Two exciting funding announcements in the solid state transformers space - on the same day! a16z leading Heron Power's 140m Series B, and DG Matrix announces a 40m series A a16z.com/announcement...

I'm unclear about why the remedies for permit/project cancelations are designed this way. Happy to be corrected on any of this, but this bill feels like a *gigantic* adverse selection problem waiting to happen. I've got a few questions:

Companies like GE killed their coal businesses in the first Trump administration, because there is no amount of political wish-casting that can make it competitive with solar, wind and gas. I don't think there are any domestic boiler OEMs left. This stuff is a waste of everyone's time.

The politics of utility bills are going to get a lot gnarlier than people expect.

Public financing of Tx offers significant savings for ratepayers! In this research note, @buddyyakov.bsky.social & I argue replacing equity in IOU capital stacks won’t harm utility credit ratings. Rather, using cheaper debt will preserve IOU rate-basing capacity. publicenterprise.org/report/resea...

This is the way. Transmission is as important for new load - much of it critical to economic and national security - as it is for new generation. nationalinterest.org/blog/energy-...

OBBBA quite literally included an incentive whaling captains www.politico.com/live-updates...

🚨Pretty big news out of MISO this morning. A continuing LOLE error that has existed since 2017 has resulted in a "total financial impact based on net positions [of] approximately $280 million." In other words, load was over-charged. cdn.misoenergy.org/20250820%20R...

Highlights from AEPs earnings call this morning -- 😨 24GW additional contracted load since last quarter, backed by signed LOAs. 18GW data centers (lotta crypto in addition to AI) 🔋 Believe all of $10B in current renewable projects will be credit eligible post OB3 ♻️ Disappointing on reconductoring

PJM's attitude towards ratepayers and elected officials within its territory has been off-putting to say the least. I'm impressed with this op-ed by David Lapp at the Office of People's Counsel in MD, which I think makes the argument very persuasively: www.utilitydive.com/news/pjm-ceo...

Really interesting report surveying the folks actually building new data centers. Unsurprisingly, power is the main constraint. I was particularly interested in the below chart that demonstrates how wide the gap is between solar+BESS and second choices: alphastruxure.com/wp-content/u...

Sens. Blackburn and Hagerty are correct that TVA's board is unequipped to provide meaningful oversight to the agency. We need a firm hand at the helm, both at the board and in the CEO's office. www.powermag.com/americas-nuc...

‼️ the trump admin today approved a transmission line for a solar project in california and said it would help meet energy security goals only in trump’s america is this absolutely massive news — but it is that level of surprising www.blm.gov/press-releas...

Good stuff from former FERC Chair Chatterjee -- www.utilitydive.com/news/ai-data...

Regulated utilities--the companies who determine what you pay for electricity--told Congress under oath this week what multiple independent studies have already confirmed: repealing tax credits will "immediately harm rate payers." subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...

This is how officials celebrated the Baltic states' synchronization with continental Europe's power grid. ⚡️⚡️ Pretty awesome:

As power demand rises, TVA board needs information from independent experts, says renewable energy group. Federally-owned utility serves 9 million people across seven states, including Kentucky. @liamniemeyer.bsky.social kentuckylantern.com/2025/01/30/c...

This feels like the inevitable outcome of massive sports betting+huge disparities between NIL money between schools and even between players on the same teams. Of course some kids are going to look to cash in.

Happening today! TVA is one of the largest power providers in the country, but we don't talk about it much. Join us for a discussion of what better transmission and interconnection in the region can look like. www.eventbrite.com/e/tvas-trans...

Join us on 1/30 at 1:00PM for a discussion of TVA's transmission and generation planning (or lack thereof). #EnergySky www.eventbrite.com/e/tvas-trans...

The emergence of 5GW data centers is on the horizon - before most planned 1GW data centers are even built. #EnergySky www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/micr...

A good (and timely!) piece on the dynamics facing landowners interested in hosting wind turbines (which often pay ~$10k annually) amid community opposition. #EnergySky

If the new Energy Secretary is serious about an abundance agenda and energy dominance, he should wholeheartedly embrace his role at DOE to finalize these loans and secure financing for even more utilities to reduce rates and improve reliability.

-AI race is straining the grid -Inflation has left many Americans struggling to pay bills -Extreme weather has left millions w/o power "A common thread among these seemingly disparate challenges is a lack of adequate transmission lines." - @krorourke.bsky.social www.tdworld.com/utility-busi...

