The Buckeye Institute has submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Energy, recommending free-market approaches to address increasing energy demands in the United States.
In its response, the Ohio-based policy group called on the Trump administration to remove regulatory obstacles that it says prevent the U.S. electric grid from keeping up with new energy requirements. The organization advocated for private investment and market-driven innovation as solutions to rising electricity needs.
Aswin Prabhakar, economic research analyst at The Buckeye Institute and author of the organization’s submission, identified three main barriers to expanding U.S. energy capacity.
First, Prabhakar stated that federal regulations have encouraged applications for speculative projects, causing delays for viable projects and creating a backlog in connecting new sources to the grid. According to him, “By treating all applications as equivalent, regardless of their contribution to grid reliability or likelihood of completion, legitimate generation projects are drowning ‘in a sea of speculative applications.'”
Second, he noted that current transmission policies increase energy costs by 25 to 40 percent due to monopolies held by established utility companies over transmission development.
Third, Prabhakar highlighted fragmented federal oversight as a factor leading to overlapping regulations and delays. He cited environmental reviews under one agency taking an average of 4.5 years and interconnection studies under another lasting more than 36 months—delays which contribute to higher project costs.
The Buckeye Institute recommended several steps for federal action: petitioning the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for interconnection reforms; requiring competitive procurement processes for federally supported transmission projects; and improving coordination among agencies to reduce regulatory timelines. The organization argued these changes would lower barriers for private investment and help bring new energy infrastructure online faster and at reduced cost.
