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EPRI

Jul 25
Love38

What’s On the Minds of Utility Commissioners

By Energy Rant No Comments
Last week I attended the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Summer Policy Summit in chilly Austin, TX, where running shoes never dry. I also learned that the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA) holds a conference in parallel in the same venue. This post begins to provide an overview of issues and concerns discussed at the conference, summarized in four words: rising rates declining reliability. Let’s get into it. Rapid Thermal Power Plant Retirement Results: Grid Stress This section may be summarized using the title of the Tuesday panel discussion, “On the Brink: Reliability Challenges and…
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Aug 09
Love2
illustration of an encyclopedia with a smiling face

Profiles in Decarb – I Call Ham

By Energy Rant No Comments
When I started at Michaels millennia ago, we had a brilliant walking encyclopedia of knowledge and engineering know-how. His name was Dave Hamilton, or Ham for short. He was probably 30 years older than me. My boss at the time said Ham knew the answer to any problem. Younger engineers would spend a few weeks to prove he was right. Scaling Electrification A couple of weeks ago, in the final of a series on electrification prompted by the EPRI conference in Charlotte, I wrote in Electrification at Scale that decarb fans need to 1) brace for consequences such as 9,000…
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Jul 19
Love2
illustration of book with lightning bolt

Rant Revelations Unleashed

By Energy Rant No Comments
This week in concert with critical thought prompted by the EPRI electrification conference, I introduce Rant Revelations. Some are not new, but it is time to start a list. Profit Rules Decarbonization can only happen if it is profitable. That is how we decarbonized to current levels. Whether it’s production tax credits for wind energy that make coal not competitive or high natural gas prices that make coal competitive, profit wins. In time the piper will be paid as intermittent and subsidized renewable energy will run out its string of lowering energy prices requiring new thermal generation to avoid grid…
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Jul 12
Love2

Electrification – Damn the Torpedo

By Energy Rant 2 Comments
I attended Electric Power Research Institute’s Electrification 2022 Conference in Charlotte a couple of weeks ago. As a critical thinker and engineer, I often listened and thought, what about this or that, what does that look like at scale, or what you really need to do is ___. Silos of Excellence Everyone seems to think about an endpoint where the entire country will run on solar panels, windmills, heat pumps, and electric vehicles. No one talks about what must happen between here and there. The silos of excellence include: Our industry and associated tiny departments representing utilities expect a 100%…
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Sep 28
Love0
What's in your name?

What’s in Your (Org’s) Name?

By Energy Rant No Comments
After several weeks of hardcore grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEBs) discussion and brutal challenges, I’m giving your brains a break this week – kind of like a shot of whiskey after weeks of drinking green protein smoothies in preparation for that marathon you always wanted to do. Pronunciations Speaking of GEBs – how do you say GEBs? Gebs, right? What about SEM. No. SEM aficionados are a highfalutin crowd. It’s es ee em. So dudes, if you don’t like the way people pronounce your organization or activity, name it something simple or deal with the consequences of busy people. What about…
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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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