Recently, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published a new “Pathways to Commercial Liftoff” report. This topic brief is part of a series of briefs titled, “Opportunities for Rising Electricity Demand to Support Liftoff of Multiple Clean Energy Solutions.” This particular report is titled, “How Rising Electricity Demand Can Support Liftoff of Clean Energy Solutions.”

According to the DOE, addressing rising electricity demand requires a portfolio approach to meet near-term demand (three to five years) with commercially available technologies while paving the way to support long-term (ten-plus years) growth to stay on the path to a clean energy future.

As outlined in DOE’s “Clean Energy Resources to Meet Data Center Electricity Demand,” the United States is returning to a period of rapid electricity demand growth. Electricity demand is expected to grow between 15 percent and 20 percent in the next decade and could double by 2050 to meet net-zero emissions targets – driven by economic development (manufacturing and industrial growth, data center expansion) and beneficial electrification (transport, building, industrial).

This level of growth is comparable to historical U.S. demand growth rates that grew rapidly through the mid-2000s. DOE has been anticipating and planning for increasing electricity demand as part of the overall strategy to achieve net-zero emissions targets.

Investing across each segment of the power system – from bulk power generation and storage through the transmission and distribution delivery system and to distributed resources and end-user efficiency – is critical to comprehensively support demand growth. DOE’s “2024 Future of Resource Adequacy” report further outlines the portfolio of technology solutions available and necessary enablers (e.g., modernizing interconnection processes, evolving grid market frameworks) to meet electricity demand needs while maintaining a reliable, affordable, and secure grid.

DOE’s “Pathways to Commercial Liftoff” series (“Liftoff reports”) identifies what it takes to reach commercial deployment at scale for multiple available and emerging energy and grid solutions that are part of this broad portfolio.

Today, according to the DOE, solar PV, land-based wind, battery storage, and energy efficiency solutions are some of the most readily scalable and cost-competitive resources to meet rising demand. In addition to continued investment in these resources and expanding grid delivery infrastructure, scaling other energy and grid solutions – such as those covered by the Liftoff reports (e.g., next-generation geothermal, nuclear, grid-enhancing technologies, virtual power plants) – will also be critically important to ensure a cost-optimal, diverse portfolio of resources are readily available to reliably meet demand over time.

DOE emphasizes that rising electricity demand elevates the need for “liftoff.” For this subset of energy solutions covered by the Liftoff reports, rising demand today supports three opportunities that industry can pursue to help address power needs in the near term and enable the solutions needed for the long term:

1 – Invest now in clean bulk power generation and storage – including advanced nuclear, next- generation geothermal, offshore wind, power plants with carbon capture, long-duration energy storage, and hydrogen – to ensure expanded availability of these technologies at scale to meet the long-term doubling of demand.

2 – Enhance the existing transmission and distribution grid now by rapidly scaling proven advanced grid solutions (e.g., advanced conductors, grid-enhancing technologies).

3 – More efficiently serve demand now with deployment of virtual power plants and energy efficiency improvements to buildings, industrial plants, and transportation.

The DOE report also notes that building on this momentum, actions that mitigate cross-cutting challenges can unlock progress across multiple sectors at once. These key actions include:

1 – Establishing forward-looking, committed orderbooks to spur deployment of new generation resources (e.g., new offtake models for next-generation geothermal that include upfront capital investment; several committed orderbooks for one advanced nuclear reactor type to benefit from economies of scale).

2 – Evaluating virtual power plants and advanced grid solutions as options to address near- term electricity demand hotspots and rapidly deploying identified, cost-effective solutions to meet needs. Transparently sharing the outcomes of these deployments can support broader awareness and execution know-how to drive industry-wide uptake.

3 – Standardizing and simplifying project development processes to streamline deployments, reduce costs, and accelerate timelines (e.g., customer enrollment for VPPs; permitting for generation & storage; interoperability and operational processes for advanced grid solutions).

4 – Revamping grid planning and market structures to fairly integrate and compensate new energy solutions for their system value (e.g., aligning utility incentives; high-value PPAs for clean, firm generation).

5 – Engaging local communities and labor groups early, frequently, and transparently to de-risk deployments, overcoming adoption challenges while distributing benefits equitably.