Nick Hodge,
Publisher
Aug. 3, 2021
Texas just can’t catch a break this year.
First the state’s power grid failed back in February after winter storms took several power plants offline during a period of excess demand — plunging more than 4.5 million homes and businesses into darkness.
Then, just a few weeks ago, Texas had to ask its residents to set their thermostats to 78 degrees or higher during a brutal heatwave to avoid another series of devastating blackouts.
And Texas is hardly alone in struggling with electrical grid issues related to extreme weather this year…
Grid Problems From New York To Seattle
In fact, much of the country has spent the last summer and winter wondering if the lights are about to go out because it’s too hot or cold.
Nearly 37,000 people lost power in the Pacific Northwest in late June as temperatures rose to a record high of 115 degrees Fahrenheit in Portland — killing 116 people in Oregon alone.
And New Yorkers recently received automated texts asking them to turn off their air conditioners if possible as the nation’s largest city lurched dangerously close to blackouts in near-triple-digit temperatures.
With weather-related grid failures happening from Atlantic to Pacific, it might be time to consider the possibility that the weather isn’t really the problem — the grid is.
The federal government seems to agree with this analysis…
Policymakers Turn Toward Grid Modernization
Several energy grid modernization bills that would direct billions of dollars to the development of next-generation power distribution technologies are currently working their way through congress.
In mid-July, the Senate Energy Committee voted to advance Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia’s Energy Infrastructure Act, which would authorize $73 billion in improvements to America’s power infrastructure.
$3 billion of that would fund the Smart Grid Investment Matching Program, a public-private partnership that pays energy tech companies to help make updates to the electric grid.
Energy grid cybersecurity has also become a major concern to federal policymakers in the wake of the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack.
In addition to the Energy Infrastructure Act, the Senate is moving the Enhancing Grid Security through Public-Private Partnerships Act toward passage.
That bill directs the Department of Energy to “encourage public-private partnerships in order to address and mitigate the physical security and cybersecurity risks of electric utilities.”
How To Invest In Grid Modernization
In the aftermath of this summer’s various energy grid disruptions... one particular grid modernization technology stands out as a viable solution to most of the U.S. energy grid’s problems: distributed energy.
By breaking the large, fragile U.S. regional grids into smaller, community-based grids with onsite storage and generation capacity, policymakers can create a more robust, adaptive, and hacker-proof energy system.
I have been following one stock that is perfectly poised to benefit from growing federal investment in smart grid technologies in the aftermath of this summer’s blackouts.
Click here to learn more.
Call it like you see it,
Nick Hodge
Editor, Daily Profit Cycle
Nick Hodge is the co-owner and publisher of Daily Profit Cycle and Resource Stock Digest. He's also the founder of Hodge Family Office, the umbrella organization for his three premium services: Foundational Profits, Family Office Advantage, and Hodge Family Office . He specializes in private placements and speculations in early stage ventures, and has raised tens of millions of dollars of investment capital for resource, energy, cannabis, and medical technology companies. Co-author of two best-selling investment books, including Energy Investing for Dummies, his insights have been shared on news programs and in magazines and newspapers around the world.
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