Bill Gates says nuclear power is the only way to fully decarbonize grids
Source: Alan Neuhauser | · AXIOS PRO · | June 25, 2024
Photo illustration: Gabriella Turrisi. Photo: Thierry Monasse/Getty Images
On-demand around-the-clock power, the kind that an advanced nuclear reactor can provide, is the only way to decarbonize the world's electric grids, Bill Gates tells Axios.
Why it matters: The Microsoft co-founder has invested more than $1 billion in reactor developer TerraPower to build a new type of American nuclear energy.
State of play: "We should build as much wind and solar as we can. But the theory that you're going to be moving power across the entire country — we'll never build a grid that is massive enough," Gates says.
He talked with Axios last week, as he prepared to fly to London for a summit organized by Breakthrough Energy, an investment and policy group he founded to drive clean energy research and deployment.
This interview was lightly edited for length.
Why have you felt it's important to continue investing in technologies that have yet to be proven, when there's the opportunity to instead put that money toward existing technology?
"You need some energy near to where the demand is that's not weather-dependent.
Look at a place like Japan. There's not enough wind or solar there. So what are people saying Japan should do? Not be green? Depend on another country for their electricity? If we don't have fission or fusion, we won't achieve our climate goals."
Transmission is the other side of this equation. What do you see as your role in not only developing better transmission, but clearing backlogs that have hamstrung transmission projects?
"We have two companies in the portfolio that allow you to run twice as much electricity over an existing right-of-way. We fund a philanthropic team that looks at these grid issues and helps with policy. Streamlining regulation and better grid modeling — we've been acting on that for a long time."
Do you see yourself taking a more visible role in policy?
"I doubt I'm going to personally write the FERC regulations. But I've been highlighting the grid as a problem even before we started Breakthrough Energy.
I've met with utilities. I've met with EEI. We're getting models to predict reliability and working with anybody who's interested in speeding up connections and right-of-way approvals. So we're doing our best.
The U.S. is falling behind renewable installations quite substantially, and the grid bottlenecks are the No. 1 reason."