What the NextEra-Dominion merger means for nuclear power in New England
The merger of NextEra Nuclear and Dominion Nuclear creates one large utility company with control over all of New England's nuclear power.
The National Academy of Engineering has called the American power grid the “supreme engineering achievement of the 20th century.” A network of generation, transmission and distribution, the grid brings reliable and affordable electricity virtually all the time to virtually all Americans, providing a service essential to the nation’s economy, security and wellbeing. But the structure and management of the grid are both changing rapidly. Information technology and increasingly networked systems, distributed generation and more intermittent energy sources, smart grids and new technologies that link our appliances, cars, and smartphones to the grid, provide great benefits but also pose potential risks. Threats of cybersecurity, physical security, natural disasters must be addressed, as well as local opposition to new infrastructure and simply aging infrastructure and limited resources. All of these make maintaining the reliability and affordability of electricity services a daunting challenge.
On this episode of Columbia energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff sits down with Cheryl LaFleur, Commissioner at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the grid today. Among the topics of they address:
For years, the energy transition was discussed as a shift that would happen in steady, predictable increments. But a massive surge in electricity demand in recent years—now colliding...
Despite all the advancements we have achieved globally in recent decades, as many as 750 million people still lack access to electricity. Tackling energy poverty requires far more...
For years, the energy transition was discussed as a shift that would happen in steady, predictable increments. But the last 24 months have shattered that illusion. Energy providers...
The Iran crisis is in its 80th day. Right now, roughly 1,500 vessels laden with oil, natural gas, fertilizers, and oil products sit trapped in the Persian Gulf...
In March 2026, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) announced it was investigating "structural excess capacity and production in manufacturing sectors" in 16 economies.
The US Export-Import Bank is preparing to close the first funding tranche of Project Vault, a public-private partnership establishing the US Strategic Critical Minerals Reserve.
The UNFCCC process is marred by gridlock in the COP multilateral framework, threatening joint efforts by countries to mitigate the climate crisis.
Many analyses of what the conflict in the Middle East means for China's energy security have rightly focused on China's oil and natural gas imports from the region.