by Jeff Ihnen | Sep 19, 2023 | Energy Rant
A few weeks ago, we had a little snafu. A promotional email said the energy transition is failing. That hit a nerve with one state government official. This week, I’ll present some facts, and you can decide. Cobalt First, we have the issue of diversity, equity, and...
by Jeff Ihnen | Sep 11, 2023 | Energy Rant
Last week, I was fortunate to see this article posted on EnergyCentral.com: Demand Flexibility Is No Longer Nice To Have. “[Load flexibility] is increasingly becoming a “must have” as networks around the world are moving towards high levels of variable renewable...
by Jeff Ihnen | Sep 5, 2023 | Energy Rant
In the last two Rant posts, we explored dated benefit-cost tests for energy efficiency and demand response programs and introduced flaws with dated ratemaking schemes. Both constructs are based on a century-old “cost of service” business model for monopolistic...
by Jeff Ihnen | Aug 28, 2023 | Energy Rant
Last week, we looked at Total Resource Cost (TRC) tests that were developed decades ago to put a high value on avoided source energy costs. That was right for the time, but not today. I demonstrated that energy costs, mostly dominated by natural gas, are near historic...
by Jeff Ihnen | Aug 21, 2023 | Energy Rant
Last week Michaels Energy delivered a webinar, Achieving Grid Resiliency with Thermal Energy Storage. There are about 70 gigawatts of refrigeration load in the United States frozen storage and chilled-water HVAC systems alone. That 70 GW does not include distributors...
