America’s power grid is becoming too important to ignore. But it can also be, if we’re being honest, a little hard to understand. Why? One reason is that the country really has two parallel electricity systems. There’s the physical grid itself: the power plants, transformers and copper wires that generate electricity, hurl it across miles of country and ultimately deliver it in usable form to homes and businesses. This system is miraculous, a continent sized machine that allows electrons to flow to where they are needed. But there is also the financial and regulatory system that governs that grid, and it is a bramble. The U.S. power system is overseen in part by seven regional markets, 50 state governments, a handful of federal agencies and thousands of local utilities — and each plays a role in determining who gets paid for the grid and what infrastructure gets built. To understand the grid, you have to know a little bit about both of these crucial systems. I try to provide a guide to them in my latest piece for Times Opinion. The grid is, of course, essential to the biggest story in the economy right now — the rise of artificial intelligence and the data center boom. But really, virtually any economic or environmental goal that the United States might want to pursue will require big changes to the grid. It’s time to make them.
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