NE Washington News

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy convened a hearing titled "Scaling for Growth: Meeting Demand for Reliable, Affordable Electricity." The discussion focused on the future energy demands of the United States, emphasizing the need to produce sufficient power to support both the electric grid and emerging data centers.

Chairman Latta highlighted the importance of increasing baseload power generation to ensure affordable and reliable energy for American households and small businesses. He stated, “In the coming years, it’s critical we produce the power needed to meet the demands of the electric grid, while also powering the data centers that are being built to support the critical advancement of AI technology.”

Representative Rick Allen from Georgia emphasized his state's role in meeting energy demands. He pointed out that Georgia has been recognized as a top state for business over 12 consecutive years, leading to increased demand due to new manufacturing and data centers. Allen noted, “This is leading to high demand for the grid, and we must continue to ensure we can provide reliable, affordable energy as we power our nation's needs.” He mentioned Plant Vogel in his district as a key player in nuclear energy production.

Representative Troy Balderson raised concerns about PJM's capacity mix, which heavily relies on dispatchable power generation such as natural gas, nuclear, and coal. However, he noted that 97% of PJM's queue capacity comes from renewable sources. In response, Mr. Haque expressed concerns about the lack of dispatchable resources entering PJM's interconnection queue. Haque explained that essential reliability services are needed alongside renewable integration.

When asked if rising demand could be met with renewables alone, both Mr. Brickhouse and Mr. Black responded negatively.