by Jeff Ihnen | May 21, 2024 | Energy Rant
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....
by Jeff Ihnen | May 14, 2024 | Energy Rant
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...
by Jeff Ihnen | Apr 23, 2024 | Energy Rant
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...
by Jeff Ihnen | Nov 20, 2023 | Energy Rant
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...
by Jeff Ihnen | Nov 14, 2023 | Energy Rant
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...