Connecting Nuclear Energy’s Past and Present: Guiding Missouri’s Future
Missouri Policy Makers - Read this important report. Here are selected passages on "Consumer Regulated Electricity":
"CRE, while still a developing policy area, would allow private investors to create new, independent electric power systems (encompassing both generation and transmission) using their own capital. These private grids would be scaled specifically to meet demand growth from large consumers.
Much of the anxiety about grid reliability stems from the rapid growth of large energy consumers such as data centers and industrial manufacturers. However, it is difficult for utilities to accurately forecast the necessary supply to power future endeavors. Rather than relying solely on a single, unified grid to meet all customers’ demand, CRE would allow private investors to meet this need using their own capital.
CRE could reduce the burden residential ratepayers may face in supporting new supply for these large customers. As Travis Fisher (director of energy and environmental studies at the CATO Institute) argues, these private grids—disentangled from the massive regulatory red tape that ensnares public utilities—could be developed more quickly, infusing competition and innovation into the energy sector.107 By acting as “private energy islands” for new, large energy consumers, CRE could relieve strain on the primary grid and ratepayers while offering options for those new customers to secure reliable power tailored to
their needs.
Further, if America is on the verge of a global AI arms race, then the rapid deployment of advanced nuclear power (free from as much regulation as possible) may prove critical for new projects. CRE could help facilitate this
deployment and establish Missouri as an attractive location for advancing federal national security objectives."
