You can’t gamble on a billion-dollar power plant — which is why large energy projects don’t move forward until the grid says yes. And right now, the grid is saying wait for years.

In this episode of The Clean Energy Edge, Russ Bates explains why interconnection delays have quietly become one of the biggest constraints on grid reliability and new power generation. Across the U.S., billions of dollars in utility-scale projects are stuck in 5–10 year interconnection queues, even as electricity demand from AI data centers, electrification, extreme weather, and industrial growth continues to surge.

This isn’t a technology problem. It’s a grid process problem.

The episode breaks down:

• Why large, centralized power plants can’t be built without interconnection approval

• How overloaded interconnection queues are slowing new generation

• Why utilities are often incentivized for delay rather than speed

• The critical difference between utility-scale interconnection and behind-the-meter generation

• How behind-the-meter solar and battery storage avoid regional queues by serving on-site load first

• Why local generation reduces exposure to price volatility and outage risk while easing grid strain

Russ also explains why behind-the-meter clean energy isn’t ideology — it’s a strategic response to grid bottlenecks, rising electricity costs, and reliability risk.

Sponsored by NXTGEN Clean Energy Solutions, helping organizations deploy behind-the-meter solar, storage, and resilience strategies that reduce dependence on an increasingly constrained grid.

📩 Learn more: info@nxtgencleanenergy.com

What happens when electricity demand grows faster than generation, transmission, and infrastructure can be built?

In this episode of The Clean Energy Edge, Russ Bates breaks down why the biggest threat to grid reliability in the 2020s isn’t a lack of ideas — it’s speed. Electricity demand from AI data centers, electrification, and extreme weather is arriving all at once, while traditional solutions like fossil fuel plants, nuclear projects, and transmission upgrades operate on timelines measured in decades.

That mismatch shows up as blackouts, price spikes, congestion, and emergency grid measures — and it’s why centralized power projects are increasingly failing to solve today’s problems.

This episode explains:

• Why electricity demand is accelerating faster than forecasts

• Why gas, nuclear, and transmission projects can’t scale fast enough

• How delays shift risk and cost onto ratepayers

• Why speed is now the most critical variable in energy planning

• How distributed solar and battery storage can be deployed in months, not decades

• Why modular, behind-the-meter clean energy reduces grid stress immediately

Russ also explains how solar, storage, and distributed energy systems scale the way modern infrastructure actually works — through replication, flexibility, and speed — not massive, slow, all-or-nothing projects.

Sponsored by NXTGEN Clean Energy Solutions, helping businesses, municipalities, and institutions deploy clean energy solutions that match today’s timelines — not yesterday’s assumptions.

Learn more at nxtgencleanenergy.com.

AI data centers are driving electricity demand at a scale the grid was never designed to handle — and the consequences are already showing up as higher power prices, grid congestion, and growing blackout risk.

In this episode of The Clean Energy Edge Podcast, we shift the focus from panic to solutions. Instead of waiting years for new generation, transmission, and grid upgrades, forward-looking companies, municipalities, and institutions are taking control of their energy future today.

We break down how behind-the-meter solar, battery storage, and microgrids allow large energy users to reduce exposure to volatile electricity prices, manage demand charges, maintain operations during outages, and create long-term cost predictability — even as AI continues to reshape the power system.

This isn’t about ideology. It’s about risk management, resilience, and control in an increasingly stressed grid environment.

Sponsored by NXTGEN Clean Energy Solutions NXTGEN works with companies, municipalities, and institutions to deploy solar, storage, and microgrid solutions that reduce grid dependence and protect against rising energy costs and reliability threats. 📧 Learn more: info@nxtgencleanenergy.com

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