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The present system already advantages fossil infrastructure. Where you lose legal challenges, it’s still going to get built. Where you win them, you leave energy needs with dirtier and less reliable alternatives. Or shrink growth for nothing in the way of emissions benefits.

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Opponents of the permitting bill need to articulate a strategy whereby relying on the right wing court system system to block O&G projects is it all viable while going another several years without any progress on grid governance.

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Contribute to openai/math development by creating an account on GitHub.

So incredibly cool. There are huge opportunities to getting safety regulations, redistribution, and power system planning right. github.com/openai/math

github.com

GitHub - openai/math

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Brendon Slotterback @bslotterback.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Such a terrible loss. My heart goes out to the New School folks especially.

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Reposted by Chirag Lala

Lotta smart people have thought about how to decarbonize the US economy: we're gonna need to build A LOT of transmission. @eprinews.bsky.social @jessedjenkins.com @energyinnovation.org

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On my list!! Didn’t realize Robin was going to evangelize muni’s!

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These are the kinds of governance reforms that create space for numerous forms of Tx development (public, private, utility) and a platform on which to build improvements. All while ensuring progress can be made *before* a Dem administration launches a renewed effort at national investment.

A large load requirement that would see data centers pay the full cost of their incremental impact on the grid. The end of federal ROFR. And the end of the dreaded NIETC designation. If you meet the requirements, any project can apply to FERC - especially if states try to prevent permits.

If we revive funding for TFF, we’d unlock a new loan authority for Tx projects. Everyone’s favorite, the TFP, gets a new pathway for its co-dev facilities.

The FERC process is linked for the first time to an interregional cost allocation framework. There are also mechanisms to limit utility ROE for bad projects and for the failure to use ATTs.

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On planning alone, we get: - an interregional requirement, linked to permitting but with an applicant-driven alternative - a consolidated process for generation, transmission, interconnection - a DOE-led congestion study process which can target public finance facilities

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The bipartisan permitting bill would be the most significant reform to grid governance in decades! I published an analysis of the bill where I discuss the new federal frameworks for planning, cost allocation, and permitting. Ditto public finance! publicenterprise.org/the-bipartis...

The bipartisan permitting bill gets transmission right

The transmission and grid provisions in BAAJA are ambitious, going beyond the provisions of 2024’s EPRA bill. Most importantly, BAAJA gives FERC more statutory cover to take aggressive actions on grid...

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Thanks Mitch! I appreciate it.

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

On September 6, Dr. Ralph Scott passed away. He was my economics professor at Hendrix College and my first mentor in the field. I wrote this piece hoping those who knew him will recognize a few stories, and that those who didn’t get a sense of who he was. substack.com/home/post/p-...

substack.com

Dr. Ralph D. Scott: In Memoriam

On September 6, 2026, Ralph Downing Scott Jr.

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 16/09/2026

Reposted by Chirag Lala

"we must sell out ukraine today in order to sell out taiwan tomorrow" is not an alternative, but frankly "we should sell out both right now" is even less of one

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You could absolurely use this framework to upfront finance lines and wait a long time before recovering any costs (that’s the idea!) . But I don’t think it’s conservative at all to ensure public lines have a clear path to recovering costs. Gives them more options!

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advait @advaitarun.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The cost allocation framework is also a big help to subnational public developers (federal or state) who want to leverage their cost of capital and expertise on interregional projects but are held at veto point by counterparties beyond their reach.

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Reposted by Chirag Lala

NEW CPE REPORT on the urgency of building an interregional transmission macrogrid! @cthelala.bsky.social and I argue that only the federal government can get it built; no other actor on the grid is capable of doing so! Really, this is a paper about the theory of transmission as an asset class:

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Brendan Pierpont @brendan.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Want to understand why long distance transmission isn’t getting built in the US and what we can do about it? Read this new report from the team at @publicenterprise.bsky.social

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More here. There’s a ton of great papers out recently on grid authorities, planning, and funding. We hope this paper will be a complement to those efforts by identifying key investment barriers interregional transmission faces on today’s electricity system. publicenterprise.org/report/down-...

No developer, utility, large load customer, or grid planning institution today has the legal permissions or balance sheet space to proactively build new, necessary interregional transmission infrastru...

Down to the wire

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We identify core functions for federal policy: 1) pipeline planning 2) anticipatory finance that bears “overbuilding” risk 3) preemptive cost recovery We should also reform permitting and siting, defray impacts on ratepayers, and retain the option to federally develop lines.

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advait @advaitarun.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

NEW CPE report on building an interregional macrogrid! @advaitarun.bsky.social & I argue that the U.S. lacks the mechanisms to turn national and regional planning into a pipeline of interregional transmission projects. Federal leadership is critical to close this gap.

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Reposted by Chirag Lala

BIG NEW TRANSMISSION PLANNING / FEDERAL GRID GOVERNANCE PAPER TOMORROW from @cthelala.bsky.social and me @publicenterprise.bsky.social

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

This speaks to me because the moratorium’s core logic is supposedly disciplining capital. But communities have no mechanisms by which to decide and pursue “for what?” beyond funds or CBA’s that leave core decisions, elsewhere and investment barriers unmet. State and federal public developers OTOH…

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Reposted by Chirag Lala

Funny enough I think this is the same problem we had with the IRA and the almost overwhelming belief that many of its advocates had that local communities could equip themselves to use the law's tools to solve their climate/energy problems. They weren't! publicenterprise.org/state-capaci...

