Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 25/06/2025If only we had something that could transfer power between regions...? Although the map is looking pretty red everywhere - maybe ERCOT could be exporting? 🔌💡 3101
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 24/06/2025Gonna be a long hot night on the east coast. @gridstatus.io Check out the prices in NYISO - almost $1,500/MWh. 141
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 24/06/2025China just surpasses 1 TW of solar - installed nearly 100 GW just last *month* 🔌💡 @jmijin.bsky.social War is evil. 272
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 24/06/2025We want to make that happen here too. See the recent ESIG paper. 120
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 24/06/2025@gridstatus.io - great shot of the heat wave driving up prices across the Eastern Interconnect. But Texas? Doing just fine thanks to solar, wind and storage - prices are muted even at 6:00 Central. 🔌💡 Also, war sucks. 4235
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 23/06/2025Yes, but they need a storage buffer. So you can easily upgrade a BESS system (battery) to GFM with just a software update, but wind/solar plant would need a bit of hardware (short term storage). 130
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 18/06/2025Check out the ERCOT Large Load queue. F*ing wild. 156GW on an 80 GW system, more than *doubled* since December. 20 GW under study (pretty firm!). 010
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 18/06/20256/ Conclusion? Don't jump to them! This was not an inertia problem, but a voltage regulation problem. 000
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 18/06/20255/ The recommendations for Spain to reduce the risk of future blackouts? (1) increase battery storage, (2) increase interconnections to France. Spain will also allow inverter based resources to provide voltage control, not just synchronous machines. 100
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 18/06/20254/ In addition, some generation plants disconnected before they should have - e.g. they tripped offline when they could have “ridden through” the voltage disturbance. 100
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 18/06/20253/The system operator had not provisioned enough plants with voltage control capabilities, and some thermal plants did not provide voltage response - in fact, they responded improperly and increased voltage. 100
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 18/06/20252/ “Lack of inertia” had nothing to do with the problem, just as suspected. The issue was voltage regulation, there were earlier voltage oscillations that the system operator dampened, which further increased voltage. This over voltage then caused several plants to trip, which led to the collapse. 100
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 18/06/2025The Spanish authorities circulated a report yesterday that brings some conclusion to the Spanish blackout story. Turns out it was a voltage problem, not a frequency problem. urldefense.com/v3/__https:/... 💡🔌 🧵urldefense.comSe presenta el informe del Comité de análisis de la crisis eléctrica del 28 de abrilSe presenta el informe del Comité de análisis de la crisis eléctrica del 28 de abril 200
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 17/06/2025Now that we know the Spanish grid instability was a voltage control issue, will Bjorn Lomborg retract his terrible OpEd in the WSJ where he blamed solar and wind and a lack of inertia? I doubt it. 🔌💡 www.wsj.com/opinion/the-...wsj.comOpinion | The Physics Behind the Spanish BlackoutMadrid knew solar and wind power were unreliable but pressed ahead anyway. 56919
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 17/06/2025Pretty sure it’s chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind, 3GW in Wyoming being developed by Phil Anchutz. Partially on BLM land. 121
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 17/06/2025This has to be a carve out for the Anchutz wind project? 111
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 17/06/2025Storage. Nice. Looks like Rs acknowledge we need capacity and storage is the fast option. That’s a silver lining here. 130
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 16/06/2025Here's Adam Keech, VP at PJM, stating that inter-regional transmission won't help PJM "because other regions don't have excess capacity" - has he not hear of coincident peak? This is from the FERC conference on Resource Adequacy last week. 131
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 09/06/2025Here's a great visual from EIA on Natural Gas prices in the short term. Check out the upper bound! 010
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 09/06/2025Darn. Doesn't seem like an energy emergency? US produced more energy than it ever had in 2024..yet we have an "energy emergency" Executive Order? www.eia.gov/todayinenerg...eia.govIn 2024, the United States produced more energy than ever before - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 180
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 09/06/2025Manning to Metcalf was just approved in the CAISO TPP - so likely will take ~10 years to come online. 111
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 09/06/2025I know there's a lot going on right now, but NYMEX natural gas futures for January are $5/MMBtu. This is going to mean price increases for electricity for Americans, and is the worst possible time to be slowing down wind and solar deployment by taking away tax credits. 🔌💡 35512
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 09/06/2025It was 7% of solar generation last year Jonathan, a little higher than previous years, but will drop once we get some new North/South transmission online. 211
