The benefits of building. This 12 GW power line could carry all Spanish solar generation to Finland. It was built in 3 years. Western democracies used to think and build big. If we don’t start again, prosperity will erode and perhaps democracy with it.

The benefits of building. This 12 GW power line could carry all Spanish solar generation to Finland. It was built in 3 years. Western democracies used to think and build big. If we don’t start again, prosperity will erode and perhaps democracy with it.

The juice is worth the squeeze. Check out @energykillian.bsky.social on Transmission talking through how we can reform green certificates to make an energy system fit for future and close some huge loopholes in "green" supply today. www.youtube.com/watch?v=slhg...

Clean power is cheap power. Let’s make it round the clock. Enter batteries.

Renewables + storage is the perfect match. Without storage, renewables hit a grid integration ceiling. With storage, the benefits of cheap renewables is made available even when there is no wind or sun. China seems to get this, with rapid buildout of pumped hydro show here (and batteries).

🗣️ “Renewables are already a cost-effective solution for Indian industry, and 24/7 clean power is the benchmark for the future of renewable procurement,” says EnergyTag Executive Director @energykillian.bsky.social

@iea.org Electricity 2025 report out today. Electricity is increasingly the lifeblood of our economies. EU industrial prices are 2x the US and 1.5X China. Taxes, gas reliance, and inefficient renewable integration are all drivers. Solutions needed. iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/38a95...

@iea.org says "Today, utility-scale batteries paired with solar PV are already competitive with new coal plants in some countries like India. In just the next few years, batteries + solar will be cheaper than new natural gas plants in the US & new coal in China" (Source: x.com/iea/status/1...)

🔌💡 Google released a novel study on the lifecycle emissions of AI accelerator chips, showing a 3x improvement in the carbon-efficiency of AI workloads over two generations. We also report average market-based electricity emissions calculated on a 24/7 basis. More: cloud.google.com/blog/topics/...

Working on getting those prices down I see.

Trump demands to be the center of attention. It's hard not to see Trump 2.0 as the biggest energy story in the world. But China begs to differ: China built 277 GW of solar (877 GW total now!) & 80 GW of wind (521 GW total) in 2024. That, as Trump would say, is 'uge! electrek.co/2025/01/21/c... 🔌💡

China is still Coal powered, and that keeps growing. Renewable expansion is rapid, but coal is still King.

Battery storage has often been built on the back of grid service revenues. In relatively mature markets like the UK, these revenues are drying up fast. Batteries will become more reliant on unpredictable energy arbitrage. Other revenue streams will be key (e.g 24/7 PPAs) #energysky

Very important point. I find a lot of unproductive discussions on wind and solar vs alternatives comes down to local variations like this. If you don't have dunkelflautes, or if you have enough transmission, you really can avoid the need for most (if not all) clean firm generation. 🔌💡

Dunkelflaute - no wind, no sun for weeks - isn't an Australian problem. 42 years of weather data show widespread dips last hours or a day, never weeks. Winter monthly output has never been lower than 70% of average. Long duration energy storage... https://youtube.com/shorts/kiKCnACikpY?feature=share

The Biden administration has finalized rules for the IRA's lucrative — and contentious — clean hydrogen tax credits that hold fast on key climate safeguards, despite industry pushback. Will the Trump administration honor or undermine those safeguards? www.canarymedia.com/articles/hyd... #energysky

New NREL modelling of 61 scenarios of US power sector thru 2050 is out. Under a current policies mid case, solar and wind look set to dominate with nuclear and gas still very much in the mix and storage ramping significantly #energysky (1/n)

45v is solid for green hydrogen and also avoids the worst loopholes for blue hydrogen. EU regulators should take note as blue h2 rules are finalised here

Emily Grubert (@gruberte.bsky.social), Wilson Ricks (@wilsonar.bsky.social), and I wrote a short piece on the role of methane offsets in the final § 45V hydrogen production tax credit rules. tl;dr safeguards in the new rules will avoid the worst-case outcomes, but offsetting remains open for new H2

#MustRead if you are in #AI and/or in #Energy

@mliebreich.bsky.social gives a masterful summary of Energy and AI, and good to get a call out. Given the significant load growth coming, we must get the carbon accounting right. Being really green is hard, claiming to be green is easy under today’s norms… about.bnef.com/blog/liebrei...

Final 45v Clean Hydrogen tax credit rules are out today. For electrolytic hydrogen, the three pillars of hourly matching, deliverability and incrementality remain despite some flexibilities. This will change clean power sourcing and accounting. home.treasury.gov/news/press-r...

At long last, the US Treasury Dept has finalized rules for the clean hydrogen tax credit (45V). home.treasury.gov/news/press-r... In general, the rules are based on a strong set of environmental safeguards to ensure "clean" hydrogen is truly clean & provide the certainty industry needs to build. 🔌💡

EU Solar Deployment is crumbling. One of the key factors is declining capture rates due to a lack of flexibility in the system and and a lack of focus on system integration. PPAs and CfD must go more hydrid with storage from now on to integrate more solar api.solarpowereurope.org/uploads/Sola...

