I'd be interested in any other reports on this topic, but for a very recent update on the rebuilding of Lahaina, read this, from a right-wing think-tank:
Maui went from wildfires to purgatory. Here’s why it struggles to rebuild.
I found this conversation impossible to follow. Most of it was too vague and abstract.
We know that solar+batteries is now the cheapest way to make power by far. What, specifically, makes Hawaii different from other states? I know that something like 1/3 to 1/2 of the houses have solar, and a huge number of business as well. (You can see this in google maps). What was done to make this happen? In Pennsylvania we have net metering, which, with a small solar array of 13 panels zeros out my electric bill. Yet here only about 5% of houses have solar? Something like that? And almost none of the businesses.
I listened to at least half of this podcast, then killed it in frustration. Just too fucking abstract.
I'm from PA. I too, found this hard to follow. Especially in the so-called "solutions/win win data center vs. ratepayers" (my words). kept wondering if the PA General Assembly would ever get on board with clean electricity given our very cozy commitment to fracking. We don't have community solar or balcony solar. Would either be better or a complement to net metering?
Gotta say I find it hard to congratulate anyone from Hawaii. In the pod it's said that Hawaii has mostly oil-fueled electricity, but it had much cheaper coal electricity until very recently. At least on Oahu, by far the biggest market, they closed the coal power plant before they built enough wind and solar and batteries to run on minimal fossil backup. The rooftop solar was over-compensated through net metering, adding to rate increases.
Canary recently ran a pretty good summary https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/liquefied-natural-gas/hawaii-clean-energy-natural-gas. It's a good example of what the wind industry says, "Targets ain't turbines." Somewhere else I read a detailed look at the extra costs of compliance and permitting and the crap shoot that is, which leads to "risk premiums." Some developers have pulled out even when they seemed to have permission and connections.
I don't think they delve deeply enough into the motivations and delusions of the opponents of wind and solar farms. Some have said Hawaii could get a lot more power from parking lot and commercial roof solar, but they need to contend with seismic and typhoon resistant structures in addition to all the nonsense the feds are doing to raise module prices. Hence ending up at not-very-"affordable" electric costs like $0.30+/kWh wholesale, more with batteries.
Recently some other pod featured a Chinese engineer who succinctly stated something like, "You need to build the new clean generation before you can close down the old dirty generation."
Senator Lee will be happy to hear that “PG&E Unveils First-of-its-kind Monitoring Hub That Helped Prevent 17 Wildfires and Over a Thousand Outages” as part of their ongoing efforts to reduce fires caused by their equipment.
Hopefully the CEC, CPUC and CAISO will be able to evaluate if PG&E's new capabilities/system(s) would have led to a "Good Catch" if they were operational back on September 6, 2022 when the Mosquito Fire started.
Great conversation. I'm sceptical about the "no need to say climate because... economics" argument because of the billions shoveled into fossil fuel subsidies. It's nowhere near a level playing field. I think the climate hushers are conveniently forgetting this
The thing that concerns me about sodium batteries is that sodium is so cheap that recycling will become an expense, not a cost-saving strategy. Aqueous zinc batteries share low-cost advantages of sodium batteries, but with some additional benefits for BESS installations, and the zinc is worth the recycling effort.
I'd be interested in any other reports on this topic, but for a very recent update on the rebuilding of Lahaina, read this, from a right-wing think-tank:
Maui went from wildfires to purgatory. Here’s why it struggles to rebuild.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/07/15/rebuilding-after-maui-wildfires-complicated-by-red-tape/
I found this conversation impossible to follow. Most of it was too vague and abstract.
We know that solar+batteries is now the cheapest way to make power by far. What, specifically, makes Hawaii different from other states? I know that something like 1/3 to 1/2 of the houses have solar, and a huge number of business as well. (You can see this in google maps). What was done to make this happen? In Pennsylvania we have net metering, which, with a small solar array of 13 panels zeros out my electric bill. Yet here only about 5% of houses have solar? Something like that? And almost none of the businesses.
I listened to at least half of this podcast, then killed it in frustration. Just too fucking abstract.
--Danny Sleator (paying Volts member)
I'm from PA. I too, found this hard to follow. Especially in the so-called "solutions/win win data center vs. ratepayers" (my words). kept wondering if the PA General Assembly would ever get on board with clean electricity given our very cozy commitment to fracking. We don't have community solar or balcony solar. Would either be better or a complement to net metering?
Gotta say I find it hard to congratulate anyone from Hawaii. In the pod it's said that Hawaii has mostly oil-fueled electricity, but it had much cheaper coal electricity until very recently. At least on Oahu, by far the biggest market, they closed the coal power plant before they built enough wind and solar and batteries to run on minimal fossil backup. The rooftop solar was over-compensated through net metering, adding to rate increases.
Canary recently ran a pretty good summary https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/liquefied-natural-gas/hawaii-clean-energy-natural-gas. It's a good example of what the wind industry says, "Targets ain't turbines." Somewhere else I read a detailed look at the extra costs of compliance and permitting and the crap shoot that is, which leads to "risk premiums." Some developers have pulled out even when they seemed to have permission and connections.
I don't think they delve deeply enough into the motivations and delusions of the opponents of wind and solar farms. Some have said Hawaii could get a lot more power from parking lot and commercial roof solar, but they need to contend with seismic and typhoon resistant structures in addition to all the nonsense the feds are doing to raise module prices. Hence ending up at not-very-"affordable" electric costs like $0.30+/kWh wholesale, more with batteries.
Recently some other pod featured a Chinese engineer who succinctly stated something like, "You need to build the new clean generation before you can close down the old dirty generation."
Senator Lee will be happy to hear that “PG&E Unveils First-of-its-kind Monitoring Hub That Helped Prevent 17 Wildfires and Over a Thousand Outages” as part of their ongoing efforts to reduce fires caused by their equipment.
https://www.pgecorp.com/news/news-details.4935218a-5c4f-4433-b31d-78c87ff8f353.html
Hopefully the CEC, CPUC and CAISO will be able to evaluate if PG&E's new capabilities/system(s) would have led to a "Good Catch" if they were operational back on September 6, 2022 when the Mosquito Fire started.
https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/news-and-updates/all-news/cpuc-staff-issue-proposal-penalizing-pacific-gas-and-electric-22-million-for-2022-placer-county-fire
Great conversation. I'm sceptical about the "no need to say climate because... economics" argument because of the billions shoveled into fossil fuel subsidies. It's nowhere near a level playing field. I think the climate hushers are conveniently forgetting this
This article in Nature seems to be more positive news.
Beyond lithium: how sodium-ion batteries could change the world
The thing that concerns me about sodium batteries is that sodium is so cheap that recycling will become an expense, not a cost-saving strategy. Aqueous zinc batteries share low-cost advantages of sodium batteries, but with some additional benefits for BESS installations, and the zinc is worth the recycling effort.