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The Trump administration has spent the past year trying to slow the country's renewable energy industry. NPR's Michael Copley reports on how that may impact businesses and consumers.
MICHAEL COPLEY, BYLINE: Power hungry data centers are popping up around the country, fueling a surge in electricity demand unlike anything the U.S. has seen in decades. That makes it a bad time for the Trump administration to try to sideline renewables projects, which can be built quickly. That's according to Pavan Venkatakrishnan, a policy adviser at the Foundation for American Innovation, a research group.
PAVAN VENKATAKRISHNAN: They may not love renewable technologies, but they're going to need them to meet the data center demand but also maintain energy affordability for all consumers.
COPLEY: A White House spokesperson told NPR that renewables drive up power prices, and that President Trump is trying to boost natural gas, coal and nuclear power instead. But Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory recently found wind and solar projects on their own don't generally raise electricity prices. Helen Kou says, instead of debating the best energy sources...
HELEN KOU: There should be more of a focus on just getting things built.
COPLEY: Kou runs the power markets research team at BloombergNEF.
KOU: Power supply is already a limiting factor for data center development.
COPLEY: For now, renewables are still booming. But the Trump administration's attacks threaten to weaken the industry ahead of an expected slowdown because power companies are investing more in natural gas. Kou says gas plants still look like the best bet for guaranteed power.
KOU: Because data centers run around the clock, it likely needs some type of firm capacity, which gas is still the most viable option.
COPLEY: It's unclear how much families and businesses will have to pay to meet that growing demand. The consulting firm ICF estimates residential retail power prices will increase between 15% and 40% by 2030. Alex Trembath says underinvestment in the grid itself leaves communities susceptible to rising electricity prices. Trembath is deputy director of the Breakthrough Institute, a research group.
ALEX TREMBATH: And that constrains the ability to get electrons around, to get electrons from where they're being generated to where they're needed.
COPLEY: The rush for electricity could also worsen climate change. Natural gas is cleaner than coal but still creates climate pollution, so burning more gas could fuel more warming. On the other hand, Trembath says rising demand may pave the way for technologies like nuclear and geothermal that could cut emissions down the road.
TREMBATH: Not over the next five years, but over the next 50 years.
COPLEY: The U.N. recently warned the world is already on track for more extreme climate impacts.
Michael Copley, NPR News.
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