America’s Looming Electricity Crisis Is Trump’s Achilles’ Heel
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in the Telegraph.
This is the sub-heading.
Culture war banter and point-scoring have left Maga facing a self-inflicted energy shortage
These are the first three paragraphs.
The US is in danger of losing the global AI race for the most banal and careless of reasons: it is critically short of electricity.
The country is sitting on a neglected pre-modern grid that cannot meet surging power demand for data centres, cryptocurrencies, the reshoring of semiconductor plants and the proclaimed revival of the American industrial base.
Nor can it meet the needs for air conditioning through hotter and more humid summers. While we all talk about AI, the chief cause of rising electricity use last year was for cooling. Bitcoin mining took another 2pc of US power, for no productive purpose.
It looks like we can add simple arithmetic to the skills the Trump Administration lacks.
The Telegraph article and myself have some other thoughts.
The Planned Increase In Electricity Is A Fifth Of What’s Needed
This is a paragraph from the Telegraph.
The US Energy Department said in its Resource Adequacy Report in July that the planned increase in firm electricity supply is a fifth of what is needed by 2030.
In Renewable Power By 2030 In The UK, I stated that by 2030, the UK would add nearly 59 GW of offshore wind.
Surely, using the population size difference of four times, 240 GW of offshore wind, would do the USA nicely?
But, Trump doesn’t like wind turbines.
Texas Has A Shortage Of Electricity
These are two paragraphs from the Telegraph.
The Texas grid operator Ercot expects peak power demand in its region to soar from 87 gigawatts (GW) this year to 138 GW by 2030. This is physically impossible.
Texas passed a law in June giving the state emergency authority to cut off power to data centres. Ercot is already having to deploy “mobile generation plants” at exorbitant cost to avert blackouts even today.
It sounds pretty desperate.
Texas needs another 51 GW by 2030, which is less than we intend to delivery from just offshore wind.
If Little Great Britain can do it, then surely Texas can? After all, Texas is three almost times larger than the UK.
I get the idea, that someone isn’t doing any planning.
The United States Needs A Lot Of Transformers
These are three paragraphs from the Telegraph.
The National Infrastructure Advisory Council (Niac) says the average age of America’s 60 million large power transformers is 38 years. Many are beyond their design life.
The US supply chain is not capable of delivering the 12 million new transformers needed each year to keep the show on the road. The backlog has risen to four years. The cost of transformers has jumped 80pc since the pandemic.
There is an acute shortage of electrical steel needed to make them. This comes mostly from China, Japan, Korea or Germany. In his infinite wisdom, Trump has imposed 50pc tariffs on steel, aluminium and copper. That cost shock has yet to feed through.
The Niac says it is a similar tale for “other critical grid components such as conduit, smart meters, switchgear and high-voltage circuit breakers”.
It looks like, there’s another fine mess, you’ve got us in, Donny!
Maga Wants More Coal
These are three paragraphs from the Telegraph.
The quickest way to generate more power is to roll out wind and solar. Trump is actively intervening to obstruct this. Maga wants coal instead.
This week the administration announced $625m of taxpayer subsidy to “expand and reinvigorate” the coal industry. It will open new federal lands, slash the royalty fees for extracting coal, and lift curbs on mercury pollution.
“In addition to drill, baby drill, we need to mine, baby, mine,” said Doug Burgum, the interior secretary.
When it should be spin, baby, spin.
Conclusion
Read the article in full.
We certainly, don’t want anybody, with an energy policy like Trump, influencing the UK’s energy policy.
If Trump carries on like this, he’ll end up in a terrible mess.
The Anonymous Widower 