Brendan Pierpont
@brendan.bsky.social
Energy and climate nerd. Electricity @energyinnovation.bsky.social. Views are my own.
Sherco Solar didn't just replace a coal plant — it hijacked its golden ticket, using the retiring facility's grid connection to skip a transmission queue that currently holds more proposed capacity than every operating power plant in America combined. #energysky www.autonocion.com/us/minnesota...
Minnesota just plugged a 710-megawatt solar farm into a coal plant that once burned 30,000 tons a day, the two sharing wires until the last boiler dies in 2030 — and one retired coal unit will keep sp...
Retirement does not mean the old hardware stops working entirely, either. One of the retiring units is being converted into a synchronous condenser, a huge
autonocion.com
This is a great data visualization of how regional grids are getting cleaner over time (or not...)
John Bistline@bistline.bsky.social · 7d agoNot every grid is fading. Texas went the other way: clean won 8% of days in 2019, 56% so far in 2026. Clean Energy Stripes are now live, an interactive site covering different U.S. grids, plus open-source code so anyone can make their own: johnbistline.com/clean-energy...
“Affordable” and “invest in the grid” get treated as opposites. They’re not — if you get the sequencing right. A thread on how growth, efficiency, and smarter equipment can lower bills instead of raising them. 🧵
Evergreen Action@evergreenaction.bsky.social · 2w agoAffordability vs. climate is a false choice, and 11 states are already proving it. Cheaper power. More homes. Cheaper ways to get around. Less pollution. New from Evergreen Collaborative, a cross-state playbook for legislators, govs, and regulators: 🔗
New report from @bipartisanpolicy.org draws on roundtables with over 150 stakeholders to identify key issues and potential solutions to community impacts of data centers. bipartisanpolicy.org/report/key-c...
Key Considerations for Data Center Development
The Bipartisan Policy Center convened more than 150 participants to surface the concerns driving data center debates, distilling five key considerations—from transparency to power and water to economi...
bipartisanpolicy.org
Trump's Energy Department is taking lazy swipes at solar for not working at night. Meanwhile, during heatwaves last week, solar helped Texas get through the day. It topped 40% of electricity supply at times during the state's record demand days. www.canarymedia.com/articles/sol...
Duh, solar power doesn't work at night — but it excels during the day
Trump’s Department of Energy bashes solar panels for not producing 24/7, but the renewable energy source just got Texas through a heat wave.
canarymedia.com
The extraordinary wildfire outbreak across Oregon, eastern Washington, and southern British Columbia has become even more alarming amid critical fire weather conditions. Over 500,000 acres have already burned in OR & WA alone, and that number could be >1 million acres by Mon.
Texas's ERCOT electricity market hit a record electricity peak demand yesterday, and it was kind of a non-event thanks to abundant solar and energy storage. Graphs from @gridstatus.io
Insane new research. Scientists gave asthma patients free electric stoves to replace their gas stoves, then checked to see if symptoms improved. Not only did symptoms improve, ditching gas was *better than medicine.* Details in today's newsletter: www.climatecoloredgoggles.com/p/electric-s...
Researchers used electric stoves to treat asthma. It worked.
The latest evidence that gas is bad for your health.
climatecoloredgoggles.com
What if a nuclear power plant operator blamed a meltdown on a nuclear reaction gone rogue? www.npr.org/2026/07/23/g...
OpenAI blamed a hacking event on its AI models gone rogue. Here is what to know
The incident is stirring debates over the need for stronger AI guardrails and the extent to which AI agents are capable of acting on their own.
npr.org
Pretty cool and dramatic NASA animation showing the long-range transport of 2026 Canadian wildfire smoke.
‘The cost of protecting Oracle Corp.’s debt against default reached a fresh multi-year high on Monday while its existing bonds sold off, as doubts grew over whether the company’s massive investments in artificial intelligence will pay off.’ www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
We didn't previously integrate wildfire-smoke costs into the supposed cost of climate change for the US, and it turns out to be bigger than all those other costs combined. Oops! Gosh I wonder if we're underestimating anything else. Probably shoulda done something about this. Ah well.
What Worries Me Most About This Wildfire Smoke
We didn’t know days like this could happen. Then we learned how bad they really are.
heatmap.news
In case you missed it, @brendan.bsky.social, @michelle-solomon.bsky.social and I just published an @energyinnovation.org report showing that the U.S. can save $5 billion per year by meeting load growth with clean power and demand-side flexibility instead of keeping old coal and gas plants running. 🧵
Let The Sun In: Clean Energy Is The Cheapest Way To Meet Rising Demand
Meeting U.S. demand growth with fossil fuels will add $29.7 billion to customer bills per year by 2030, clean energy can do it for less.
energyinnovation.org
A BIS analysis argues the AI buildout is outpacing prior infrastructure booms and warns, “The larger the boom, the deeper the eventual bust.” Their model suggests that investment is 50% above the efficient level. www.bis.org/publ/work136...
PJM's capacity market prices at the cap, again. Clear that the market is failing to deliver new resources with high prices alone. insidelines.pjm.com/pjm-capacity...
PJM Capacity Auction Procures 138,318 MW of Generation Resources as Work Continues To Address Growing Electricity Demand | PJM Inside Lines
insidelines.pjm.com
Google has a huge opportunity to build clean energy at scale to power this project (located in the middle of some of the nation's best wind resources), but that doesn't currently appear to be the plan. www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/goog...
Google is customer behind 2.7GW data center campus near Cheyenne, Wyoming
Project renamed as "Project Tembo"
datacenterdynamics.com
Also a good analogy for electric utility regulation.
Niki@nikitonsky.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 3w agoTrying to figure out what’s clickable in modern UI
I missed this excellent piece a few months ago from @timhade.bsky.social on why meeting data center demand with off-grid gas plants is way more complicated than many assume. steelforfuel.substack.com/p/data-cente...
Data centers need the grid — so we have to make the grid better
A guest post from Tim Hade, CEO of Brightfield Infrastructure
steelforfuel.substack.com
WoodMac makes the case for why we're in for a future with higher natural gas prices. www.woodmac.com/horizons/why...
Defying gravity: why US Henry Hub natural gas prices are set to rise | Wood Mackenzie
Henry Hub is entering a new era. Over the next decade, we forecast a sustained increase in Henry Hub prices – approaching a real US$5/mmbtu by 2035 ‒ as gas demand surges across the power, industrial ...
woodmac.com
🔌💡 Clean energy can reliably meet the American economy’s insatiable demand for #electricity, at lower costs than if we primarily rely on aging coal plants and volatile natural gas. thepowerline.substack.com/p/clean-ener... by @brendan.bsky.social
Clean Energy is the Cheapest Way to Serve Surging Electricity Demand
We can build a cheap, reliable and lower-risk grid, but we need to start now
thepowerline.substack.com
US data center construction reached another new record high in official data released today, hitting a pace of nearly $60B/yr (and this only includes data center facilities, not the expensive computers within) Spending's up 23% over the last year and 328% since ChatGPT's launch
Texas has no clean energy mandate. It just beat fossil fuels with wind, solar, nuclear, and hydro on 62% of days this year. Nobody told the grid to do this, just the market.
