Our Blog

Chester Energy and Policy started in 2017 as a blog before blossoming into a full consulting business. The goal of the blog originally was simple: answer interesting questions in the world of energy & sustainability that weren’t being answered elsewhere, tapping into energy data sets, expert interviews, and a unique lens.

Today, the blog section of Chester Energy and Policy seeks to continue that mission: answering interesting questions. If you have a question that you think is worth diving into for a blog post, reach out and let us know! .

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Read Most Recent Blog Posts

Matt Chester 1/15/25 Matt Chester 1/15/25

USEA Virtual Press Briefing: Rough Road Ahead for Electric Utilities in 2025

While electric utilities and consumers will be cruising comfortably in the middle and distant future with new transmission, new generation, AI management, DER and new technologies, particularly nuclear, in the form of small modular reactors and maturing fusion, their immediate future is a road filled with potholes.

Matt Chester 12/11/24 Matt Chester 12/11/24

USEA Virtual Press Briefing: DER and Virtual Power Plants: The Easiest Supply Boost

“All of a sudden, distributed energy resources and virtual power plants have come of age, after being a pipe dream of environmentalists,” says journalist Llewellyn King, who has organized and will moderate the briefing.

Matt Chester 11/13/24 Matt Chester 11/13/24

USEA Virtual Press Briefing: After the Disasters: Making the Supply Chain More Resilient

There was a time, not so long ago, when businesses followed the just-in-time (JIT) management philosophy and inventory strategy that aims to reduce waste and increase efficiency by receiving inventory only when it is needed.

Matt Chester 10/2/24 Matt Chester 10/2/24

USEA Virtual Press Briefing: The AI Revolution Underway in the Utility Space

The use of artificial intelligence is aflame in the utility space. It is the exciting new frontier that promises, for low cost, to take the utility industry to a new place, facilitating the management of everything from vegetation control to nuclear fuel burn-up and from customer service to weather forecasting.

Matt Chester 9/4/24 Matt Chester 9/4/24

USEA Virtual Press Briefing: What is Going on with Gas?

Despite a huge growth in renewables, natural gas remains the core fuel in the U.S. utility mix. In March and April, wind beat out coal as a utility fuel, but natural gas accounted for slightly more than 43 percent of U.S. electricity generating in that same time frame, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Matt Chester 8/7/24 Matt Chester 8/7/24

USEA Virtual Press Briefing: Extreme Weather: The Existential Threat to Utilities

The electric utility industry is enduring an existential crisis. Day in, day out it is under threat from aberrant weather and from wildfires, even as it meets unprecedented demand growth in many regions. Also, there is the ever-present concern about cyberattack or gunfire attacks on substations. When it comes to recovery, the supply chain is stretched, whether the need is for transformers or new bucket trucks.