There is an odd game being played by utilities these days, a version of “gotcha” where they say there’s a need for additional fossil fuel generation build out because there is simply not enough renewable energy from solar and wind to meet the growing demand for electricity.

For example, according to a March 14, 2024, article in The New York Times, titled “A New Surge in Power Use is Threatening U.S. Climate Goals,” expanding numbers of data centers and new manufacturing and the move toward “electrify everything” policies have made for higher projections for electricity demands. Some of the expected increase in the need for electricity comes from expectations of growing numbers of heat pumps and electric vehicles as championed by the Inflation Reduction Act and programs by the states, and Massachusetts is a top leader in this area.

The argument being made on the fossil fuels industry side is that clean energy just isn’t there to meet the expected doubling of additional power requirements forecast by 2028. The same article notes:

To meet spiking demand, utilities in states like Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia are proposing to build dozens of power plants over the next 15 years that would burn natural gas. In Kansas, one utility has postponed the retirement of a coal plant to help power a giant electric-car battery factory.

I guess this all depends by what you mean by renewable energy sources being “not there.” The projects exist or are in the process of coming on line, but there’s a missing connection, literally.

CNBC published the story “Wind and solar power generators wait in yearslong lines to put clean electricity on the grid, then face huge interconnection fees they can’t afford,” on April 6, 2023, sketching the scope of the problem of renewable energy as one of interconnection, or, more accurately, the lack thereof:

Wind and solar power generators wait in yearslong bureaucratic lines to connect to the power grid, only to be faced with fees they can’t afford, forcing them to scramble for more money or pull out of projects completely.

The “interconnection queue” challenge means existing renewable energy sources get slowed down, with the backlog due in part to there not being enough transmission lines to support the transition to decarbonized energy production. In short, clean energy is waiting on the infrastructure improvements and new builds by our nation’s electrical power utilities, which as a whole approach such investments reluctantly because the work expanding grid capacity to anticipate future needs must rely, in part, on return on investment from the utilities’ current smaller rate basis (i.e., today’s customers). If you like industry jargon, Jim Heidell, an energy and utilities expert at PA Consulting, closed his opinion piece titled “Balancing Essential Utility Infrastructure Investment with Customer Affordability” in April 2, 2024 issue of Power, an industry trade magazine, thusly:

The DOE LPO already has 205 active applications and requests for almost $263 billion of loan support [for utility investment]. The total funding authorized for the LPO is more than $400 billion with specific program targets contained within the total authority including up to $250 billion for the Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment program, which is targeted toward utilities seeking to retool, repower, and replace energy infrastructure that has ceased to operate or avoids/reduces greenhouse gas emissions. While we remain in an inflationary environment, the availability of this low-cost debt creates a vehicle for utilities to plan for and execute capital-intensive projects on an accelerated timeline, all while keeping an eye toward customer affordability.

The short translation is that electric utilities have been letting their grid infrastructure age, never mind working to expand capacity, and such work means that the customer ends up paying for it.

There is the problem of maintaining and expanding the electrical grids, and there is the problem of renewable energy project interconnection. What there isn’t much of a problem is lack of available renewable energy, despite what the fossil fuels industry might want you to believe so that they can keep in place and even build more power generation using the products they sell. But there’s that pesky truth problem: Over a year ago, Reuters quoted Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Acting Chairman Willie Phillip at a press conference, where he stated, “Today there is more than 2,000 gigawatts of renewable power waiting to be connected to the grid—nearly double the amount of current U.S. generation capacity.”

Of course, it isn’t just that the fossil fuels industry hopes the huge amount of renewable energy production that can be connected to the grid remains unconnected, but there’s plenty of active hostility on the fossil fuels industry’s part toward renewable energy production buildout. While often seemingly taking the form of local (i.e., “grassroots”) opposition to renewable energy projects, it turns out that the fossil fuels industry pays out one heck of a lot of money to these so-called grassroots opposers of solar and wind projects. A Brown University study released at the close of 2023 in a publication called “Against the Wind: A Map of the Anti-Offshore Wind Network in the Eastern United States,” details just some of the money spent. This work provides “an unparalleled window into how fossil fuels interests are working with climate denial think tanks and community groups to obstruct offshore wind projects.” The report only looks at anti-offshore wind projects in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Jersey, mind you, and not the nationwide tally of solar and wind projects, but even in just these three states they document how “…think tanks in the anti-offshore wind movement have received donations from six fossil fuel-interested donors between 2017 and 2021. Of these donations, $16,278,401 has gone to members of a grassroots-appearing coalition at the center of the movement.” If you want a picture of how large national groups feed money to what some call “astroturf” opposition protests, take a look at the actual schematic mapping out money flow. You’ll be fascinated and maybe a little dizzy with all the sleight of hand.

Usually well-hidden, these money transfers are very much part of the rearguard actions the fossil fuels industry take to keep themselves in business longer, despite the existential threat climate change, much of it the result of greenhouse gases building up in the atmosphere from centuries of burning carbon (coal, oil, natural gas). I’m sure that such ongoing dangerous efforts have nothing to do with the billions and billions of dollars of profit these corporations have been enjoying or the multi-million dollar annual remunerations the corporate executives relish.

There are solutions to get renewable energy connected to the grid and ways to speed up the long permitting processes currently required of projects to move forward that take years and add high costs. There is legislation put forward in the US Congress, including one that was signed into law in May 2023. While some provisions in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (FRA, Public Lae 118-5) were controversial, it did include some measures that will help streamline clean energy permitting. There are many other related acts in one stage or another in Congress, including Building Integrated Grids with Inter-Regional Energy Supply (BIG WIRES) Act, presented by Sen. Hickenlooper (D-CO) and Rep. Peters (D-CA-50), and Clean Electricity Transmission Acceleration Act, offered by Reps. Casten (D-IL-06) and Levin (D-CA-49). For more information, check out the full list at Citizens’ Climate Lobby.

We can expect the fossil fuels industry to continue to help supply America with its current energy needs, but we should demand that the fossil fuels industry stop blocking or delaying the renewable energy production we need going forward. Now that’s a permission that should be withheld.

But who knows? Big Oil is pretty slick and they do love business as usual.