.
Asim Haque • Oct. 2, 2025 -
DOE’s reactor pilot: A turning point for US nuclear energy?
The Department of Energy’s nuclear program could be transformational for the energy sector if even one reactor demonstrates commercial operation safely, writes Foley & Lardner partner Jocelyn Lavallo.
Jocelyn Lavallo • Oct. 1, 2025 -
Why utility-scale solar requires a smarter approach to predictive modeling
By augmenting manual energy forecasting processes with state-of-the-art digital tools, utilities can make better decisions faster, writes Tigo Energy Vice President of Software Archie Roboostoff.
Archie Roboostoff • Sept. 30, 2025 -
Á la carte energy market will give Western states choice, flexibility and reliability
The new Regional Organization for Western Energy will offer affordable, reliable energy services, and states can take what they need, writes Advanced Energy United’s Brian Turner.
Brian Turner • Sept. 26, 2025 -
Retrieved from Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
It’s all one system: Integrate transmission and interconnection planning to support load growth
Maintaining disparate planning processes for the wires needed to deliver power increases costs and delays, writes FERC Commissioner Judy Chang.
Judy W. Chang, Steven Wellner and Kathleen Ratcliff • Sept. 26, 2025 -
Heat pumps could be affordable for most — if rates were fair
Massachusetts is making a good start by offering seasonal discounts for heat pumps. But it could do more, write authors from Green Energy Consumers Alliance and the Acadia Center.
Larry Chretien and Kyle Murray • Sept. 25, 2025 -
GHG Protocol prioritizes looking good over doing good
The focus of the GHG Protocol should not be to back usage claims about what power a company is consuming, but to measure carbon emissions as accurately as possible, writes Lee Taylor, CEO of REsurety.
Lee Taylor • Sept. 24, 2025 -
Carbon markets are incomplete without nuclear
Major carbon standards do not allow nuclear projects to generate credits, distorting the market, writes Guido Núñez-Mujica, director of data science at the Anthropocene Institute.
Guido Núñez-Mujica • Sept. 23, 2025 -
AI’s electricity demand is a challenge utilities can’t ignore, but subsidies aren’t the solution
Utilities need portfolios that balance renewables and natural gas with long-duration storage, writes Stefan Pastine, CEO of semiconductor materials company Thintronics.
Stefan Pastine • Sept. 22, 2025 -
The future of virtual power plants is technology agnostic
Interoperability is crucial for deploying certain consumer technologies efficiently at scale, writes Molly Podolefsky, a managing director at Clarum Advisors.
Molly Podolefsky • Sept. 19, 2025 -
Keeping America’s lights on: a pragmatic path forward
Policymakers have a vital role in ensuring that a lack of energy does not become America’s Achilles’ heel.
Brigham McCown • Sept. 18, 2025 -
Preparing for regulatory audits in an era of affordability scrutiny
For electric utilities, audits are about more than just compliance. They are reputational moments that can influence rate outcomes, regulatory relationships and public trust.
Jim McMahon • Sept. 16, 2025 -
The hidden cost of ambiguous energy software terminology
Adapting the electric grid to load growth and DER adoption will require a mutual understanding of software requirements, capabilities and outcomes among stakeholders.
Sneha Vasudevan • Sept. 15, 2025 -
DOE’s emergency orders create a moral hazard
The U.S. Department of Energy’s use of Federal Power Act authority to keep retiring fossil fuel plants online could trigger a vicious cycle that ultimately jeopardizes grid reliability.
Jennifer Danis • Sept. 12, 2025 -
As PJM prices rise, flexibility can’t be ignored
Rather than viewing rising capacity costs as simply a burden, energy users should understand them as incentives for more efficient and dynamic loads.
Steve Doremus • Sept. 11, 2025 -
Blaming data centers for PJM supply challenges misses the bigger picture
Reliability will not be secured by focusing on a single industry. PJM and policymakers must take a comprehensive, solutions-oriented approach to grid management.
Todd Snitchler • Sept. 10, 2025 -
Smarter data for a smarter grid: AI-powered lidar is transforming utility infrastructure
With scalable, intelligent data classification, utilities can move beyond reactive maintenance and into predictive decision-making.
James Conlin • Sept. 9, 2025 -
Alone we fail: The culture change needed to deliver the energy transition
What would it look like if electric utilities borrowed the digital best practices exemplified by the film, banking and telecom industries?
Alex Thornton • Sept. 8, 2025 -
"Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Plant". Retrieved from Wikipedia.
Nuclear power is failing, and AI can’t rescue it
Nuclear generation is expensive and slow to develop. Claims that past failures won’t recur have convinced politicians to socialize investments rejected by private capital markets.
Amory B. Lovins • Sept. 5, 2025 -
Energy meets urgency: Solving the data center power problem with solar
For years, data center developers built with confidence that the grid would keep up. That’s no longer the case.
Jared Burden • Sept. 4, 2025 -
It’s time for customer-oriented approaches to generator interconnection
The electric power system requires seminal reform. Open access should remain a vital principle of grid regulation.
Travis Kavulla and Eric Blank • Sept. 3, 2025 -
Rethinking transmission policy for an energy emergency
While a bidding process is often presumed to deliver consumer benefits, bidding efforts for transmission have not followed that pattern.
Benjamin Dierker • Sept. 2, 2025 -
Unconstitutional: Utilities are funding political speech with captive ratepayer funds
When ratepayers are forced to subsidize utility political activity through state-set rates, utilities and the state compel objecting ratepayers to fund a private company's political speech.
Eliza Martin • Aug. 28, 2025 -
Minnesota’s energy future deserves better than BlackRock’s empty promises
What happens in Minnesota will send a signal to other states about whether regulators are willing to put public interest ahead of Wall Street profit, writes Alissa Jean Schafer of the Private Equity Stakeholder Project.
Alissa Jean Schafer • Aug. 27, 2025