By Nomi Prins, Editor, Inside Wall Street with Nomi Prins

In 2017, I pulled up to a neighborhood engulfed in flames. My neighborhood.

By the time I got home, thick, black smoke was everywhere. Firefighters were going door to door to evacuate us.

I’d never been more terrified, but I had to think fast.

I grabbed my documents, my two dogs, my gold and silver coins, and a few trinkets with sentimental value.

That’s how I escaped the now-infamous Thomas Fire.

The fire was caused by old, decaying power lines. The power was out for days.

And here’s the lesson I’ll never forget…

When power goes down, you can’t get Wi-Fi, you can’t put gas in your car, and you can’t get cash from ATMs.

Worst of all, you can’t do anything about it.

I live in California, where massive fires are unfortunately all too common.

If you live in an area where the only fire you see is the one coming out of your grill on football Sundays… You might think this story doesn’t apply to you.

But think again.

Because my story brings to light a much bigger problem – one that we’re all facing here in America.

The fact is our energy grid is in shambles.

You might know what I mean if you’ve seen headlines like these…

“Congress worried more blackouts coming in Texas, other states”

“California and the Midwest face ‘high risk’ of electricity shortages in next five years”

Backup Power: A Growing Need, If You Can Afford It”

The bad news is, our energy problems are only likely to get worse.

Summer is approaching, which means a greater demand for cooling in homes and businesses. Hurricane season also brings more wild and dangerous weather that can be hard on power lines.

But it’s not all grim. As I’ll show you today, if you know how to position yourself in the energy markets, you can profit from the overall transformation of power to come. Let me explain…

Bringing Our Grid to the 21st Century

The U.S. power grid is old and fraying. It’s vulnerable to power outages caused by weather events, overuse, or simple decay.

And that’s a big problem – because our economy, national security, health, and safety all depend on it.

Frankly, for politicians hoping to get re-elected, it’s embarrassing.

It’s no wonder the government is spending so much time and money on upgrading the grid. And it’s why both sides of the aisle in Washington are in a race against time to make it happen.

We saw this in 2021 with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). But that was just the start.

In January 2022, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) launched a new initiative. It’s called “Building a Better Grid.” And its purpose is to develop new, high-capacity electric transmission lines.

This initiative would strengthen the U.S. power grid so it could withstand severe weather events. It would also increase access to more affordable and reliable energy.

Now, as we know, President Biden set a lofty goal of 100% clean electricity by 2035 and zero carbon emissions by 2050. Without these lines, those goals just aren’t possible.

To reach these goals, we have to expand our electricity transmission systems by 60% by 2030. We may even need to triple their output by 2050.

That’s a big ask, when you consider that most power lines in our country are stuck in the 20th century.

Most of the U.S. electric grid was built in the 1960s and 1970s. And more than 70% of U.S. grid transmission lines and power transformers are over 25 years old.

It’s no wonder that extreme weather events cause power shutdowns.

That’s where funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law comes in. It allocated $20 billion in federal financing tools for this, including:

  • $2.5 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Transmission Facilitation Program.

  • $3 billion from the Smart Grid Investment Grant Program.

  • More than $10 billion in grants to enhance grid resilience and prevent power outages.

  • More than $3 billion from the Western Area Power Administration Transmission Infrastructure Program.

And last fall, the White House also announced $13 billion in financing to modernize the nation’s electric grid.

That includes some funding from the BIL. As well as funding from the Grid Resilience Innovative Partnership (GRIP) program and the Transmission Facilitation Program. 

But there’s a catch…

U.S. Power Needs a Full Facelift

I already mentioned the government’s lofty carbon-neutral goals.

To reach them, the U.S. needs 47,300 gigawatt-miles of new power lines by 2035. That means we need a much bigger grid than the one we have right now – 57% bigger.

To get there, the U.S. must double its current pace of power line construction. But there’s a ton of regulatory red tape involved. We are talking about the government after all.

The good news is that the U.S. is moving in that direction. The initiatives I mentioned above are a big part of that.

So is the Inflation Reduction Act, which I’ve written a lot about in these pages.

All of these federal policies will funnel billions of dollars into energy projects. And that spells opportunity for you.

What This Means for Your Money Today

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and other programs I mentioned above are a great start to upgrading our power grid system.

But my team and I have uncovered something even more powerful making its way through Washington as I write this.

After speaking with important circles on the ground, I learned that both sides of Congress are beginning to embrace a new form of fuel called “SMR.”

SMR is 2 million times more powerful than oil. It’s also 3 million times more powerful than coal.

It could be the solution to America’s – and the world’s – energy problems.

Best of all, a new energy bill is set to unleash a $4 trillion torrent of government cash into the SMR sector.

And investors who position themselves before May 12 could see their money go up by as much as 20x in the long run.

That’s why I hosted a special energy briefing last night called Power Shift 2023. Thousands of your fellow readers tuned in.

If you missed it and you still want to find out about this incredible opportunity, catch the replay by clicking here.

Regards,

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Nomi Prins
Editor, Inside Wall Street with Nomi Prins