When you talk to grid planners these days, one phrase keeps popping up: “out of runway.” That’s the feeling across the U.S. electricity system as artificial intelligence, data centers, and electrification drive demand higher than it’s been in decades. The catch? Much of the grid was strung up a generation ago, and the lead times for modernizing it stretch well past 2030.
So the big question isn’t whether America will build a new grid fast enough—it can’t—but how to squeeze every last drop of capacity out of the one we already have.
A New Kind of Energy Emergency
The Department of Energy recently launched its “Speed to Power” program, soliciting utilities and regional grid operators for shovel-ready projects that could bring on extra capacity quickly. In tandem, President Donald Trump invoked emergency powers to keep aging coal and gas plants from closing, arguing that “rapid adoption of solar and wind” has destabilized power markets .
Critics point out that Texas—the grid with the largest share of renewables—actually saw improved reliability this summer thanks to solar and batteries . But the administration has doubled down on fossil fuels, even rescinding a $4.9 billion transmission loan that would have carried wind and solar power from the Midwest to Eastern cities .
Meanwhile, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is layering on new grid security requirements to guard against cyberattacks and extreme cold snaps, underscoring just how many fault lines exist in the current system.
Short-Term Fixes: Squeezing More from the System
Analysts at RAND and elsewhere say there’s a set of stopgap measures that could buy the grid some breathing room while long-term investments crawl forward. Among them:
- Prioritizing projects already deep in the interconnection queue. Fast-tracking high-capacity battery and flexible generation projects could yield as much as 64 GW by 2030.
- Postponing retirements. Keeping some coal and gas units online longer, as California did with certain gas and nuclear plants, could shore up reliability in the near term—though it comes with environmental trade-offs. RAND estimates delaying half of scheduled retirements could add 22 GW of capacity.
- Hybrid renewables. Pairing wind and solar with storage transforms them into more dependable resources, unlocking up to 30 GW in the second half of the decade.
- Untangling the interconnection backlog. Even small improvements in completion rates—say, 5 percentage points—translate into an extra 26 GW online, according to queue data.
Each of these strategies carries its own tensions: environmental justice concerns around extending coal, financing hurdles for storage, bureaucratic bottlenecks in permitting. Still, together they could help the grid avoid immediate crunches.
Market Forces Don’t Wait
Even as Washington leans on coal plants, the private sector is rushing the other way. At the solar industry’s RE+ gathering in Las Vegas last week, executives pointed out that hyperscale data centers—the very ones driving demand—aren’t price sensitive. For them, the speed of new megawatts matters more than the fuel source. That puts solar and batteries, which can be built far faster than a gas plant, in a strong position despite federal headwinds .
Globally, renewables have already hit what the United Nations calls a “positive tipping point,” with solar and wind now the cheapest new power sources in most markets . Even here at home, over 90% of new capacity added last year came from clean energy .
What’s at Stake
If policymakers fail to bridge the gap, the consequences ripple well beyond utility bills. A RAND analysis warns that by 2030, AI alone could demand more electricity than the current net capacity of the U.S. grid. That raises the specter of companies moving data operations overseas in search of reliable power. With AI leadership and industrial competitiveness on the line, the energy debate is no longer just about climate—it’s about economic security.
For communities, this moment feels familiar. Like my hometown, where one dam powered jobs and sparked endless arguments about fish runs, the choices we make about today’s grid will define tomorrow’s landscape of opportunity and sacrifice. Whether America leans harder on fossil stopgaps or clears the way for a surge of renewables, the trade-offs won’t be abstract—they’ll be lived out in places where the lights either stay on or don’t.