Good piece on the crucial role of #HVDC in the global energy transition. Across three major cable manufacturers - Hitachi, Prysmian, and NKT - the order backlog is roughly $50 billion. The backlog is so bad that megaprojects like Xlinks (MOR-UK) and Suncable (AUS-SIN) are investing in their own 🏭.

Couldn't agree more with @jackclarksf.bsky.social - winning AI means building more power and more wires. "the future of AI competition will be about ‘power dominance’ – do you have access to enough electricity to power the datacenters used for increasingly large-scale training run" #EnergySky

Top @rhodiumgroup.bsky.social analysis on IRA repeal. Among many important points for the new admin to consider - rollback being inflationary to reducing US O&G exports - the most salient is the scale of investment at risk, *$435 billion* #EnergySky rhg.com/research/tru...

Happening now: Virginia's SCC is holding a technical conference on data centers, including consideration of new tariff structures for large customers. Virginia is the epicenter of data center development, with ~14GW proj. growth by 2030 #EnergySky www.vpm.org/1scc

"I just don’t want to have to play, you know, ‘Mother May I’ to the Southwest Power Pool which is a group of 17 states before I add energy to my own grid." Simply plug in a gas turbine like it's a toaster, what could go wrong?

GE Vernova CEO Scot Strazik just said the company secured 9 GIGAWATTS of reservation agreements for gas turbines in the U.S. for 2025-2026 orders in just the LAST 30 DAYS.... "tied to load growth of serving the hyperscaler demand associated with AI."

EVs are cheaper than internal combustion engine autos in China! Why? Colin Mckerracher wrote: "...the price for lithium iron phosphate, or LFP, battery cells in China has dropped 51% to an average of $53 per kilowatt hour," EVs are at 52% of China's auto sales. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Assuming these are H100 GPUs, that's ~1.5GW of power - or 10x what xAI's Memphis cluster was approved for last month. xAI has been running 18 portable gas generators in Boxtown for months to get enough power for this project. #EnergySky

There's a lot of attention paid to Chinese dominance of critical minerals. Much less to control of grid components and subcomponents - even after a physical backdoor was discovered in a Chinese transformer in 2020. The grid is a national security issue, full-stop. Good report from SAFE.

Today's PJM Load Analysis Subcommittee is one of those critically-important stakeholder meeting you likely never heard of. Main takeaway: the speed at which data center-driven load growth is showing up between now and 2030 is intense. www.pjm.com/committees-a... #energysky

Coming up this afternoon: check out an ACORE/ACEG panel on interregional transmission with @allisonclements.bsky.social, Michael Goggins from Grid Strategies, @robertwtaylor.bsky.social and Cy McGeady from CSIS. Moderated by the great Elise Caplan! #EnergySky 🔌💡

We’re currently apartment hunting and this landlord approves dogs on a “case by case basis”… which means my (very sweet!) pit mix might put us out of the running. She asked us to take a photo for consideration. Molly really made the most pathetic face possible 😂

#EnergySky "The combined length of the UHV transmission lines operating in China had reached 48,000km (30,000 miles) by the end of 2020, more than enough to wrap around the Earth by the equator." 🔌💡 www.bbc.com/future/artic...

#EnergySky check out this new paper on carbon impacts of regional Tx congestion, which shows that over 50% of wind/solar in PJM and nearly 50% in ERCOT is not deliverable because of congestion. Thus, the importance of economic - not just reliability - Tx planning! 🔌💡 resurety.com/wp-content/u...

This is an awesome thread on a little known innovation in CCS, but this is my favourite part. Too often people chase "breakthroughs" when what is really needed is some good old fashioned incremental engineering. The breakthroughs are here folks, and they need optimization! 🔌💡

First half overreactions for Duke UK #cbb 🎓🏀 > kerr kriisa was more fun when he wasn’t on my team > is Flagg/Malauch the wiggins/embiid of our time? > bad Robinson half > missing FTs in what I assume is a cal homage > chandler should not be in this game Cats look like a problem, win or lose

BlueSky doing great so far. Once someone gets fired for something they post on here we'll know the site has truly made it.

So Energy Twitter is all here now, right? Great! If you like podcasts and decarb, check out my latest newsletter edition on LinkedIn. We’ve got a pretty deep back catalog covering everything from GH2 policy to community engagement. tinyurl.com/mnrujtxm EnergySky bat signal activate 🔌💡

The coolest map of power plants ever made. #energysky

I'm finally getting off the other site. Looking forward to joining conversations on #EnergySky and #ClimateSky!