U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright made it clear that natural gas will play a big part in America’s energy future. Speaking on Fox Business, he laid out the need to greatly expand the nation’s energy infrastructure and to become a leader in AI.
“Artificial Intelligence takes huge amounts of electricity so we’re trying to allow people to build power plants of all kinds,” he said. “It’ll probably mostly be natural gas, because that’s the most affordable and fastest to build today. But we want to see nuclear built and stop closing coal plants. We’re going to see solar continue to grow, and hopefully storage and better grid stability.”
Wright’s view is that the quality, affordability, and reliability of a state or a country’s energy system dictates how well it’s going to do in this world. He is heading in the oppositive direction to the previous administration, which he labelled as four years of obstructions in energy, driving up prices, and reducing reliability.
In particular, he stressed the need to let U.S. LNG exports grow. That requires help to obtain pipeline permits and encourage more drilling and exploration.
“The limit on how much natural gas we produce is our ability to move it to an end marketplace, either a factory, a home, or a power plant in the United States, or a terminal to export overseas,” said Wright. “We’re going to rapidly make the U.S. a powerhouse in global natural gas, the fastest growing energy source on the planet.”
In the first few months of the Trump administration, he claimed that new LNG terminals have been approved that will add capacity that is greater than the second largest LNG exporting nation in the world.
Coal, Nuclear, and Oil Boost
The shackles are off for oil and coal, too. Oil pipelines face more favorable permitting conditions to reduce reliance on foreign supply. A coal revival is being discussed as well as a nuclear renaissance.
“A lot of nuclear plants have been shut down, but they’re being put back online, and there are plans for more in the future. The President’s strategy is one that accounts for all types of energy working together,” said Wright. “Coal has been the largest source of global electricity for 100 years, and it will be for decades to come.”
Hence, efforts are underway to prevent further coal plant closures. Why is this the strategy? He favors the realities of the existing energy picture rather than dreams about a possible renewable future. The biggest source of U.S. electricity is natural gas following by nuclear, and then coal. So they merit emphasis.
Expect nuclear plants like Palisades in southwestern Michigan (shut down two and a half years ago) to reopen by year end, more announcements about coal plant closures being dialed back, many more new natural gas plants being developed, and the building of new nuclear plants.
“We are bringing back common sense,” said Wright. “The Department of Energy carried out 47 repeals or rollbacks of regulations such as ridiculous restrictions on shower heads, cooking stoves, clothes dryers, and other appliances.”
