New energy sources needed now to combat soaring prices

From the industrial revolution to the digital revolution, Pennsylvania has led the way in American energy production. But now it’s clear that the AI-fueled tech industry boom is poised to push our electrical grid to the brink.

The question is: Will Pennsylvania keep its place as America’s energy leader? Or will we fall behind our neighboring states and leave consumers stuck with sky-high electric bills in the process?

Pennsylvania is already starting to lose its grip as the region’s leading power player. Our neighboring states are making moves that could position them ahead of us – especially in nuclear energy.

Now that Pennsylvania is officially out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), there can be no more excuses for sitting on the sidelines of the new nuclear energy production surge.

To be sure, there are some exciting developments in Pennsylvania nuclear news.

Three Mile Island Unit 1 is gearing up to restart under the new name of Crane Clean Energy Center – ironically getting new life entirely because of the AI boom, as Microsoft has an exclusive deal to purchase the more than 800 megawatts of electricity that the plant will generate and add to the regional power grid.

But traditional nuclear power plants are a part of the energy puzzle. Pennsylvania needs to add new capacity to the electric grid, and that means fostering investment in exciting new clean energy sources – from advanced nuclear, such as small modular reactors (SMR) to geothermal and carbon-capture technologies.

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives recently took a great first step when it passed legislation to reduce fees for SMRs, to align those fees with the size of SMR projects and make them more financially feasible to develop across the commonwealth.

Why SMRs? To put it simply, they are smaller, safer, more flexible and faster to build than traditional nuclear reactors – at a fraction of the upfront costs.

Other states are already betting big on new nuclear – both SMRs and advanced versions of large reactors – to help address surging electricity demand and spiking prices. New York has a goal of adding 1 gigawatt of clean energy to the grid through advanced nuclear, while Maryland is working on nuclear production incentives.

Pennsylvania needs new energy sources, but our laws and regulations are simply not keeping up with today’s technologies.

As an example, Pennsylvania’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards (AEPS) are woefully outdated. The AEPS is meant to boost the total supply of energy generation by requiring electricity suppliers to generate their electricity from a broad array of sources – including clean energy sources.

But missing from the AEPS list is nuclear power – both traditional and advanced reactors – a major clean energy source that will be needed to boost grid capacity.

Also missing: carbon capture. If carbon capture was added to Pennsylvania’s AEPS, natural gas producers would be incentivized to add it to their projects, resulting in cleaner wells and a new, clean energy source.

Adding to Pennsylvania’s energy crunch is the glacially slow pace at which new energy production sources are added to the grid. That’s due in part to the red tape involved with getting large-scale energy projects approved. We need energy siting reform to streamline the permitting process and get more energy projects approved and online as fast as possible.

Pennsylvania consumers and businesses are already feeling the pinch of rising electricity rates, and we know prices are expected to keep going up at an alarming rate.

For years, our elected leaders in Harrisburg have pointed to the political debate and ensuing legal battle over RGGI as the reason why Pennsylvania couldn’t move forward with a real strategy for boosting energy production. Well, RGGI is gone. So now what?

We are well past time for Pennsylvania to have a robust and nation-leading energy strategy that will compete not just with our neighboring states but with other nations around the globe.

The roadmap is there. Now we just need our elected leaders in Harrisburg to take the wheel, put their foot on the pedal, and drive us to energy dominance.