In a November 8th, 2025, interview with the New York Times, Calvin Butler, the CEO of Exelon, one of the largest utilities in the United States, quipped that the best hack for lowering your electric bill is to turn off your lights. The notion that Americans can save money on their power bills by simply consuming […]

by Isaac Orr NextEra Energy Resources is descending upon my home county of Waupaca, Wisconsin, seeking to build a 300- to 375-megawatt (MW) solar facility called the Cloverleaf Solar Project. The project would be located on 1,500 acres near Clintonville, Wisconsin. You’d be forgiven if you’ve never heard of Clintonville, or aren’t sure how to pronounce […]

Sarah Montalbano In 2018, Xcel Energy, an investor-owned utility serving millions of customers across eight states, was the first U.S. utility to pledge to deliver 100% carbon-free electricity by 2050. Eight years later, Xcel is pleading with Colorado regulators to let it continue running its coal plants until 2030. What happened to “steel for fuel,” […]

On March 3rd, JPMorgan Chase released its 16th Annual Eye on the Market Energy Paper. This year’s report, written by Michael Cembalest, is titled “Fighting Words,” and it is a 98-page analysis with hundreds of graphs and charts on the state of the energy industry. It spans most aspects of the energy industry, but as with all […]

Isaac Orr, Mitch Rolling, and Sarah Montalbano On March 2, 2026, Xcel Energy filed a report with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) stating the company will likely be in a capacity deficit, meaning it does not meet its reliability requirements, from now until at least 2028, unless it keeps its Colorado coal plants open. The projected capacity […]

On Tuesday, March 10th, an EF-1 tornado destroyed the Dunns Bridge Solar I and II facilities owned by the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO). The facilities, located outside of Wheatfield, Indiana, had 2.4 million solar panels, totaling 700 megawatts (MW) of power capacity, and reportedly cost $1 billion to construct—a little over $1,400 per […]

The EPA quotes AOER’s Isaac Orr and Mitch Rolling.

There couldn’t be a worse time to retire reliable power plants.

West Virginia is putting common sense back into energy policy. The Senate Energy Committee just advanced the Reliable and Affordable Electricity Act, prioritizing coal, gas, and nuclear—the sources that keep the lights on. Wind and solar? They’re fine until the wind dies or the sun sets. This bill tells utilities to consider reliability before jacking up […]

Could these taxpayer-funded non-profits raise money if they had to compete in the marketplace of ideas?