The Energy Policy Research Foundation is pleased to announce the release of Power Vision 2050: Creating a Sustainable Pathway to Secure the American Economy (Version 3.0), an expansion of EPRINC’s ongoing multi-year initiative to help policymakers navigate the mounting challenges facing the U.S. electric power sector.
Building on three workshops and the foundational research conducted under the Power Vision 2030 project, this updated framework extends the analytical horizon to mid-century and substantially broadens the initiative’s scope.
The near-term pressures documented in the 2030 project have not abated. U.S. electricity consumption is projected to grow by 30 to 50 percent or more by 2050, driven by the electrification of transportation and buildings, industrial expansion, and the relentless power appetite of AI infrastructure and data centers. Against this backdrop, premature retirements of dispatchable generation continue to compress reserve margins in key regions, with NERC and independent researchers flagging serious reliability risks in the PJM and MISO footprints.
The Power Vision 2050 framework retains the 2030 project’s core focus on near-term natural gas deployment, regulatory reform, and transmission efficiency, while adding an extended set of research questions oriented toward the structural transformation of the grid over the coming quarter century.
The most significant addition to the 2050 initiative is a dedicated research strand on nuclear energy. The existing U.S. fleet, the largest source of carbon-free baseload electricity in the country, faces an aging profile, with the oldest units reaching end-of-life well before 2050 absent license renewals. Supply chain constraints and protracted licensing timelines have slowed the deployment of new capacity, even as interest in advanced reactor designs and small modular reactors continues to grow.
Power Vision 2050 will examine what policy, regulatory, and financing reforms are needed to accelerate deployment of both conventional and advanced nuclear technologies; how the United States can maintain its competitive position in global nuclear markets where China and Russia are aggressively expanding their export footprints; and what role innovative applications, including maritime nuclear propulsion and off-grid industrial power, might play in reinforcing energy security.
The decisions made in the next five to ten years on permitting reform, fuel supply chain investment, workforce development, and advanced reactor commercialization will largely determine whether the United States arrives at 2050 with a power system capable of sustaining its economy. EPRINC’s Power Vision 2050 initiative will convene industry experts, academics, and policymakers to address these questions with the analytical rigor they demand.
The full Power Vision 2050 project overview is available here. For inquiries, contact EPRINC at contact@eprinc.org.