Dr. Samuel Newell Quoted in Several Recent RTO Insider Articles

Principal Dr. Samuel Newell was quoted in several recent RTO Insider articles on nuclear power alternatives, a potential solar power slowdown, and demand for natural gas generation demand.

The RTO Insider articles are available below behind a paywall.

• Nuclear Power Retains Great Potential in 2026
  Newell discussed options for new nuclear generation, including both large light-water reactors and more novel small modular reactors (SMRs). He noted that, while SMRs “have even less developed supply chains, and [the non-light-water SMRs have much] less developed supply chains for fuel,” he’s optimistic some of the SMR designs being pursued will be deployed commercially.
• Solar Power Continues to Make Gains, but Slowdown Expected in 2026
  Newell discussed a 2025 Brattle report prepared for ConservAmerica, which concluded that with the loss of clean energy tax credits, solar additions through 2035 would drop from 550 GW to 242 GW. With “wind and solar, there’s obviously a rush to build the plants currently far enough along to be able to meet the safe harbor to still get the tax credits. After that, I would expect them to fall off quite a bit. Some states will still build them where they’re economic because there’s such good wind and solar resources. They won’t build as many as they would have if there had been the tax credits,” he said.
• Natural Gas Generation in Demand, and Priced Accordingly
  Newell explained that, while natural gas-fired generation capacity will grow, that does not necessarily lock the US into decades of natural gas use. He noted that “demand growth is such that the combination of using existing gas-fired fleet more and new capacity, we’re going to be burning a lot more gas in the next several years. But in the long run, if we go in a direction that does take climate change seriously, you’d have to increase non-emitting generation a lot” to displace fossil generation. Even then, the gas-fired capacity could play a valuable role as backup for reliability, without running very much.
• Coal’s Decline Slows Amid Demand Growth in 2026, Trump’s Support
  Newell noted that the business case for new coal generation does not work, other than some special cases perhaps at mine mouths. He noted, “If you’re going to burn fossil, natural gas-fired combined-cycle generation is just – you’re not going to beat the economics with new coal, even before accounting for the really high exposure to future regulatory risk.”