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As Americans use more electricity for a wide range of household, commercial and industrial applications, the federal government is pulling back from the business of keeping the country’s lights on reliably.
Among the federal programs cut by the Trump administration, and in the list of proposed budget reductions, are large projects focused on improving the performance and resilience of the nation’s electricity grid. That’s the interconnected web of wires that moves electricity from all the various places it’s generated – whether from natural gas, coal, wind, solar or nuclear – to all the places it’s used, rural and urban alike.
As sustainability scholar Roshanak Nateghi explains, many of these cuts came in the name of halting growth of renewable energy sources that Trump dislikes. But they actually would have paid for systems and equipment to monitor grid performance, reduce the effects of outages and cyberattacks, and provide backup power in emergencies when power lines are down.
That leaves Americans more likely to be in the dark more often and for longer, Nateghi writes, and also more likely to need to spend taxpayer money on repairing and restoring systems that the canceled investments would have replaced or improved.
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Large-capacity electrical wires carry power from one place to another around the nation.
Stephanie Tacy/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Roshanak (Roshi) Nateghi, Georgetown University
Many of the canceled grants were investments in the science and infrastructure necessary to keep the lights on in coming years, especially when the grid is under stress.
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