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Scott Fines

@hyalinetech.bsky.social
17 followers 9 following 58 posts

Understanding Power generation. hyaline.tech

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Reposted by Scott Fines
David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/11/2025
Absolutely amazing: they've got so much solar in Australia that they need more people to use more of it, so the gov't has instructed energy retailers to offer *at least three hours of free power* during the middle of the day. Meanwhile fossil-addled US struggles with an energy-price crisis ...
abc.net.au
Energy retailers to be directed to offer free power three hours a day
Saying there is enough solar power for everyone in the daytime, Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen will direct retailers to provide three hours of free power every day to consumers.
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
A statistician and an engineer went hunting. The first shot went three feet to the right. The second shot missed three feet to the left. The statistician cries “we got it!”
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
Turns out that raising rates so that you can guarantee a profit on gas and coal plants is bad for consumers, Actually: www.ksdk.com/article/news...
ksdk.com
Ameren cut off nearly 15,000 Missourians from electricity in September as data centers threaten to raise prices more
Data centers are projected to raise electricity prices even more, as current prices are already unaffordable for thousands of families across the state.
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Reposted by Scott Fines
South Side Weekly @southsideweekly.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Let us be clear: The President of the United States is levying war against American cities and American citizens—and we cannot rely on the other branches of government to save us. It’s up to us.
southsideweekly.com
It’s Up to Us to Protect One Another
As Trump sends troops to Chicago, we will continue to investigate and report. Readers have a role to play, too.
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
My town is on the map! I don’t care if the rest of the map is garbage, they got that part right
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
I think there’s pretty good evidence that the AI bubble has peaked, and will start a sharp downturn relatively soon. But I don’t see much to indicate that the Datacenter mania has peaked yet; I’m guessing another 6 months at least.
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Reposted by Scott Fines
Jesse D. Jenkins @jessedjenkins.com · 02/10/2025
The world's first carbon border tax is about to go live, roiling — and possibly reshaping —global trade share.google/yTtxujzkAx8a... 🔌💡
share.google
The world's first carbon border tax will soon go live — shaking up global trade
The European Union is poised to fully implement its carbon border tax from Jan. 1.
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 28/09/2025
The datacenters will not be built. The power demand will not materialize.
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
The AI bubble is probably better thought of as two distinct bubbles: LLMs in general (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.), and the associated datacenter buildout bubble. Useful to remember that the dot-com was actually two bubbles as well: the dot-coms, and the telecoms. Telecoms was much worse.
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 21/09/2025
This is pretty funny, because it doesn’t take a lot of mathematical sophistication to know intuitively that this had to be true: no probabilistic system will ever be deterministically correct.
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Reposted by Scott Fines
David Pomerantz @davidpomerantz.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Marissa Gillett, possibly the best utility regulator in the country, resigned from the Connecticut PURA this morning. She was forced out by Connecticut’s investor-owned utilities, who finally won their years-long, scorching campaign to oust her. A thread here about Gillett:
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
“ I believe in the municipal ownership of these monopolies because if you do not own them they in turn will own you. They will rule your politics, corrupt your institutions and finally destroy your liberties.“ -Tom L Johnson #energysky
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Just on a purely academic level, this is absolutely the coolest technology I’ve ever seen. 3 of these windows will run my fridge! #energysky
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 07/09/2025
This is incredible, but (to me at least) it raises a big question: why now? #energysky ember-energy.org/latest-insig...
ember-energy.org
The first evidence of a take-off in solar in Africa | Ember
There has been a major pick-up in solar panel imports into Africa over the last 12 months - a shift that is likely to impact almost every country on the continent.
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
Ameren Missouri wants to build a 250-MW solar field by the Callaway Nuclear plant. A surprising request, tbh, considering they recently got approval for a 750MW gas plant. Still, I’m not complaining about a good thing: #energysky abc17news.com/news/top-sto...
abc17news.com
Ameren seeks 250-megawatt solar facility in Callaway County
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Ameren Missouri applied last week with Missouri's utility regulators to build a 2.5-megawatt solar power facility in Callaway County. The utility is asking for a Certificate of Co...
