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Feb 11
Love119

Trump’s Energy Emergency – A Mystic’s Perspective

By Energy Rant No Comments
Last week, I described elements of Trump's Unleashing American Energy executive order. It: Expands oil and gas exploration on federal lands Promotes mining and recovery of rare and exotic earth minerals for manufacturing leadership Targets federal spending on electric car infrastructure and EV mandates Something about lightbulb and appliance standards that is OBE (overtaken by events) Pauses spending for portions of the Investment Reduction Act (IRA) and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) I surmised that this EO only affects spending in the short term. Tax deductions and credits cannot be signed away with the President's Sharpie Armada without Congressional…
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Feb 04
Love118

Ins and Outs of Trump’s American Energy Executive Order

By Energy Rant No Comments
President Trump's top priorities include closing the border and restoring "energy dominance." Readers know he ran on "drill baby, drill" and ending wind generation and electric vehicle subsidies, but what are some of the finer points? His day-one "Unleashing American Energy" executive order (EO) provides some insights. Although it would be a massive undertaking to drill down on all of it, I will describe some iceberg tips that I see. The Hit List I see four targets of the EO and one dragnet as follows. Access to Federal Lands The EO encourages "energy exploration and production on Federal lands and…
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May 21
Love82

Full Spectrum Virtual Power Plants

By Energy Rant No Comments
A couple timely articles and posts have dropped since I reintroduced virtual power plants (VPPs) last week. First, I'll share a LinkedIn post from Matt Golden, CEO of Recurve. He wrote:  "VPPs being defined as dispatchable loads only, is just plain wrong. Just like the grid is supplied primarily by load following and base load power plants, with a small but important amount of peak dispatchable emergency power, VPPs are a combination of long-term load modification and dispatch.  The vast majority of the potential to shape load with virtual power plants comes from things like heat pumps that provide better air conditioning and attic insulation…
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May 14
Love80

Virtual Power Plants Order in Load Management

By Energy Rant No Comments
Virtual power plants (VPPs) represent a considerable slice of the clean energy race these days, and for a good reason: policy continues to favor intermittent renewable energy supply over baseload nuclear and dispatchable natural gas assets. Load needs to follow supply. Theoretically, we would need a lot of load flexibility for many hours and sometimes days to keep the grid energized with, mmm, 50% renewable energy. As of 2021, the renewables slice of the supply pie was around 13%, so there is a long way to go.  The DOE's Virtual Power Plants Commercial Liftoff report declares the United States needs 80-160 GW…
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Apr 23
Love78

Solar Wars

By Energy Rant No Comments
A year ago, I introduced the mantle curve to illustrate California's overgeneration of solar power and the resulting need for curtailment. In 2022, California's scoping study set a target for an additional 60 gigawatts (GW) or 60,000 megawatts (MW) of solar generation to be deployed by 2030. Below are the forecast curves from last year's post in May. The system was penetrating the overgeneration region, but the net load was above zero MW. Similar forecast loads from last week are provided below. We see the net load digs below zero MW, into the mantle. Granted, the first chart represents a week in May last year, while the second represents…
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Nov 20
Love56

Case Studies in Decarbed Electricity

By Energy Rant No Comments
A colleague recommended a podcast, The Diary of a CEO, with Steven Bartlett. I especially resonated with the message from the “Savings Expert” episode dated November 6, 2023. The guest is an author who said, “I write for an audience of one, and that is me.” He calls it selfish writing. “I don’t write for this person or that person or group. I write what I’m interested in and in a way that I think is interesting. I try to solve my own problems. If it will help me, maybe it will help somebody else.” He said the traditional writing…
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Nov 14
Love54

Freeze on Nuclear Power is Thawing

By Energy Rant No Comments
It seems the laggards are finally realizing the planned energy transition to renewables and battery storage – maybe even throwing in a few million miles of 345 kV transmission lines – will not deliver reliable, affordable power. Miami Herald headline: Half of US at risk of losing power in winter due to strains on power grid. The article notes that “half” is up from a quarter just a year ago. It also reports that during last year’s Christmas Cliffhanger known as Elliot, natural gas generators (the bridge to nowhere) broke down or couldn’t get fuel. I called this shot reverse…
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Sep 19
Love45

Mining the Energy Transition

By Energy Rant One Comment
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 inclusion in the energy transition. The following video from France’s AFP News describes the toil in Congo for cobalt, a key ingredient of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and grid-scale storage. The video states the scene shows “almost biblical toil.” No. It’s biblical. Seventy-two percent of the world’s cobalt comes from the Democratic…
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Sep 11
Love45

Innovations in Grid Flex

By Energy Rant No Comments
Last week, I was fortunate to see this article posted on EnergyCentral.com: Demand Flexibility Is No Longer Nice To Have. “ is increasingly becoming a “must have” as networks around the world are moving towards high levels of variable renewable generation resources. The increased variability of renewables, notably wind and solar, results in frequent episodes of feast and famine when supply exceeds demand and vice versa. The result is wide swings in wholesale prices, from near zero and negative to very high levels reflecting the imbalance in supply and demand. Storage and exporting/importing the surplus/deficit are invoked to the extent…
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Aug 21
Love42

The TRC Is Calling – Has Anyone Seen 1979?

By Energy Rant No Comments
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 like Sysco or U.S. Foods, grocery distribution centers like Walmart or Kroger, food manufacturers like Tyson or Nestle, grocery stores, convenience stores, or restaurants. Add it all up, and well over 10% of the total peak load in the U.S. is sitting there in bags, boxes, and buckets of food, waiting to be used as a flexible load-shifting and management…
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All things energy. That’s our jam.

We talk a lot about energy – from the serious to the satirical.

All things energy. That’s our jam.

We talk a lot about energy – from the serious to the satirical.

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