The Grid Wasn’t Built for This - Part 2 of 5

The problem isn't simply how much electricity America can generate. It's getting that electricity where and when we need it.

Imagine you own a poultry farm with six houses.

You've got enough water in the county reservoir to supply your farm—but the pipe running to your property is the size of a garden hose.

Technically, there's plenty of water.

Practically?

You've got a problem.

Electricity works similarly.

America doesn't simply need enough generating capacity. Electricity must be generated, transmitted and distributed to where people need it—at the moment they need it.

And that's where America's coming electricity challenge gets complicated.

Some analysts note that much of America's new demand is both continuous and location-specific. Data centers, factories and other large loads tend to cluster where land, transmission and interconnection capacity are available.

That puts pressure not just on power plants, but on:

Transmission lines. Substations. Transformers. Distribution systems. And local utilities.

Farmers already understand peak demand.

Poultry growers understand this better than most people.

On a hot South Carolina afternoon, when birds are approaching market weight and every tunnel fan is running, your electrical load looks nothing like it did on a mild April morning.

The equipment has to run.

You can't tell 100,000 chickens: "Sorry guys, electricity is expensive between 4 and 6. Let's circle back after dinner."

Agricultural demand is often mission-critical demand.

And America's newest electricity consumers increasingly have the same characteristic.

Data centers don't like shutting down.

Semiconductor plants don't casually stop production.

Industrial facilities need dependable power.

That means the grid increasingly has to accommodate large customers whose electricity requirements aren't particularly negotiable.

Someone has to build the infrastructure.

New generation is coming.

But some conventional generation takes considerable time to develop. Rabobank reports gas-turbine delivery timelines stretching as far as seven years, while nuclear projects face substantially longer development and construction timelines.

Solar and storage, meanwhile, can often be developed much faster, which is one reason they make up such a significant portion of expected near-term capacity additions.

For farmers, this raises an important question:

If electricity is one of your farm's largest operating expenses, how much of your future profitability do you want tied to an infrastructure system you don't control?

NEXT: Part 3 —Your Power Bill Is More Than a Bill
Why electricity should be treated as a long-term agricultural input—and what happens when the cost of that input keeps changing.