US power supply ‘crisis’ will drive energy dominance agenda: Trump's Interior nominee

President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to lead the US Interior Department said the nation is facing an electricity "crisis" where large baseload fossil-fuel power plants are being supplanted by less reliable intermittent renewable energy.

Doug Burgum, the former governor of North Dakota, faced hours of questioning Jan. 16 at his first nomination hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Burgum, if confirmed, will be charged with opening public lands to energy development as part of Trump's so-called "energy dominance" agenda, which favors fossil fuel production on public lands over renewable energy.

"President Trump's energy dominance vision will end wars abroad and make life more affordable for every family by driving down inflation," Burgum said in his prepared remarks. "President Trump will achieve these goals while championing clean air, clean water and our beautiful land."

Burgum asserted the US is facing an electricity production crisis where coal, natural gas and other conventional forms of baseload power generation that provide around-the-clock electricity are being pushed off the grid by intermittent solar and wind resources that cannot provide power consistently.

"We are in an energy crisis in our country," Burgum said. "And the first place is actually related to electricity. Electricity is at the brink. Our grid is at the point where it could go completely unstable ... and could be just months away from having skyrocketing prices for Americans."

Burgum told the committee that more baseload power will be necessary to meet the demand for electricity coming from data centers and the growth of AI to compete with China. He said China is building coal plants steadily to power its growth, but that the US has prevented development of new coal and other fossil-fueled resources that could be used to power the AI-driven data center revolution.

He also criticized the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which resides outside of Interior, for what he claimed was a seven-year backlog in granting generators' interconnection rights.

Asserting that interconnection queues are currently 95% intermittent sources and only 5% baseload, with projects languishing in the queues for seven or more years, Burgum said, "We need baseload to be able to allow the renewables to be part of the system. We have to have the balance between those two, or the grid ... just doesn't work."

Of note, FERC took steps in 2023 to improve interconnection processes managed by transmission providers. The commission's Order 2023 adopted reforms for grid operators to follow and reduce the grid connection backlogs at the different independent system operators and regional transmission organizations.

'Physics of the grid'

While Republican lawmakers applauded the dominance agenda, some committee members questioned whether the Trump administration plans to use the word "baseload" as a way to say "no" to solar and wind.

"I'm a little worried today though," said Senator Angus King, Independent-Maine. "You keep distinguishing between intermittent and baseload. Would you agree that renewable resources, solar and wind, for example, can be developed if they are adequately integrated into the grid in a safe and reliable way?"

Burgum responded that "yes, they can," but the "physics of the grid" is such that "if we don't have enough baseload" there can be rolling power outages. In addition, "it's the baseload that we have that has allowed our nation to make the investments in the intermittent [renewables]."

King, who founded a wind energy company decades ago, said he "didn't want the word baseload [to] be code for 'no renewables.' That's not what you're saying, is it?"

Burgum stated that he was not saying that, but that the fact is "they are intermittent, and until we have storage solutions, and we are years from having ... cost-effective storage to support that, we need to have the baseload, or the intermittent doesn't have a life."

King pointed out that when Burgum was governor of North Dakota, the state was able to become a top wind-energy producer while setting an aggressive carbon-neutrality goal. According to the American Clean Power Association, more than 35% of the electricity produced in North Dakota comes from renewable resources.

However, Burgum said the state's grid is "super stressed." North Dakota's utilities are in two different operating regions, the Midcontinent ISO and the Southwest Power Pool, "and we have days when the rated capacity [of wind resources] is 30[%] and then you have days when the wind is blowing so hard it blows all of the baseload off of production." And when it is cold, the wind does not blow, "and then you have to crank up the baseload again."

Burgum agreed with King that adding battery storage to wind as a single resource would equal a baseload resource, but that resource would be at much higher cost. "That's something we have to look at as a nation: What cost are we willing to take on," Burgum said.

"If we can decarbonize" fossil fuel resources more cheaply than "we can subsidize renewable fuels, then that should be looked at fairly and equitably, and economically, because that's a better path forward for every citizen, if we can do it more affordably," Burgum said.

King stated that the price of renewables has plummeted dramatically, and that new forms of storage are being developed that promise to be much cheaper.

Burgum said he is supportive of an "all-of-the-above" energy portfolio for the country, but it has to be affordable and reliable.