E44: Dark Days Ahead: The Threats to Our Electric Grid

Meredith Angwin warns of a looming crisis in U.S. energy reliability, explaining how market design, renewables, and misguided policy could lead to widespread blackouts.

👤 Guest Bio

Meredith Angwin is a physical chemist and energy consultant who spent decades working on utility projects related to nuclear, geothermal, and fossil fuel power plants. Now retired from industry, she is the author of Shorting the Grid: The Hidden Fragility of Our Electric Grid, where she critiques the design and operation of modern deregulated energy markets and advocates for prioritizing reliability in grid planning.

📌 Topics Discussed

• The structure and function of the electric grid (balancing authorities, RTOs, transmission)
• Why intermittent renewables destabilize the grid
• The Texas 2021 blackout and what it reveals
• How electricity auctions work and why “cheap” wind and solar are misleading
• The danger of prioritizing low-carbon goals over reliability
• California’s energy policies and future EV mandates
• Policy grid vs. physical grid: why bureaucracy worsens fragility
• How subsidies distort energy markets and investor incentives
• Local control, advocacy, and preserving reliable power for future generations

💬 Top 3 Quotes

“Without reliability, none of those other things—zero carbon, renewables—are going to count.”

“The value to society and the value to the investor have become decoupled in the energy field.”

“We need advocates on the side of providing reliable energy—not just activists chasing slogans like 'renewable' or 'low carbon.’”

🎙 The Pod is hosted by Jesse Wright
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