State capacity: The Inflation Reduction Act, American federalism, and infrastructure finance

On December 3, 2024, CPE Senior Associate for Energy Finance Advait Arun presented at the University of Sydney's Climate Economy political economy and geography workshop about how the Inflation Reduct...

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Reposted by Chirag Lala

I'm unfortunately v pessimistic about this nimby-ish trend... It highlights to me that we've devolved these arguments about planning--and about what we want to build, and how--to govt entities that can't handle the process or the political consequences. bsky.app/profile/budd...

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Reposted by Chirag Lala

Talking to community advocates, it seems like everyone hates DCs but would hate them it a bit less if tech companies paid a bunch to solve their local problems. The issue is that their arguments would be the *exact same* if they were dealing with a car factory...

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

So, yes, we need to derisk municipalities' exposure to DC construction for sure, and make sure DCs don't get property tax breaks given they depress everyone else's property values. Tax and regulate them--this is a good thing! BUT ALSO... bsky.app/profile/cthe...

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We also work with @jakehigdon.com and his Advanced Industrial Zones initiative - just the sort of thing you’d need when a large development necessitates marshaling resources, infrastructure, and state capacity. publicenterprise.org/advanced-ind...

Advanced Industrial Zones

Advanced Industrial Zones The United States struggles to build advanced manufacturing facilities. The local conditions for success -- clear permitting processes, site readiness, talent, and, ...

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Big takeaway is we need statewide centralization of development capacities to keep DC infrastructure risks off municipalities. New taxes, power sector planning, special economic zones (paper coming soon). States have EDC vehicles already but we have to give them resources and space to take risks.

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Wasn’t a core issue of the calculation debate that even with the right [pricing] data, you can’t reverse engineer the information market transactions reveal? You’d need an unknowable set of behavioral functions. Not sure how AI mitigates this problem.

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Three major errors in today’s electricity politics: 1) batteries + VPPs reduce rather than augment the value of new infra 2) rate hikes are driven by equity returns on capex or gold-plating rather than supply shortages 3) fear of overbuilding rather than embracing growth headroom

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Benjamin Schneider @benschneider.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Why should these loan programs focus on railroad electrification and transit automation? "There is a clear bankability logic: they improve service (and thus ridership and fare revenue) while reducing operational costs."

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The other thing is “we can wait to have investment on our terms” and “it’s a bubble” are in fundamental tension. It’s so difficult to start an investment boom that, for years, left PE was convinced private firms + finance couldn’t tolerate capex because of the profit motive.

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For the left, notions of “democratic control” depend on having investment in the first place. Investment depends on a supply chain, demand, workforces, adaptive and permissive policy frameworks. Moratoria scream a (sometimes explicit) lack of faith in basic state functions.

If there’s a political choice to be made on having data centers at all, we should be asking whether we want a fundamentally national economic decision made via local measures against infrastructure. We’ve seen the consequences with Tx, rail, and so much more.

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Data centers have a Texas-sized energy problem

We might not be weighing the downsides of DC moratoria! Lost time is extra cost, uncertainty, lost taxes and community benefits, and destabilized demand for electrons. And that’s just cases in which policymakers have the credibility to promise a schedule. www.latitudemedia.com/news/open-ci...

latitudemedia.com

As more states pause data centers, how will they use the opportunity to pass energy policy?

Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

New report from @jmooreotto.bsky.social on using RRIF and TIFIA to provide a stable source of capital funding for rail electrification and automation projects! Shifting off discretionary grants is one step towards helping agencies build long-term capacity. publicenterprise.org/report/the-t...

The Transit Infrastructure Lottery

Read the full report here. Executive summary Federal transportation investment in the United States suffers from both a quantity problem and a quality problem. The quantity problem is much-d...

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Fantastic piece from Jane Flegal on why the risk of overbuilding long distance HVDC is one we should embrace, not run from. A more robust federal planning and finance role can also help take the impact off ratepayers. clcouncil.org/publications...

clcouncil.org

The Grid as Platform Infrastructure: Why Underinvestment is the Real Affordability Crisis

As electricity prices have risen in recent months, the political response has been to demand near-term rate relief, pushing regulators and utilities to minimize costs today. But that approach inaccura...

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Urban Land Rent 🇸🇴🚰 @urbanlandrent.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

SB 1097 would have given CEQA exemptions for transmission buildouts and it didn’t even make it out of first house. This state talks a big game about climate transition but can’t even stomach modest reforms to accommodate green energy growth.

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Even if DCs go under leaving clean energy projects in the lurch…is that so bad? With the right policy interventions, you have the blessed overcapacity we’ve all been dreaming of! Starting a green boom is valuable. Bailouts of the energy projects are valuable. But that takes work!

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So absolutely use large load money. But don’t be under the illusion that the challenges of decarbonizing new load are inconvenient for power sector decarb. They’re the same issues. They would exist on a grid half our size let alone the 2x or 3x sized one we’ll ultimately need.

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Folks might think this is ungenerous (most DC’s won’t manage decarb on such strict terms), but the point is to highlight that a large load mimics the problems of decarbonization on the grid scale. Tackling those will benefit DCs. But also electrification and manufacturing. Load is good!

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It’s also impossible to cheaply do a 365/24/7 clean hourly match on large loads with PV + BESS in isolation (ie BTM without Ix). We have leverage to demand “good grid citizenship” we’ll need clean firm + LDS + Tx need at grid scale regardless.

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And it’s doubtful you’ll get much emissions benefit from blocking DCs because the same restrictions on clean energy growth will impact your ability to service a lower level of load.