This is huge: China's refined oil consumption peaked in 2023, says the research arm of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). Will decline 1.3% in 2024, despite ~4.8% GDP growth projected this year. Why? EVs! (Mostly) www.reuters.com/world/china/... 🔌💡 🔌🚗

Germany and energy. Two pictures: 1) Germany, like most of the EU has energy prices that are too high, volatile and reliant on imported gas. This is dragging it's economy down. 2) Germany does not invest enough. As investing in clean electricity is the ONLY way out of the bind, it must do more.

Consequential emissions analysis uses counterfactuals to estimate emissions avoided by an action. New NREL looks at this for the power sector. In theory, this is the best way to think about power sector interventions, BUT in practice, there is not good way yet (1/3)... www.nrel.gov/docs/fy25ost...

Ultimately the only way to make the transition a lock-in is to make fossil the expensive option. In the transport sector this is already the case in the world’s largest market and will become the case everywhere in the coming years. Producers who don’t go EV will die.

Wilson’s work on new technologies and clean power procurement will shape policy (e.g clean h2) and global standards (e.g GHG protocol) for many years ahead. Zero lab make research directly relevant to real world problems like few pthers. Congrats @wilsonar.bsky.social and @jessedjenkins.com

Annual or hourly matching for electricity carbon accounting? This question may seem like a "detail". Not at all. Hourly matching of clean generation ensures clean electrolytic hydrogen, annual matching is labeled clean but is heavily fossil-reliant. www.resources.org/common-resou....

Already compiled @colinmckerracher.bsky.social charts on the latest battery price index into a slide. Bravo to Colin and team www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

I don't think people understand quite how transformative solar and battery storage is becoming. These tender prices yesterday from India are incredible. ≈ 40 $/MWh for solar + 4 hour BESS. A baseload could be constructed for ≈ 50 $/MWh. 24/7 clean power is coming. www.linkedin.com/posts/amol-p...

Massive 650 MW round the clock PPA signed in India, combining wind, solar and storage… a lot of oversizing but still, firmed clean power is the future. www-livemint-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.live...

Carbon accounting loopholes allow Meta spokesperson to call new load clean.“Meta’s 100% clean energy commitment uses methodologies from the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Annually, Meta matches its electricity use with 100% clean and renewable energy on an annual basis” www.rtoinsider.com/93377-enterg...

Current corporate carbon accounting practices make this entirely compatible with a hypothetical zero-emissions claim by Meta for the exact same data center. Being clear on where companies are physically sourcing their power is going to be very important in analyzing these claims re: AI

China is set to add a record 260 gigawatts of solar this year. For perspective, that’s more than the total added globally in 2022, which was a record year. It’s nearly 6x more than the US, the second-biggest market, is set to add this year www.bloomberg.com/news/article... #energysky

This doctor’s letter to United Heathcare for denying nausea medication to a child on chemotherapy.

China plans a national, unified electricity market by 2029. Expect the further liberalisation of power sector in China to see much more rapid rollout of renewable purchasing mechanisms like PPAs and RPS certificates like in other parts of the world. www.nea.gov.cn/2024-12/02/c...

The EV age. Energy transitions in major economies take decades... they said. What China has done in half a decade is incredible, EVs at 50% of sales already. The EU and US need to up their game. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Hourly matching of clean power and generation could transform the battery revenue stack - potentially more important than power sales. New study from UK power system operator and Afry shows. afry.com/en/events/24...

Hourly matching of clean power and generation could transform the battery revenue stack - potentially more important than power sales. New study from UK power system operator and Afry shows. afry.com/en/events/24...

China is the big grid decarb challenge. Coal still dominates at 60% of generation. But wind and especially solar deploying at warp speed. ~200 GW more solar coming this year. Now, to avoid running integration issues - storage and demand flex key.

Solar and AC. A match. This chart from NREL shows how solar helps meet peak summer load in Texas. Demand growth from AC globally will far outstrip Data Centres. Much of this in sunny places like Texas. When demand matches solar good things will happen. www.nrel.gov/docs/fy25ost...

The big issue for German industry.

PPAs are how companies buy clean power. This is a great graphical overview from @luca-pedretti.bsky.social at Pexapark of the inevitable evolution of PPA markets. Start with single-tech and progressively move towards multi-technology PPAs, with 24/7 PPAs as the end goal.

Yes, the age of expensive, black box and opaque models must give way to open source tools with transparency by design.

Absolutely. Big goal, big challenge. Indonesia has some advantages - solar, geothermal and batteries would have to be the backbone here. And urgent reform of utility PLN. The decentralized nature of a 17k island state does make renewables compelling vs coal...

Wow. This is huge. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Noteworthy change to Alberta's supply and demand page - no more coal listed. Here are the current installed capacities across generation types in Alberta, in MW:

Great news. And with sodium-ion and other competing technologies making rapid progress, we’re probably only a few years away from much more widely available cheap batteries.