The initiative, which Reeves is calling "Mississippi's Power Play,” will see state government partner with private companies to develop new energy technologies and reduce industry regulations.
During a press conference, Reeves said Mississippi's energy policy has been a key factor in the state securing major economic development projects from companies like Amazon Web Services in recent years.
“When private sector companies learn they can trust that we can provide the power to manufacture, to smelt, and to compute, their eyes light up and their wallets open up,” Reeves said. “They invest in our state, they invest in our people and they invest in our land.”
The announcement came after Reeves brought various business and legal experts together for an energy summit on how to improve the state's power grid. Reeves says he's for boosting grid capacity with any energy source, as long as it's affordable and reliable. However, natural gas and nuclear power were singled out as areas with significant potential.
Public Service Commissioner Chris Brown says it's an exciting time in the energy industry as dozens of companies work to develop a new generation of smaller, more efficient nuclear reactors. Brown also thinks taking advantage of those new technologies as they're deployed and become cheaper will make Mississippi attractive to big companies hungry for cleaner energy.
“Whoever has the affordable, reliable power and the ability to provide it will win in the future as far as economic development and just quality of life,” Brown said. “If you can keep the power on and the rates low, then everybody wins in the state.”
According to Reeves, Mississippi currently consumes nearly four times as much energy as the state produces each year.