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Reposted by Scott Fines
Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
A 1929 headline  “Stock Market Invincible: Buy, Buy, Buy! Experts Advise”
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
One of the more surprising conclusions that I have been coming around to is that clean energy will eventually force a reckoning with our current economic superstructure. You just can’t run things the way we have when there isn’t a stranglehold on the energy supply _somewhere_
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Reposted by Scott Fines
Ben Paulos @paulosanalysis.com · 30/08/2025
Holy crap, a 26 MW wind turbine! 185 meter hub height! 310 meter rotor diameter! electrek.co/2025/08/29/c...
electrek.co
China installs the world's most powerful wind turbine
China’s Dongfang Electric has installed a 26-megawatt offshore wind turbine, snatching the "world’s most powerful" title from Siemens Gamesa.
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
It sure seems like all these demand-increasing forecasts that utilities are putting out are highly dependent on datacenter load that may or may not ever actually show up. But of course it's easy to gamble when you're playing with someone else's money: 🔌💡 www.hyaline.tech/the-datacent...
hyaline.tech
The Datacenter Trap
On August 20, 2025, the Louisiana Public Service Commission approved Entergy's request for 3 new gas plants specifically to handle a single datacenter for Meta. This datacenter hasn't been built yet, ...
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
Shocking absolutely nobody: the 10 or so transmission companies that dominate MISO also own gas pipelines. Power markets do not serve everyone equally. 🔌💡
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
It is amazing to me how often people suggest shifting the risk of wholesale markets to the people least equipped to handle them. Price gouging is so much easier when your counterparty doesn’t understand what’s happening. #energysky pv-magazine-usa.com/2025/08/27/d...
pv-magazine-usa.com
Dynamic pricing is superior to virtual power plants, says dynamic pricing pioneer
As California pursues dynamic pricing of electricity to help integrate renewable generation, industry pioneer Edward Cazalet says dynamic pricing can meet California’s demand flexibility needs better ...
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Reposted by Scott Fines
John Hanger @jrfhanger.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
"Solar panel imports will reduce fuel imports. The savings from avoiding diesel can repay the cost of a solar panel within six months in Nigeria, and even less in other countries." Fossil fuels are crushing costs for poor nations. Solar is cheap! #energysky ember-energy.org/app/uploads/...
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 25/08/2025
This is sorta obvious if you have worked on rate design: The amount of distribution costs recovered through fixed charges likely determines the cost shift. Ironically, progressive rate designs probably see more cost shift. The solution is also sorta obvious: put solar panels on poor people's roofs.
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
Question for #energysky folks: Does anyone maintain a database/listing of actual proposed datacenters in the US(or other large loads)?
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
Mathematically speaking, exponential growth looks exactly like linear growth for values close to zero. #energysky about.bnef.com/insights/cle...
about.bnef.com
Liebreich: The Pragmatic Climate Reset - Part I | BloombergNEF
As the tide on clean energy turns, Michael Liebreich makes a strong case for a pragmatic climate reset.
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
Again I say: all those projected datacenter power demand columns should be read _very_ skeptically. I do not believe the datacenters will be built.
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Reposted by Scott Fines
Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
During the June heat wave, PJM energy prices reached 400$/MWh. The bulk of that went to gas plants. Meanwhile, 34 GW of solar plants, that would have reduced prices significantly, are sitting on PJM's interconnection queue. Not a _great_ look. #energysky www.hyaline.tech/power-plants...
hyaline.tech
Power plants benefit from supply shortages.
The June heat wave in PJM was a windfall for gas power. On June 24, at 6PM Eastern Daylight Time, the PJM power market hit the third-highest demand in its history: 162,401 MW. The weather forecast st...
