Years of destructive fires are forcing utilities to prioritize wildfire resilience as they plan the next generation of the U.S. electric grid. Why it matters: Utilities aren't just expanding the electric grid — they're designing it to withstand a more fire-prone climate . - This year's wildfire season is exceeding the 10-year average for both the number of fires and acres burned. The big picture: The U.S. is embarking on one of the biggest grid expansions in decades just as wildfire risk is becoming a defining challenge for utilities. Today's planning decisions may determine how resilient tomorrow's grid becomes. - Utilities are combining weather models, wildfire behavior, infrastructure data and population impacts to help…
A series of dangerous heat waves this summer — including one that has left 17 states under an emergency federal order — are putting the electric grid under an intense real-world stress test. Why it matters: Successive summer heat waves are forcing utilities to rethink how they prepare the grid for longer and more frequent periods of extreme stress. - They're raising questions about whether the electric grid can keep pace with surging demand from both climate change and the AI-driven electricity boom. State of play: Heat waves create a double challenge by increasing electricity demand for air-conditioning while reducing the efficiency of some power plants. Zoom in: Texas has become one of the nation's biggest proving grounds for…
Ambassador R. James “Jim” Woolsey, who died on July 21, 2026, at the age of...
Ambassador R. James “Jim” Woolsey, who died on July 21, 2026, at the age of 84, embodied a vanishing ideal in American public life: the serious, non-partisan public servant who treated national security as a duty rather than a career ladder. Across four decades and administrations of both parties, he brought rigorous intellect, moral seriousness, and quiet courage to some of the hardest problems the United States has faced. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1941, Woolsey was a Rhodes Scholar who moved early into the national-security arena. He served as an advisor on the U.S. delegation to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, General Counsel to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Under Secretary of the Navy under President Carter, and…Open
At the request of state lawmakers seeking to protect their state’s electric grid, and in conjunction with a unanimous and bipartisan Resolution adopted by the National Conference of State Legislators in summer 2025, the Center for Security Policy and its Secure the Grid Coalition developed the “S.A.V.E. Transformers Act.” This is an act “requiring utilities and electric grid operators to assess and report the vulnerability of high-voltage transformers to geomagnetic and electromagnetic disturbances, and to recommend mitigation measures to protect the state electric infrastructure.” The bill language was developed utilizing analysis from a groundbreaking report published by the Center in November 2025 . This report was the…Open
In a letter to ISO-New England, which operates the regional electric grid, Ayotte called for reforms to the so-called Day-Ahead Ancillary Services Market.