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 06/06/2025It's all good. It's just 7% of solar we are curtailing. We have transmission planned that will help (a lot of this is south-north congestion) so don't expect this to get worse. Some level of curtailment is economic and reasonable in a high solar system like @californiaiso.bsky.social 060
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 06/06/2025Hello Journalists! Please stop calling curtailed energy "wasted." Curtailment is a feature, not a bug, of high RE systems and a signal we need more transmission and/or batteries. This article says "3,400 GWh" which sounds big, but its only 7% of solar gen. 🔌💡 www.canarymedia.com/articles/sol...canarymedia.comChart: California is wasting more and more clean energyThe state produces more clean energy than its grid can handle, forcing it to curtail the extra wind and solar power it can’t use. There are ways to fix… 32410
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 05/06/2025Look at this gorgeous chart from @gridstatus.io on the energy transition in California. Those that said solar would not be able to replace gas were wrong. The drop in gas from 2023 to 2024 is real, but it also includes a change in the way @californiaiso.bsky.social tracks gas generation. 🔌💡 1359
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 05/06/2025Does anyone care about Bjorn Lomborg anymore? It is worth pushing back against this horrible WSJ OpEd he just wrote on Spain? I love this title - "the physics behind the Spanish Blackout" - last time I checked, Bjorn was not a physicist. #EnergySky governorswindenergycoalition.org/the-physics-...governorswindenergycoalition.org The Physics Behind the Spanish Blackout - Governors' Wind Energy Coalition 131
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 05/06/20253/ our target to 100%. Probably not much, given the opposition would fight any target. But I wish we could have more realistic goals. The UK includes 5% unabated gas in their near term clean energy goal. We could have done the same. 000
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 05/06/20252/ and use the existing gas fleet as a capacity resource. Lots has changed since then, like higher expected load growth, but the approach is still valid. It was novel to focus on the near term and a target less than 100%. I often wonder if the Biden administration had not “gone to 11” and pushed 100
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 05/06/2025Five years ago we released our 2035 Report, laying out a roadmap for getting the US Power sector to 90% carbon free by 2035. It was a simple and pragmatic approach, keep existing carbon free generation like nuclear and hydro, add a lot of wind, solar and batteries, #EnergySky 2035report.comh2035report.com 140
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 05/06/2025Such a great detailed look at @californiaiso.bsky.social 121
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 30/05/2025Transmission Congestion 101. This is the snapshot of the Entergy New Orleans load shed event. Look at the negative pricing (dark blue) just ~200 miles away from the $2,000/MWh (dark red) in Southern LA #EnergySky @gridstatus.io 0116
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 30/05/2025A great visualization of how the @californiaiso.bsky.social grid has changed dramatically. Here's the 2020 load shed event (Aug 15-16 - left) compared to the same days 4 years later. Look at how much solar and storage have changed the power mix - so much less imports and gas. @gridstatus.io 070
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 30/05/2025I remember when it was 0.1%. That wasn't so long ago! 000
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 29/05/2025Was camping in the Feather River last weekend. The 300 MW hydro system is called the "staircase of power" This is where PG&E lines sparked both the Camp and Dixie fires, two incredibly destructive wildfires. All the transmission facilities routed from the 5 hydro powerhouses are now all rebuilt. 000
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 22/05/2025Jesus. Let's hope SunZia and TransWest Express meets the placed in service date to qualify for tax credits. I'm sure folks at both companies are stressed about project timelines at this point. #EnergySky 050
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 22/05/20253/ So accreditation matters - if gas winterized we would need less of it, driving down auction prices. It would also make solar and storage far more valuable - almost doubling their capacity accreditation values. Getting gas to work in the winter fixes a lot of what's wrong with PJM. Let's do it. 150
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 22/05/20252/ This new accreditation regime was bad for solar and storage, storage got roughly what a gas CT did - 60%. Solar was a measly 13% - this is what happens when the risk moves to winter. Then PJM did an analysis assuming gas winterized. That shifts risk to summer - and behold, ELCC's shoot up 150
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 22/05/2025Capacity accreditation is deep and nerdy and super important. What happened last PJM auction cycle was an ironic shift: gas underperformed in winter storm Elliot, so PJM assigned much lower capacity values to gas - dropping from ~90% to %60%. Now we had less capacity, so prices shot up #EnergySky 3106
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 20/05/2025Wildfire out west. In all places replacing the 1950s era equipment. 010
Ric O'Connell @ricoconnell.bsky.social · 19/05/2025Affordability of electricity is crucial if we are going to use the grid to decarbonize other sectors. Distribution system capital deployment continues to outstrip other sectors (generation, transmission). Not clear what we are getting for all those $$. #EnergySky 2232
