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The energy industry’s challenge isn’t a shortage of generation capacity. Developers already have more than two and a half terawatts of projects awaiting grid connection across the United States—roughly four times the amount needed over the next four years, according to Rebecca Kujawa, CEO of Zerra Partners and former CEO of NextEra Energy Resources. The real bottleneck is systemic: interconnection queues, regulatory policies, permitting delays, limited transmission, supply chain strains and workforce gaps that keep projects from coming online.
Colliding Forces
This bottleneck comes at a critical moment. AI companies are scrambling for power, manufacturers are reshoring to regions with limited grid capacity and utilities are racing to modernize infrastructure that predates the internet. The U.S. is facing its fastest growth in electricity demand in decades—an economic opportunity of historic scale, but also a stress test for the grid.
“We are at an unusual, unexpected and exciting time,” says Kujawa, who oversaw record-breaking growth at NextEra, adding more than 12 gigawatts to its development backlog in 2024—a 30% surge from the prior year. Even as renewables have scaled to unprecedented levels, AI data centers and new manufacturing facilities are consuming power at rates that are fundamentally reshaping demand.
Innovation Born From Necessity
That pressure is spurring innovation. While many projects are stuck in yearslong interconnection backlogs, broader transmission planning is accelerating. In the past year, $60 billion in new transmission projects received authorization across the major regional grids—more than the total approved in the previous four years combined.
New tools are also emerging. Grid-forming inverters allow renewable resources to stabilize the system rather than just feed into it. Dynamic line ratings make the grid more intelligent by responding to real-time conditions.
The Holy Grail of Flexibility
Under Kujawa’s tenure, NextEra became a world leader in battery storage. She describes storage as essential to unlocking grid flexibility, solving electricity’s age-old challenge of saving power for later use rather than consuming it immediately.
Looking ahead, she emphasizes that flexibility will come not only from hybrid plants combining wind, solar and storage, but also from algorithmic technologies that can flex demand itself—including the massive loads supporting AI. This creates a kind of “counter-storage capability” that balances the grid in real time. For customers, the measure of success is simple: reliable, affordable power delivered even amid rapid change.
Betting on AI-Powered Fusion
Kujawa’s boldest bet is on fusion. The once-elusive technology may actually be proven viable by the end of the decade, she says, thanks to AI solving physics problems in real time and breakthroughs in advanced materials. She points to companies like Commonwealth Fusion Systems, which is using next-generation conductors to create powerful magnets, enabling technology that seemed impossible just a few years ago.
More broadly, Kujawa advocates for resilience through energy diversity: renewables alongside storage, gas-fired generation, nuclear technologies and, if proven, maybe even fusion. Wagering everything on a single technology, she warns, puts the entire system at risk.
New Metrics for Leadership
Looking forward, Kujawa believes energy leadership will be defined by speed, trust and environmental responsibility. Speed means meeting the moment by rapidly deploying resources to support the economic growth driven by AI and manufacturing. Trust comes from doing so while ensuring reliability and affordability for customers. And environmental responsibility means reducing emissions and protecting natural resources—fulfilling today’s obligations to secure a thriving planet for future generations.
Despite the obstacles, Kujawa is optimistic. Grid modernization pressures are creating “stimulating innovation that wouldn’t have happened otherwise,” she says. “That bodes well for three to five years from now, but it’s going to be a challenging few years.”
Her advice to stakeholders: Actively engage in solutions. People take reliable electricity for granted, she says, but “clearly the world has changed.” America’s grid is in the middle of a perfect storm—of soaring demand, aging infrastructure and breakthrough innovation. The storm is real, but so is the ingenuity it’s unleashing.