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
If this action succeeds, Duke Energy will be effectively immune from state regulation by North or South Carolina public services commissions.
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
It would be nice if someone were to ask him how they're going to find the power to run these data-centers. Are they going to build behind-the-meter power? Look for under-utilized capacity under the couch cushions? I suspect the reality is that the datacenters won't actually be built.
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
This report on large loads is really interesting. I haven’t read in detail yet, but at first glance this reads like “we need a lot more storage”. #energysky www.nerc.com/comm/RSTCRev...
nerc.com
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
I wonder what the anti-renewable argument will morph into once places like Germany start meeting their demand with renewables directly. At a certain point, the anti-renewable case is just factually incorrect, but somehow I suspect that it won't stop them from pushing for gas anyway.
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
The sheer flexibility of solar power is an underappreciated aspect to their future. A world with lots of solar isn't a world with a few enormous solar farms, it's a world with little solar panels _everywhere_. Each one generating a tiny amount, and all of them adding up. #energysky
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
During the June heat wave, PJM energy prices reached 400$/MWh. The bulk of that went to gas plants. Meanwhile, 34 GW of solar plants, that would have reduced prices significantly, are sitting on PJM's interconnection queue. Not a _great_ look. #energysky www.hyaline.tech/power-plants...
hyaline.tech
Power plants benefit from supply shortages.
The June heat wave in PJM was a windfall for gas power. On June 24, at 6PM Eastern Daylight Time, the PJM power market hit the third-highest demand in its history: 162,401 MW. The weather forecast st...
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
In MISO in 2024, 10 plants accounted for 116 million MWh worth of energy, and 20 plants accounted for 197 million MWh. MISO's annual baseload demand was 464 million MWh. These plants are owned by 12 companies. Incidentally, energy prices in MISO aren't going down www.hyaline.tech/power-market...
hyaline.tech
Power Markets don't automatically reduce prices
There is a phrase that you encounter sometimes when you go through energy systems: "Markets reduce prices". Well, the more careful ones will say "competition reduces prices", but it amounts to the sam...
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
I haven’t been able to prove it, so haven’t written it up, but I strongly suspect that the true winners of the AI bubble in the U.S. are regulated utilities. The best possible outcome for the major power holding companies is forecasted demand that never materializes.
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
Back in May, Ameren Missouri got themselves a nice $400 million boost to their revenues from increased rates on Missouri Consumers. And at the same time, they made $450 million selling energy and transmission to MISO. #energysky www.hyaline.tech/ameren-makes...
hyaline.tech
Ameren makes money without government help
Ameren Missouri1 received approval in May for approximately $400 million in increased revenues from the Missouri Public Services Commission(PSC). Simultaneously,  Ameren expanded their revenues by sel...
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
The 5 largest companies active in MISO own 35% of its generating capacity, and every one is publicly traded (or a subsidiary of a publicly traded company). It boggles the mind to imagine that MISO does not act in the interests of these companies. #energysky
A list of the 10 largest generation providers in the MISO market. Entergy is the largest, with 29GW(13% of all generation), followed by DTE Energy, MidAmerican Energy Company(Berkshire Hathaway), Xcel Energy, and Ameren rounds out the top 5. These 5 companies collectively own 35% of MISO's generating capacity.
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
There are a lot of claims about the U.S. power market, the most popular being that they reduce prices. But they haven't. They might have reduced costs, but that just means higher profits for the major participants. #energysky www.hyaline.tech/power-market...
hyaline.tech
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Scott Fines @hyalinetech.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
U.S. energy markets like MISO and NYISO are often touted as lowering energy prices. But the evidence is pretty scant; wholesale energy prices continue to climb even though markets are supposed to "encourage competition" www.hyaline.tech/power-market...
hyaline.tech
Power Markets don't automatically reduce prices
There is a phrase that you encounter sometimes when you go through energy systems: "Markets reduce prices". Well, the more careful ones will say "competition reduces prices", but it amounts to the sam...
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