EIA: "Utility-scale battery storage capacity in the United States increased significantly during the last three years, with an annual average growth rate of 70%." www.eia.gov/todayinenerg... 🔌💡
Jason Burwen
@jburwen.bsky.social
Energy storage, power markets, clean energy transition, & public policy are my jam. VP Policy & Strategy at GridStor. Appreciator of fine memes, TILs on history and science, and think pieces on generative AI.
@calenergy.bsky.social: "Today, total battery storage capacity is 21,112 MW, an increase of more than 2,500% in just seven and a half years. That’s equivalent to roughly one-third of the statewide peak demand." www.energy.ca.gov/news/2026-08... 🔌💡
Just finished Shroud, the latest by @aptshadow.bsky.social. Fantastic world building, delightful interrogation of a species woth unique sensoriun. My favorite since Children of Time! (Also a fun reminiscence with the pack-wolf beings in Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep.)
Australia's latest Integrated System Plan is out--seeking 36 GW of #EnergyStorage by 2030, 17 GW of flex gas. The NEM has been a 33-35 GW peaking system in recent years. Australia will be the first country to rely predominantly on batteries for grid reliability. www.aemo.com.au/-/media/file...
aemo.com.au
Fantastic illustration of how batteries have completely overtaken gas in California www.eia.gov/todayinenerg...
Seems like the data center construction boom (and related infrastructures) is both creating inflationary pressures that convince the FOMC to keep rates higher AND is expanding supply of long-term debt that raises long-term yields. Are AI data centers making buying a house more costly for everyone?
Are AI company & data center economics so lucrative that they are insensitive to rising interest rates? If rising interest rates cause other capital investment to slow, would that push even more capital into AI & data centers than would otherwise occur?(Like a "Giffen good" but for capex)
Transmission + batteries, getting the job done
Brian DiNunno@bdinunno.bsky.social · 3mo agoThen there is what happened just last night on California's grid with the arrival of the extra SunZia wind power. Those natural gas plants that wait poised to surge at sunset ... just weren't needed. 1.5 GW of gas during the day to be ready went to 1 GW at sunset with 9 GW of batteries. Amazing.
"A total of 112 gigawatts of battery storage capacity was installed worldwide in 2025 — a record high that represents a tenfold increase over the amount constructed in 2021." www.canarymedia.com/articles/bat... via @danmccarthy.bsky.social 🔌💡
The world is installing grid batteries at a blistering pace
A total of 112 gigawatts of batteries were deployed around the world in 2025 — 10 times the amount added just four years prior.
canarymedia.com
Watched Tremors as a 7 or 8 year old. Scared to touch the ground for days afterward.
Watched Tremors as a 7 or 7 year old. Did not want to touch the ground for a few days after.
1/ The world is facing a 'ticking time bomb' from its supply of oil, according to a briefing note from JP Morgan. Physical scarcity of oil is about to unfold across the globe, spreading sequentially through April from east to west, causing major economic disruption worldwide. ⬇️
Another massive battery storage record in California (CAISO) yesterday, March 29 🔋 At 7pm, batteries reached 12.3 GW of output, meeting 42.8% of demand! And it's not just a short peak anymore. Batteries stayed above 20% of grid supply from 5.50pm to 9.35pm, almost four hours.
‘Sodium ion batteries, which can be made from seawater’ ‘Less dense’ ‘2026 CATL intends to mass-produce Naxtra, sodium-ion battery’ ‘BYD soon capable of 50 GWh/yr’ ‘lithium-ion ~0.4 yuan/wh, sodium ~0.6 yuan…Our goal is to hit 0.5 yuan this year’ ‘perform better in the cold’ ‘Charge faster’
In China, battery makers bet big on sodium in move away from critical minerals
As the rest of the world tries to catch up with China in making lithium-ion batteries, Chinese manufacturers have already moved into a new battleground: sodium-ion, a technology that is set to revolut...
reuters.com
The US war of choice feels very much like COVID news in early 2020. An enormous amount of global disruption waits for us in coming months and we are doing...very little in reaction?
All of this, on why a US intention of limited war will invariably expand into a structural commitment: “Strategically, it converts episodic volatility into chronic instability.” escalationtrap.substack.com/p/the-smart-...
The Smart Bomb Trap
How Precision Strikes Expand the Wars They Aim to Contain
escalationtrap.substack.com
The USA should not initiate a war of choice with Iran. Have we learned nothing from the lies and abject waste of lives and resources that was the Iraq War
Rystad says: "Battery storage is no longer just enabling renewables — it is actively replacing gas generation." Batteries globally will jump 136 GW/350 GWh in 2026, ~2X 74 GW added in 2024! More than 250 GW total was installed globally as of 2025 www.rystadenergy.com/insights/ene... #energysky
Holy smokes, the US added over 15 GW of #EnergyStorage in 2025, according to EIA 860m data. That's more than gas (5.1 GW) and wind (5.8 GW) combined!
🔋CATL’s Tectrans sodium-ion batteries to be equipped in GAC’s electric vehicles. The 45kWh battery pack can be charged in extreme cold, as low as -30°C. CATL is pursuing a “dual star” trend, developing we both lithium- and sodium-ion batteries. #batteries #battchat #greensky 🔌💡
2) Thanks to @gridstatus.io we can also see that the battery charge to load ratio is near 40%. This was unthinkable a few years ago. #energysky
1) Battery storage on #CAISO is now being regularly charged at over 10 GW. Source: www.caiso.com/todays-outlo... #energysky
Reposting this for the sonic riches. And my own contribution: huH music's 1995 techno compilation was my entry into electronic music. Prodigy, Future Sound of London, and KMFDM! (The Fairground remix from Simply Red was also pretty decent but not a fit) www.discogs.com/release/3175...
Various - hu H Techno Issue
View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 1995 CD release of "hu H Techno Issue" on Discogs.
discogs.com
Mark Brown@markoneinfour.bsky.social · 8mo agoHello. I would like to celebrate the lost art of the compilation album as an eye and ear opening path into pleasures previously unknown. It might be a sampler, it might be a mix album but it's a person's singular vision of a particular genre or theme. Thread below of some favourites
Batteries are going to get a lot cheaper Gas won't California invests big in battery storage leaving rolling blackouts behind California now has around 14GW / 50GWh of utility storage and another 3GW of domestic and commercial storage www.latimes.com/environment/...
California invests big in battery energy storage — and leaves rolling blackouts behind
Batteries that pair with clean solar and wind energy or just bolster electrical grids in general have completely taken off and are making a big difference on the California grid.
latimes.com
Prof Ray Wills@profraywills.futuresmart.com.au · 8mo agoIn no single scenario of future energy, from IEA, EIA, World Bank, BP, Exxon, or BNEF, does renewables growth diminish In every scenario wind & solar is projected to grow and replace coal and gas In every revised scenario, it only gets faster Even mine (Oh, and batteries will come faster again)
Good morning with good news: ERCOT (Texas) solar rose 36X, from 1 GW in 2017 to 36 GW in 2025! Solar may be ~44 GW in 2026 & ~58 GW in 2027! Battery capacity surged 15X from ~1 GW in 2021 to ~15 GW in 2025. It may be 24 GW in 2026 and 32 GW in 2027! WOW! H/T @douglewin.bsky.social #energysky
As of 5pm today, batteries were the largest single source of power for the Californian grid www.caiso.com/todays-outlo...
