willparker.bsky.social
Artist, dog lover, and avid reader.
267 posts
77 followers
479 following
Active Commenter
comment in response to
post
But it's full self driving needless bureaucracy this time. More epic.
comment in response to
post
The plan seems pretty clear: fire everyone while ensuring the talent pool for rehires is limited to spineless sycophants who will meekly comply with illegal requests and tolerate constant threats from capricious fools.
comment in response to
post
If I was designing a workplace V2G scheme from scratch, it would use a multipoint V2G-DC scheme where each EVPE is DC-DC, which combine at a central inverter for AC conversion. UL1741 has a ton of control and relaying requirements, adding and verifying that in every vehicle is asking for trouble
comment in response to
post
Workplace V2G makes more sense for fleets than commuter cars - you need capacity/energy most when commuters are on the road or at home, implementing onboard grid-tie inverters is simpler if they're all ford transits or blue birds. But you would need to overbuild charge capacity to recharge faster.
comment in response to
post
Good point. Even there, I'm still not convinced AC makes enough sense to justify all the extra design, equipment and regulatory confusion that goes with it.
There's not much cost delta between DC-EVPE and AC-EVPE units, and in a large install you also want charge load mgmt, adding complexity
comment in response to
post
Not a good sign when the head of the military could have chosen the tried-and-true "lieutenant dan" sobriquet, but opted for the biblical ur-psychopath reference instead.
comment in response to
post
Seems like the new NEMA standard is basically them explaining this point for inspectors & utilities.
It's great that V2G-AC is included in the standards and all, but I'd be willing to bet you'll never see such a creature in the wild - it's effectively just a red herring to confuse the AHJs.
comment in response to
post
Most utilities already have programs for hybrid solar inverters with batteries. There's no need for utilities to treat EVs differently. There's no need to put the inverters and grid-tie smarts into the car. The UL EVPE standard has been out for years now. Just unlock the dang cars already.
comment in response to
post
The longer it takes for V2G to become widespread, the more I think we're going about it all wrong.
Take a tiny 400 volt stationary battery that's already grid-tied. Add a DC charge cable and 2 contactors to the battery box. Switch from stationary to vehicle battery whenever it plugs in.
comment in response to
post
He's basically the human embodiment of a monkey's paw.
Like, there's a non-zero chance that his hubris in slashing NASA leads to an asteroid-caused mass extinction event in 7 years.
comment in response to
post
Over its lifetime, this facility will produce enough energy to displace 30 million barrels of oil
comment in response to
post
This happens in every leadership race, and a lot of MP/MPP/MLA nomination races.
It's long past time to hand over adjudication to Elections Canada. The parties have shown again and again and again that they can't be trusted to run a fair contest. At a minimum, entry fees must be refunded.
comment in response to
post
Might be a good idea for Canada to start recruiting US eggs-pats.
Especially those with strong scientific, economic, military, and pandemic prevention expertise who were fired by the Trump admin. With a strong incentive to resist returning while that regime is in power...
comment in response to
post
Come visit Canada on a cultural eggs-change! We still have affordable egg at favourable exchange rates.
Try our famous "eggs benedict", named after Canadian folk hero Benedict Arnold.
We will be very hospitable but maybe a bit sassy given the circumstances.
comment in response to
post
Agreed. There should be multiple rate options.
It just seems like a real regulatory failure when a jurisdiction like California can't offer a reasonable rate option where solar+batteries give customers cheaper than retail avg costs while flattening the duck as much as possible.
comment in response to
post
That's a good model as long as demand charges are manageable, e.g. averaged over multiple hours and several peaks. Having high penalties for a single high load hour makes it hard to build a business case for batteries.
comment in response to
post
Yeah, it's not an easy model to get right. There's likely a sweet spot where utilities use their natural monopoly to provide reliability services while customers get fair pricing for supplying a substantial amount of energy (and capacity). Symbiosis.
Few if any utilities have gotten there yet.
comment in response to
post
There could be solar-only TOU rates, though, or ones tailored to equalize costs for low income customers. e.g. 10c cheaper midday and 8c more at peak, with hours adjusted so average net bill change is zero.
There are ways to mitigate, I just think utilities/PUCs don't recognize the benefits.
comment in response to
post
So the utilities throw up excessive 'trade barriers', and everyone ends up paying more than they should.
comment in response to
post
Competition and trade tend to lower costs for everyone, but the utility model is built around monopolistic assumptions and regulators haven't figured out how to assess/achieve the full benefits of prosumer tech yet.
comment in response to
post
Agreed in principle, but the utilities are also driving up customer costs by rates that reduce effective, peak-minimizing battery use and excessively limit solar competition.
Utility analysis also completely ignores customer savings behind the meter, which reduces overall electricity costs.
comment in response to
post
That cost shift is always going to exist even if there's zero compensation for exports, unless the utility drops midday prices closer to wholesale costs.
comment in response to
post
That's a very utility-centred perspective on it.
Only part of the generation is 'purchased' by the utility, a good part of it is produced/used behind the meter, at lower cost than the utility.
Fair competition, part of the 'cost shift', is just solar supplying cheaper power than the utility.
comment in response to
post
The headline figure, clean energy's contribution to China's GDP, is 1.9 trillion USD
Canada's GDP is 2.2 trillion USD.
