Before the 1800’s much farm work, transportation, heating and home chores being done with muscle power and wood burning. As coal, petroleum, natural gas and later nuclear energy were applied to replace muscle power, our country experienced rapid growth in industrial production, food production, shipping, travel and a growing economy. Also, comforts and conveniences at home and work such as air conditioning, refrigeration, cooking, dishwashers, automatic washers, and more.
The 105-year period 1850-1955 yielded incredible growth in both industrial output and economic development. The strength of the U.S. grew and expanded, making it the greatest country in the world with the largest economy.
Numerous organizations, including the North America Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), have forecasted that the U.S. needs about 125,000 MW of new electricity generation capacity by 2030 and about 600,000 MW of new generation capacity by 2050 to meet the growing demand for electricity.
If completed, the new power plant construction plans between 2007 and 2009 would have eliminated the electricity generation crisis the U.S. is facing in 2025.
Nuclear power is a good idea, but rebuilding the supply chain will require more time. Natural gas plants, in our opinion, are overbuilt. Nearly all of them have no on-site fuel storage and are always susceptible to pipeline flow disruptions.
We have six ways to generate electricity. We have 6 ways to generate electricity.
We have 4 proven ways to generate continuous uninterruptible electricity:
- Coal
- Natural gas
- Nuclear
- Hydro
We have 2 ways to generate intermittent, unreliable weather dependent electricity:
- Wind turbines
- Solar panels
The growing demand for continuous and uninterruptable electricity is being compounded by the growth of AI and datacenters that are humongous power consumers. Their electricity demands can be provided by coal, natural gas, nuclear, and hydro, but the futility of expecting that the new demand for continuous and uninterruptible electricity can be supplied from weather dependent electricity generation from wind and solar is unrealistic.
Meanwhile, the current U.S. government policy, green religion, renewable electricity policies and crushing regulations are geared toward electrifying everything. Including transportation.
The Demand for electricity is increasing because of increased usage by AI, datacenters, charging of EV’s. and the natural organic growth of electricity as people of the world are lifted from poverty.
Today, “Net Zero” policymakers setting “green” policies are oblivious to the reality that so-called “renewables”, ONLY generate electricity but CANNOT make any products or transportation fuels for our materialistic societies. In addition, everything that NEEDS Electricity, like iPhones and computers, are made with petrochemicals manufactured from crude oil, coal, or natural gas.
- Electricity came AFTER oil, as ALL electrical generation methods from hydro, coal, natural gas, nuclear, wind, and solar are ALL built with the products, components, and equipment that are made from oil derivatives manufactured from crude oil,
- All EV’s, solar panels, and wind turbines are also built with the products, components, and equipment that are made from the oil derivatives manufactured from crude oil.
The Obama and Biden EPA was on a mission to kill coal power plants that provide continuous uninterruptable electricity to the grid regardless of the harm to our economy, it is a rogue government agency, staffed by extremists, aligned with rogue NGO’s, guided by extremists first in the Obama Administration, then the Biden Administration that are using the regulations as a weapon against the best interests of America and the citizens. The key people at the EPA during the Obama and Biden Administrations were some of the same people who worked at various NGO’s such as the NRDC. They were aligned with forcing the decline of America and the rise of China.
It is extreme fantasy to believe that the intermittent electricity from weather dependent wind and solar can power the economies of Developed Countries.
The elites of society have bought EV’s and will continue to buy EV’s, but the surge in EV Demand has not really been felt yet because EV’s are still a small percentage of the total U.S. vehicle fleet for the elites that can afford them. However, with about 80% of the global population of 8 billion people living in less developed countries. Much of Africa and South-East Asia are prime examples of this, but also Pacific Ocean Island states.
The people in poorer developing countries might live on less than $10 per day but the greater problem is that they have little or no access to reliable electricity, nor to the myriad of products manufactured using fossil fuels and their derivatives. The “green” agendas of the developed world are threatening to never allow them access to it.
Yet, the few wealthy developed countries continue to pursue the poor capacity factor, high cost and unreliability of wind and solar after decades of spending billions.
The answer to support the Primary Energy needed for electricity generation over the next twenty-five years is to build more dispatchable electricity generation capacity from new natural gas, nuclear and coal plants. We need to build lots of new gas, nuclear and coal plants. Easy to write about, harder to accomplish.
Building just one new 1,600 MW Coal Plant
One of the most recent coal plants built is the 1,600 MW Prairie States Energy Center in southern Illinois. The plant construction is well documented by Bechtel and Prairie States. Here are some statistics to explain the immensity of the challenge of building a plant such as the Prairie States Energy Campus.
- 42,000 tons of steel
- 165,000 cubic yards of concrete
- 2,700 construction workers
- 120 miles of piping
- 1,200 miles of electric cable
It will take thousands of new engineers, technicians, craftsmen and other factory workers that will need to be trained and employed to accomplish this huge task. The next generation has a huge job of rebuilding the supply chain of continuous uninterruptible electricity to meet the demands of the growing economy.
The need is for 600,000 MW of new reliable, affordable, dispatchable electricity generation capacity. Satisfying this demand for new capacity will require more new gas, new coal and new nuclear plants to be built to provide continuous, uninterruptable, and emissions-free electricity.
Nuclear today provides about 100,000 MW of electricity generation. Most of the nuclear plants providing this power were built over 40 years ago. It took over 30 years to build the first 100,000 MW of nuclear generation and yes, we should proceed at full speed ahead of doing so again.
The solution, for continuous and uninterruptable electricity demanded by AI and datacenters, is to build more coal plants and build them now. It will be difficult to ramp up the supply chain, but we should begin ASAP. Building plants like Prairie States takes years. At best, about four years from the start of engineering to the first connection to the Grid and then it usually takes months of debugging and fine tuning to reach the full potential of a new plant.
We should begin now as the electricity generation crisis is real, not imagined. In 2008 over 150 new coal plants were planned. Most of these were cancelled. This amounts to intentional Self-Sabotaging the reliable, affordable and dispatchable electricity supply that is the Lifeblood of our nation. Cancelling 150 coal plants vital for our nation’s strength and productive capacity, was a mistake that will become apparent during peak electricity demand in the hot summer and cold winter months ahead.
Please share this information with teachers, students, and friends to encourage Energy Literacy conversations at the family dinner table. Click this Link to Sign up for Energy Literacy from Ronald Stein.
First published in America Out Loud News
