There is nothing sexy about the electric grid.
It’s a thing we don’t think about — plug in your phone charger, flip on your lights, move on with your day.
Maybe you have a vague idea of what’s powering it, some mix of fossil fuels and clean energy. Maybe not.
But as climate-fueled catastrophes mount and Massachusetts pushes hundreds of thousands of residents toward electric heat and electric cars, what’s powering the grid has become an increasingly urgent question. For nearly three decades, the state has been slowly nudging out coal and oil and cobbling together enough climate-friendly energy to make steady but undramatic gains. But now, with deadlines looming and its larger climate plans at stake, Massachusetts must embark on an unprecedented sprint to build enough clean energy to complete a clean grid. Success is anything but certain.