This commentary originally appeared in the Baltimore Sun.
Baltimore Sun photo by Kim Hairston
An aerial view of the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Southern Maryland. File.
Torrey Snow’s recent column (“It’s time Maryland addressed its energy crisis,” July 8) reflects a misunderstanding of why power prices are rising and how infrastructure gets built.
Suggesting that natural gas and thermal generation are a magic wand that can address both affordability and reliability leaves out how heavily our electric grid already relies on gas. Existing gas plants are essential on today’s grid, but doubling down on the resource that sustains the status quo is no way to address the pain felt by ratepayers. Wood Mackenzie recently published an analysis claiming “the era of cheap natural gas is coming to an end.” That is largely due to rapidly rising demand from the power sector, growing liquid natural gas exports and rising supply costs.
Large power plants take at least five years to develop and deploy. Maryland and neighboring states’ clean energy policies are the primary reason any new power plants were deployed in PJM before the massive demand spike from data centers and other large electricity users that appeared in 2024.
Read the full article here.