America’s “Energy Emergency” Is More Than Politics — It’s a Warning

It’s easy to dismiss the “emergency” as politics — until the power goes out. The U.S. grid isn’t broken, but it’s bending under pressure.

The United States is in a National Energy Emergency. But what does that actually mean?

On his first day back in office, President Trump signed an Executive Order declaring a formal National Energy Emergency — a first in U.S. history. The declaration was sweeping in tone but vague in detail, leaving many to wonder: what, exactly, is the emergency?

On paper, it’s a political move — a policy reset aimed at accelerating fossil fuel development and rolling back regulatory hurdles. But in reality, it touches on something deeper: our energy system is under growing strain.

Is the Grid Really in Crisis?

It depends on how you define “crisis.”

The U.S. still delivers electricity to more than 99.9% of homes and businesses. For most people, the lights stay on. But beneath the surface, there are mounting signs that the system is struggling to keep pace with 21st century demands:

• Aging infrastructure: Over 70% of the U.S. grid is more than 25 years old. Much of it was built in the 1960s and 70s, and was never prepared for today’s demands.

• More frequent and longer outages: Power outages more than doubled; about 80% were due to extreme weather events, which are also increasing in frequency.

• Rising demand: Electricity demand is projected to grow 3% annually through 2030 — the fastest since the turn of the century — fueled by EVs, heat pumps, and data centers.

© Reshini Premaratne

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What This Means Moving Forward

Whether or not you buy into the “emergency” framing, the underlying tension is real: the U.S. is stepping into a new energy era — and the system we’ve relied on for decades wasn’t built for what’s coming next.

© Reshini Premaratne

🔌 For the Grid

The physical infrastructure that carries electricity — transmission lines, substations, transformers — is aging, congested, and underbuilt for the future.

To meet expected load growth, we’ll need:

• Major transmission expansion, particularly between regions. A 2024 DOE transmission study found we need to double regional transmission capacity by 2035 to meet reliability and decarbonization goals.

• Smarter, more dynamic systems that can respond in real-time to volatility. That includes investments in advanced grid technologies, demand-side flexibility, and data visibility across the distribution network.

• Local resilience solutions like battery storage and microgrids to support critical loads during outages. California’s Distributed Energy Resources programs and Puerto Rico’s ongoing microgrid initiatives highlight how distributed solutions are being deployed to address localized risk.

But these upgrades require time, capital, and coordination across jurisdictions — all of which remain in short supply. Some long-haul transmission projects still take a decade or more to approve and build.

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🏗️ For Developers

For those trying to build energy infrastructure in America — whether solar, hydrogen, natural gas, or storage — the opportunity is enormous, but so are the challenges:

• Permitting remains a chokepoint. Even with recent NEPA reforms, large-scale projects can get stuck for years. The Grain Belt Express took over 14 years to clear state-level approvals across just four states.

• Interconnection queues are growing fast. As of early 2024, more than 2.2 terawatts of generation and storage were waiting for grid access — nearly double the size of current U.S. generation. In ISOs (the geographic regions of the grid) like PJM (the mid-Atlantic on the East Coast), delays and costs are driving developers to walk away from viable projects.

• Policy uncertainty increases investment risk. While the Inflation Reduction Act unlocked historic funding, key rules around hydrogen, tax credits, and supply chains are still evolving. Meanwhile, rising local opposition to wind and solar projects in some regions adds a layer of permitting risk.

Developing energy projects in this environment requires not just capital and technology — but regulatory fluency, public engagement, and persistence.

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🏛️ For Policy

This moment demands more than declarations — it demands structural coordination.

• We need a national energy strategy that aligns planning, permitting, and infrastructure investment. Right now, no single entity has end-to-end authority. Agencies like FERC, DOE, and state utility commissions all oversee different pieces — often without clear coordination.

• Permitting reform must move forward — with purpose. Proposals like the Building American Energy Security Act offer a framework for faster, more predictable approvals, but face political gridlock. The challenge is speeding up project timelines without weakening environmental review or public input.

• We need to move past false binaries. A reliable, low-carbon grid won’t come from fossil fuels or renewables alone — it will require both flexibility and balance. States like Texas now lead the nation in wind capacity and are rapidly scaling utility-scale batteries, even as gas remains central to grid reliability.

Right now, U.S. energy policy is fragmented across jurisdictions and reactive to political cycles. But to meet growing demand, strengthen resilience, and accelerate the transition, alignment isn’t optional — it’s foundational.

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Why This Matters

You might not think about the grid much — until the power goes out. Or your bill spikes. Or your EV charger doesn’t work when you need it most.

This “emergency” might have been politically motivated. But it’s also revealing something true: we are at an inflection point in how America powers itself. And what we do next — as voters, policymakers, builders, and consumers — will determine whether our energy future is stable or stuck.

In energy, stability isn’t a given — it’s something we build.

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Why I’m Writing This

I've started writing about energy because I believe it’s one of the most important (and least understood) forces shaping our future. Over the past few years, I’ve worked across a range of energy topics — from EV charging infrastructure and grid congestion to transmission planning and affordability — first as a consultant, and currently as part of the strategy team at a major utility.

The more I’ve worked in this space, the more I’ve come to see how deeply energy shapes the world around us — how we live, what we build, and the kind of future we have the power to create. This blog is my way of learning in public: a space to unpack big questions, surface hard tradeoffs, and explore what it might take to build an energy system that’s not just resilient and reliable, but fair, sustainable, and built to last. My hope is that by writing and reflecting here, I can help make this system a little easier to see — and maybe, over time, a little easier to change, too.