Washington, DC—In response to President Trump’s Executive Order 14420, “Declaring a National Emergency to Secure the United States Bulk-Power System,” Danielle Russo, Executive Director of SAFE’s Center for Grid Security gave the following statement:
“America’s electric grid is the backbone of the U.S. economy and a foundation of our national security. Protecting it from high-risk equipment supplied by foreign adversaries is an important and overdue step, particularly as rising electricity demand from manufacturing, AI, and defense production makes a secure and reliable grid more important than ever.
As DOE implements this order, it should establish a clear, targeted, and risk-based process that gives utilities and manufacturers predictable rules to protect reliability. The President’s previous authorization of the Defense Production Act to expand domestic production of critical grid components provides a clear pathway for pairing stronger supply-chain security with targeted production incentives. Such an approach provides a unique opportunity for the United States to reduce dangerous foreign dependencies and vulnerabilities without creating new bottlenecks for the infrastructure our economy and national security require.”
SAFE’s Center for Grid Security has been engaged on identifying where DPA resources can deliver the greatest strategic return, convening a roundtable earlier this year with representatives across the grid value chain. Rather than cataloging component chokepoints, the analysis focused on the underlying manufacturing constraints limiting project deployment and threatening grid security. The Center and stakeholders matched those constraints with three priority investments capable of delivering the greatest strategic benefit: transformers; communications and grid control equipment; and grid scale battery materials and components.
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About SAFE
SAFE is an action-oriented, nonpartisan organization committed to transportation, energy, and supply chain policies that advance the economic and national security of the United States, its partners, and allies. Since 2004, SAFE has worked with its Energy Security Leadership Council—a peerless coalition of current and former Fortune 500 CEOs and retired 4-star admirals and generals—to support secure, resilient, and sustainable energy solutions. Learn more at SecureEnergy.org.
