willdriscoll.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

States have an opportunity to influence transmission providers to adopt advanced conductors and other technologies that increase transmission capacity, says a renewables trade group. Added transmission can enable more solar to connect to the grid. (My latest story for PV Magazine USA) #EnergySky

submitted 15 hours ago • 0 comments

A Boston hospital’s 572 kW battery is expected to pay for itself in 7 to 10 years. It should earn $80,000 per year by providing energy to help meet peak demand, and save $57,000 per year by reducing the hospital’s own peak usage. (My latest story in PV Magazine USA) @cleanenergygroup.bsky.social

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

A consulting firm incubated by Google will collaborate with grid operator PJM to streamline interconnection applications--the first step to enable new generators to connect to the transmission grid. (My latest story for PV Magazine USA) #EnergySky #PJM #interconnection

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

California is doubling energy storage capacity every 1.2 years, according to physicist Daniel Snowden-Ifft. (Story by John Fitzgerald Weaver in PV Magazine USA)

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

Better transmission planning in the Southeast can save billions, largely by enabling access to low-cost clean energy, says a Brattle report prepared for three business groups. (My latest story for PV Magazine USA) #EnergySky @simonmahan.bsky.social

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment

Eight states are now pursuing bidirectional, vehicle-to-grid charging of electric vehicles, which can help balance renewable generation. (My latest story for PV Magazine USA) #EnergySky #V2G #V2X #bidirectional #EVcharging #vehicletogrid

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

Reaching 90% renewables in the SPP grid region can maintain stable electricity rates, Brattle finds, in a study requested by SPP and prepared by Brattle. (My latest story for PV Magazine USA) Senior author: @jpfeifen.bsky.social

submitted 28 days ago • 0 comments

A federal regulator recommends using automation to speed interconnection: A FERC commissioner said that automation software took just ten days to reproduce an interconnection cluster study for renewables projects that had taken two years of human labor to complete. (My latest for PV Magazine USA)

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

A federal grid planning authority could counter utility incentives to stall transmission, a law professor has proposed. As an alternative, she proposed near-term measures in that direction. (My latest story for PV Magazine USA) @shelley-w.bsky.social

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments

Eliminating tax credits would reduce #solar and #wind deployment by half, says Brattle, in a report prepared for ConservAmerica. (My latest story for PV Magazine USA)

submitted 37 days ago • 0 comments

Massachusetts will pilot vehicle-grid integration statewide: Owners of an eligible electric vehicle could receive one of 100 free bidirectional chargers plus compensation for participating. The state plans to prepare a V2X guidebook aimed at scaling the pilot program. #EnergySky

submitted 55 days ago • 0 comments

Tax "luxury emissions" from private jets, mega-SUVs, yachts, and "multiple mansions," say law professors Shellley Welton and Clint Wallace. One-page abstract is not paywalled.

submitted 56 days ago • 0 comments

Consumers will pay billions due to “very slow” interconnection of new generators, nearly all renewables, in the PJM grid, says a study by Grid Strategies. (My latest story for PV Magazine USA) #EnergySky

submitted 57 days ago • 0 comments

Solar-friendly policies that states can pursue to control the cost of electricity include demand flexibility, advanced conductors and virtual power plants, as well as lesser-known approaches, says RMI. (My latest story for PV Magazine USA) @rockymtninst.bsky.social #EnergySky

submitted 58 days ago • 1 comment

A National Park Service police officer rescued someone I love from a life-threatening situation. #FedLove

submitted 60 days ago • 0 comments

States that adopt recent building energy codes save more energy: A report highlights the increasing benefits of building energy efficiency codes, and maps the states that are adopting them. Building energy efficiency is a key element of a least-cost 100% renewables grid, NREL has found. #EnergySky

submitted 63 days ago • 2 comments

Enhanced geothermal projects could scale greatly as costs decline: A research team predicts a significant near-term energy contribution from enhanced #geothermal projects, which could provide “stable baseload and potentially dispatchable electricity.” (My latest story for PV Magazine USA) #EnergySky

submitted 65 days ago • 0 comments

New York could reach 8 GW of flexible electricity demand by 2040, helping balance renewables. Savings due to flexible demand could approach $3 billion per year by 2040, says a study from The Brattle Group. My latest story for PV Magazine USA #EnergySky

submitted 70 days ago • 0 comments

Large batteries with grid-forming inverters can increase renewables hosting capacity: System-wide adoption of grid-forming battery energy storage systems would improve grid stability and maximize system hosting capacity for solar and wind generation, researchers said. #EnergySky

submitted 72 days ago • 1 comment

A Rural Energy for America grantee reports federal non-payment for 2024 work: “Consider us the canary in the coal mine,” says a statement from Zero Emissions Northwest. (My latest for PV Magazine USA) #EnergySky #InflationReductionAct #BipartisanInfrastructureLaw #ExecutiveOrder

submitted 80 days ago • 0 comments

Transmission planning by the federally owned utility TVA can bring more low-cost solar and wind power to customers, and Congress can guide the utility in that direction, renewables trade groups say. (My latest for PV Magazine USA) #EnergySky @acore-org.bsky.social @simonmahan.bsky.social

submitted 80 days ago • 0 comments

@benwikler.bsky.social Can you recommend a year-round organizing manual that Democrats in other states can use?