China's clean energy economy will be bigger than our entire economy this year or next.
comment in response to
post
Investment in clean energy reached 6.8tn yuan ($940bn), close to the global total put into fossil fuels in 2024, and of a similar scale to the overall size of Saudi Arabia’s economy.
comment in response to
post
Fair enough. I'm optimistic that supportive rates can drive investment into better programming, but it's hard to prove that without the rates in place.
Data vis is key...a daily graph showing charging and discharging price differentials would go a long way to showing the value.
comment in response to
post
I'm picturing a predictive algo based on historical load - so if peak use is typically 8-12kWh and your battery has 15kWh, it might discharge at 150% of load, adjusting up or down towards the end of the peak so it gets as close as possible to full discharge at the end.
That boosts capacity 1.5x
comment in response to
post
Starting from that perspective, the key question is how to reduce daytime rates and the associated cost shifts without stopping solar uptake.
And the answer to that is raise peak rates proportionally, including exports, to encourage batteries to maximize peak supply and minimize solar oversupply
comment in response to
post
The most important point is that cost shifts are unavoidable as long as midday prices are high - because the first 1-2kW of solar is almost always self-consumed and costs 15c/kWh, vs 40c from the grid.
Even zero export compensation can't kill that competition. People will choose cheaper power.
comment in response to
post
We're mostly on the same page there, monthly/hourly price changes are crazy. Seasonal/thrice-daily is the way to go. Better to have predictable evening exports in June/July and lower payouts in Aug/Sept so you can set it & forget it and have more reliable capacity in midsummer heat waves.
comment in response to
post
Aaaand rates like this don't just encourage batteries, they would also make a great business case for thermal storage and other load shifting options.
comment in response to
post
It's not so much the import/export differential that encourages battery use; it's the charge/discharge differential.
You can make a good return charging from daytime imports and discharging to reduce evening imports if the TOU differential is high enough (and the utility lets you)
comment in response to
post
This still gives customers reasonable returns, but encourages more effective battery use, and cuts both utility peak costs & GHGs while slightly increasing utility revenue
As close to a win-win as you can get with rate design. At least, a lot better than the zero-sum status quo pushed by the IOUs
comment in response to
post
Alternate rates of 25c/-15c daytime, 70c/-30c night:
Customer would maximize daytime charge, let's say 20kWh, serve their day load from the grid, then discharge to serve peak load (half exported).
Net savings is $7, still decent, but the duck curve gets flattened by twice as much each direction.
comment in response to
post
Look at it this way:
A customer with 20kWh daytime solar and 10kWh daytime load, at prices of 40c/-5c daytime and 60c/-10c evening, should charge 10kWh in the day and discharge it in the evening. Net savings is $9.50 (no exports, ignoring losses), but still lots of excess solar.
Then compare...
comment in response to
post
The value of the power doesn't change much if it's consumed behind the meter or exported to the neighbourhood.
The rates focus too much on export/import rate differentials, not enough on time varying value.
comment in response to
post
NBT export prices are also too low for most of the year, they don't really reflect distribution capacity and GHG mitigation potential for displacing gas.
comment in response to
post
Daytime retail rate is too high and export rate too low. Bring them closer together and near the avoided cost and you get strong load shift incentives and cost shifts become much less likely.
With high daytime retail rates, you encourage more mini-scale, no battery 'free riders'
comment in response to
post
Most system costs are related to the usage in the few peak load hours of the year. For California, that's hot evenings when the sun sets early (generally in the fall).
So if daytime prices are low and peak prices are high, it encourages solar customers to use batteries to lower these costs.
comment in response to
post
In any case, the floggings will continue until the cost shift improves.
Or until someone comes up with rates that are actually cost-reflective, with higher fixed charges and stronger incentives for solar customers to reduce their capacity costs. NBT ain't it.
comment in response to
post
How can it possibly add up that the 15% of customers that have solar are subsidized by 21-27% of the remaining 85% of residential customers' bills?
comment in response to
post
This is absurd. First, cost shifts aren't part of the revenue requirement.
The revenue requirement is wires, poles, transformers, generation, salaries, liability payments, etc.
Second, cost shifts exist among lots of customer types, but they're only counting it for solar/low income customers.
comment in response to
post
Polysilicon, and even silver, aren't significant constraints on solar with current tech.
Perovskites and copper busbar tech will help ease those constraints, but even without them solar can achieve the necessary growth
comment in response to
post
Most people in general don't realize how far along the adoption curve we are.
The rate of solar installations has increased 600x since 2010. Without further increases, it's on track to supply half the world's electricity, and a further 5x increase would be enough to replace fossil fuels entirely.
comment in response to
post
I also noticed a strong similarity between Gorton and the Simplex default font in AutoCAD...which means it's still found on most architectural and engineering drawings to this day. Perhaps a legacy of the Leroy sets used in manual drafting?
comment in response to
post
Beautiful piece, thank you.
It might comfort you to know that Gorton engraved plates are still frequently installed in equipment rooms today. Find a maintenance worker with the keys, and there's a whole private Gorton collection in almost every building.
comment in response to
post
Vice-president J. Donald Bowman was only 7 years old when Pearl Jam's first record came out. Classic rock radio at the time was mostly 10-25 year old songs.
That was 34 years ago now...
comment in response to
post
The thing that really boggles my mind is that this is enough solar to fuel the world's transportation needs:
1.6GW solar = 45TWh expected lifetime generation
45TWh = 27.5 million boe
At a ~1:4 ratio of energy use in EVs vs. ICE, this has the same transport potential as 110M barrels of oil