The demand for electricity in the U.S. is increasing significantly to power new data centers, manufacturing, and our homes and businesses. On top of that, extreme weather events— from wildfires and hurricanes to heat waves and cold snaps—can create power outages.
Governments throughout the U.S. are grappling with how to modernize their energy policies to address these challenges, benefit local economies, and reduce carbon pollution.
In support of the nation’s move toward a secure energy future, The Pew Charitable Trusts advocates for state and federal policy change, conducts research to address critical gaps, and convenes and mobilizes key stakeholders.
As the push to move to a clean energy economy in the U.S. accelerates, the offshore wind (OSW) industry has the potential to advance the transition by creating jobs, improving infrastructure, and stimulating local economies. With a national goal of developing 30 gigawatts (GW) of energy from OSW by 2030, a U.S.-based industry could attract $12 billion in direct private investment annually while reducing overall emissions, according to the Department of Energy (DOE). Generating 30GW of energy from offshore wind would power approximately 10 million homes annually.
How can the U.S. squeeze the most energy out of its electric grid? That’s one of the challenges transmission operators face today. The grid is strained by increasing demand from economic growth and electric vehicles, disruptions due to severe weather events, and more. The result is a congested transmission system that cannot accommodate the flow of low-cost electricity.
Thanks in part to historic levels of federal funding—from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), both enacted over the past two years—the U.S. is poised to rapidly modernize energy generation, transmission, and use.
Pressure on the U.S. energy grid continues to rise. Thanks to the increasing use of data centers, the growth of artificial intelligence, and the expansion of domestic manufacturing—among other factors—U.S. grid planners have nearly doubled their annual forecast for anticipated electricity demand over the next five years.
To help meet the ever-rising demand for energy in the U.S., policymakers, regulators, and utilities should look to distributed energy resources (DERs) as a bigger part of the solution. According to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, DERs “are small, modular, energy generation and storage technologies that provide electric capacity or energy”—sources such as solar panels on roofs, batteries, electric vehicles, heat pumps, small wind turbines, and even smart thermostats. DERs, which are typically installed where the electricity is needed—a home, business, or industrial site—can lower energy costs, reduce pollution, and help communities keep the lights on during grid outages, among other benefits.
