took office, one of his top priorities was to hasten America’s transition to a fully electrified, fully renewable energy ecosystem. In Indiana, the state’s utilities are following his lead by rapidly closing functioning coal plants to build new renewable facilities., are operating under the assumption that consumers can continue to have access to steady, reliable energy in the wake of these changes.
But this is quickly changing. In recent years, their state’s utilities have shut down coal-powered plants long before they would normally be due for completion, following a national trend to rapidly eliminate coal-powered electricity in favor of newer sources. The problem with hastily transitioning our power grid to renewable energy is that the current power grid’s infrastructure is ill equipped to handle this new technology. Renewable energy requires higher voltage infrastructure, such as transformers and power lines, that we simply don’t have and won’t have for quite some time.