submitted 81 days ago • 0 comments

Churches become solar-plus-storage resilience hubs in Louisiana: To help save lives when a hurricane strikes, churches in Louisiana are installing solar-plus-storage so they may provide essential services during a power outage. (My latest for PV Magazine USA) #EnergySky

submitted 83 days ago • 1 comment

Strategies for charging EVs with solar, boosting demand for solar power: More solar power would be used to charge electric vehicles if inexpensive level-1 chargers were deployed at workplaces, and rate design favored daytime charging, a study says. (My latest for PV Mag USA) #EnergySky #EVcharging

submitted 87 days ago • 1 comment

Indiana utility favors managed EV charging once 5% of customers have EV chargers: my latest for PV Mag USA #EnergySky

submitted 92 days ago • 0 comments

A Department of Energy roadmap presents 39 ways to improve interconnection of distributed solar and storage. DOE plans to offer funding support to collaborative teams working to implement the solutions. #EnergySky #DERs #SmartInverters #FlexibleInterconnection #ProcessAutomation

submitted 93 days ago • 1 comment

Berkeley Lab’s CalFlexHub says global adoption of the communications method #OpenADR 3.0 can foster a transition from event-based demand response to continuous price-based demand flexibility—increasing demand for renewable power at sunny and windy times. (My latest for PV Mag USA.) #energysky

submitted 104 days ago • 1 comment

Half of distribution transformers are approaching end of life. Buyers face waiting times and higher prices, as do solar developers needing similar step-up transformers. Distributed solar can extend the useful life of the transformers, says an NREL report. (My latest for PV Magazine USA) #energysky

submitted 107 days ago • 0 comments

The clean energy legacy of Jimmy Carter: The world lost a forward-thinking clean energy proponent, who 44 years ago recommended a solar strategy to move the U.S. toward energy security by using abundant, clean energy sources. (My editor's story at PV Magazine USA) #energysky @solaranne.bsky.social

submitted 115 days ago • 0 comments

High-solar microgrids could power new datacenters used to train artificial intelligence models, researchers found. My latest story for PV Magazine USA. @scalemicrogrids.bsky.social @hausfath.bsky.social @duncamp.bsky.social @nanr.bsky.social #energysky

submitted 125 days ago • 1 comment

By using a novel and “robust” approach to planning for new renewable and storage capacity to meet future energy demand, stakeholders can identify low-cost portfolios that can be quickly tested against various cost scenarios, said Derek Stenclik of Telos Energy. #energysky

submitted 127 days ago • 0 comments

To improve renewable energy siting, the U.S. Department of Energy seeks permitting experts to provide technical assistance to state siting collaboratives. DOE expects to fund each collaborative, and to support additional collaboratives in other states. #EnergySky

submitted 136 days ago • 0 comments

Here's how my state's Democrats could copy Wisconsin Democrats’ year-round organizing strategy. Hints: inspirational leadership, increased staffing, empowered volunteers organized into teams, fundraising - and ambition! @benwikler.bsky.social

submitted 139 days ago • 0 comments

A Virginia proposal would give the state a role in siting solar and storage over 20 MW. The proposal calls for creating a Virginia advisory board that would regularize permitting of large solar and storage projects, to help guide the state toward meeting its clean energy goals. My latest for PV Mag.

submitted 142 days ago • 0 comments

The Maine Governor’s Energy Office invites comments on how the state may best meet its energy system goals, including growth of distributed energy resources. The office is not pursuing a distribution system operator as a means to meet those goals.

submitted 146 days ago • 1 comment

As Texas is quickly adding solar, wind and storage to its grid by using a relatively simple interconnection process, 24 industry participants have expressed support for the use of a similarly streamlined process across the nation. (My story for PV Mag USA re: an analysis by @tnorris.bsky.social)

submitted 156 days ago • 0 comments

500 GW of solar could interconnect at existing fossil-fired generators: Fossil generators sharing their point of interconnection with renewable generators could be a “mainstream strategy” for integrating solar, wind and storage “at speed and scale,” say four researchers. (My story in PV Mag USA)

submitted 162 days ago • 0 comments

“Too few entities” in the U.S. have adopted a global standard for transmission-connected solar, wind and storage projects that would prevent future large-scale grid disturbance events, says a brief from the Energy Systems Integration Group (ESIG). pv-magazine-usa.com/2024/10/30/e...

submitted 165 days ago • 0 comments