America’s economic growth and leadership in new technologies will be threatened without ensuring reliable energy supply, warned the agency.
The planned retirement of more than 100 gigawatts of power generation capacity by the end of the decade could increase the risk of blackouts in the United States by 100 times, the Department of Energy said in a July 7 statement.
“Allowing 104 GW of firm generation to retire by 2030—without timely replacement—could lead to significant outages when weather conditions do not accommodate wind and solar generation,” the DOE said.
“Modeling shows annual outage hours could increase from single digits today to more than 800 hours per year. Such a surge would leave millions of households and businesses vulnerable. We must renew a focus on firm generation and continue to reverse radical green ideology in order to address this risk.”
Firm power generation refers to power that can be generated at all times and includes coal, natural gas, and nuclear. This is in contrast to intermittent power sources such as wind and solar, which are dependent on factors like weather.
The warning is part of the DOE’s Evaluating U.S. Grid Reliability and Security report, which criticized the “radical green agenda of past administrations” for existing generation retirements and delays in adding new firm power generation capacities, according to the statement.
This will lead to a “growing mismatch” between electricity demand and supply, driven especially by demand from AI-driven data center growth, the DOE said in the statement.
If the current schedule of planned retirements and incremental power additions remain unchanged, the country’s electric grid will be “unable to meet expected demand for AI, data centers, manufacturing and industrialization while keeping the cost of living low for all Americans,” the agency added in the statement.
Continuing on the present course will undermine America’s economic growth, leadership in new technologies, and national security, the DOE said.
While the 104 GW in retirements are set to be replaced by 209 GW of new power generation by 2030, only 22 GW of these replacements are set to be firm generation, according to the department.
“The United States cannot afford to continue down the unstable and dangerous path of energy subtraction previous leaders pursued, forcing the closure of baseload power sources like coal and natural gas,” Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said in the statement.
“In the coming years, America’s reindustrialization and the AI race will require a significantly larger supply of around-the-clock, reliable, and uninterrupted power. President Trump’s administration is committed to advancing a strategy of energy addition, and supporting all forms of energy that are affordable, reliable, and secure.”
The DOE report is in response to President Donald Trump’s April 8 executive order calling for strengthening the reliability and security of America’s power grid.
To ensure reliable electric generation in the country and meet the growing demand for electricity, America’s power grid “must utilize all available power generation resources, particularly those secure, redundant fuel supplies that are capable of extended operations,” the order states.
The DOE issued its warning following a May report from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), which cautioned that parts of the United States could struggle to meet electricity demand this summer.
The NERC report cited intermittent energy sources, such as solar and wind, as posing a potential risk to the reliability of the power supply.
