Ađź‘Ź 446-wordđź‘Ź 3-minuteđź‘Ź read
That’s what the CEO of the largest utility holding company by market capitalization in the U.S.  believes.
It’s an interesting perspective given the prevailing wisdom is that fossil fuels are the bridge to renewables.
So why the reversal?
John Ketchum, CEO of NextEra Energy takes this view because he sees two things:
â–¶ Driven by AI and data centers, demand for power is going to dramatically increase over the next 10 years.
â–¶ The lead times for gas turbines take them off the table as a major source of new generation for the next 5 to 7 years.
Earlier this week Mr. Ketchum was quoted as saying the following:
"We need a bridge to get ourselves to 2032 when that gas shows up.”
He also said:
"If we take renewables off the table, we are going to have a real power shortage problem in this country."
These statements are sad but true.
To a degree, Ketchum is talking his book. NextEra is a leader in solar and wind deployment. Its portfolio consists of 38 GW of solar, wind, and storage, and 6 GW of nuclear. Its other major source of power generation is natural gas at 27 GW.
Nonetheless, Ketchum’s view isn’t the result of biases related to the company he heads. It’s simply an accurate assessment of our current situation.
Climate activists will argue that renewables are the answer today and in the future. Over the next five or so years, many will come to the realization that this isn’t true. The limitations of solar and wind will become increasingly magnified. This will allow natural gas to enjoy a resurgence as the most available source of base load power generation.
I’m hopeful, nuclear, and perhaps geothermal, can supplant the need to significantly expand the use of natural gas. However, at this point, it’s impossible to accurately predict the timelines of those alternative sources of clean energy.
With its Utah-based project, Fervo is moving the geothermal needle. The project has managed to stay on schedule and on target, which is a bit of a first.
The fate of nuclear will largely depend on the success or failure of the first small modular reactor deployments. In this case Canada’s Darlington Nuclear Generating Station in Ontario will be the “canary in the coal mine” as the first North American SMR to go live. It appears that the U.S. won’t be far behind.
I will be closely watching both efforts. If successful, the clean energy landscape will look quite different a decade from now. And in terms of achieving net-zero power generation, it will be a vast improvement over the current landscape.
#nuclearenergy #geothermal #fervo #naturalgas #renewables #NextEra
Image by Freepik