Stepchange The Grid: The Largest Machine Ever Built
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Apr 27, 2026 A sweeping history of how the electric grid was built and why it is strained today. Short stories of inventors, the War of the Currents, and the rise of massive power plants. Tales of blackouts, market failures, and regulatory twists that shaped modern utilities. A look at renewables, fracking, data center demand, and the urgent need to modernize transmission and storage.
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The Duck Curve Forces New Flexibility Needs
- High daytime solar output created the duck curve and negative midday prices, forcing grids to add evening flexible resources or pay to curtail clean generation.
- Anay Shah cites California's negative pricing for 20% of midday hours and how operators must spin conventional plants back up for evenings.
China's Ultra High Voltage Grid Scales Renewables Fast
- China built ultra-high-voltage DC and AC backbone lines (up to 1,100 kV DC) rapidly to move remote wind, solar, and hydro to population centers, enabling massive renewables integration.
- Ben contrasts China's 430 GW new wind/solar in 2025 to the U.S.'s 63 GW, stressing centralized transmission advantage.
The Interconnection Queue Is Choked With Phantom Projects
- The interconnection queue is massively congested (≈2,300 GW waiting) with many speculative entries; only ~13% of projects advance, clogging studies and delaying real builds.
- Ben explains phantom projects and multi‑filings create study burdens; transmission building fell from ~2,000 to <500 miles/year.
