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The Carbon Fables's avatar

Great analysis as always! Good to have a reference point when the word "unprecedented" is such a frequent occurrence these days lol. Even if this growth rate is relatively normal by historical standards, though, I think we're up against a VERY different permitting / RTO environment. With grid operators like PJM taking an average of 5 years to approve new generation, we're filling the grid with a very small bucket (even if there's an ocean of power in the grid backlog that could be brought online - 1 TW plus, though not all backlog projects actually make it online).

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Theodore Rethers's avatar

Is there a reason you do not mention decommissioning of old plants either coal or nuclear or gas?

from Ai ,

On the generation side, the U.S. will see a near-total fleet replacement by 2050. and By 2050, most of the U.S. grid will need to be replaced or heavily upgraded due to age, with 60–80% of transmission/distribution lines and nearly all transformers requiring renewal.

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Ron Voss's avatar

We need to be careful about believing any numbers that come from the Trump administration without checking independent sources. Perhaps from any administration!

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BZ's avatar

Thank you Hannah. As always, you cut through the clickbate headlines with your thorough analysis.

Alongside historical context, the context of "we should expect to see growth in electricity use as we reduce the use of hydrocarbons" is a particularly important one that we should bear in mind when reading these headlines.

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Rosie Kaplan's avatar

Hi Just wanted to say I have started your book. Very thoughtfully presented and uplifing but frustrating, If we can do it, why aren't we!! thanks for all you do. Rosie

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Petter Moe's avatar

Very useful! But isn´t part of the increase coming from electricity replacing other energy sources? At least in Norway, where I live, electrical vehicles contribute to the growth of electricity, but gives a corresponding reduction for petrol. We see some of this in industry as well. So how much of this is an increase in energy, and how much is a change to a greener source?

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Buzen's avatar

The US added 50 gigawatts last year producing 435 TWH last year assuming full time production, China added 429 gw producing 3741 TWH so if the US wants to keep up they need to add a lot of new generation

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