Volts community thread #29
Open to all free & paid subscribers.
David’s Notes
1. It feels weird not to share this with Volts listeners, so I’m sharing:
I’m down in Virginia this week for his funeral. (You are not obliged to email your condolences; if you do, I might not be able to thank you individually, so I will just pre-thank you all, here, for your thoughts and prayers. I appreciate all of you.)
The only thing that’s felt weirder than working is not working, so I’m going to send the email below anyway.
2. 🎤 I apologize that there was no community thread last month, but April was kind of crazy here at Volts: 10 episodes, with 11.5 hours of talking. I think that is a record. Is anyone actually listening to all these pods? Is it even possible to do so? Should I make fewer?
3. 🥂 Some of you may remember a 2023 episode with Maryland Delegate Lorig Charkoudian, on the subject of offshore wind. It turns out she remains a listener and a fan, and she recently emailed me with great news:
I appreciate your obsession with data centers using VPP’s as the way to meet their capacity obligation. I wanted to let you know that my bill on data center clean capacity was integrated into the Speaker’s Utility Relief Act and passed this Session. It creates a fast track for data centers that bring their own clean capacity, including VPPs in the load deliverability area. I think we may be the first or second state to put this into statute. I hope others follow.
Thank you to Delegate Charkoudian for her leadership on this issue.
And thank you, subscribers, for supporting this work. Volts is entirely community-funded and I think we’re making a difference.
4. 🔋 Want something to feel optimistic about? In Queensland, Australia, fossil gas power plants have long been kept alive and solvent by the fact that they provide almost all of the energy peaks. Thing is, though, alongside the rapid growth of renewables in the state has come rapid growth in batteries. Now batteries are more cheaply and reliably providing that peak power and gas is on the decline. Look at this amazing graphic:
This change occurred over two years. The same changes are coming to grids everywhere, including ours. The faster we install batteries everywhere, the faster it will happen.
5. ✅ Community comment(s) of the month: Prompted by the retail pricing episode with Bruce Nordman, Don Jackson developed a CA price server that some energy nerds may be interested in:
Monthly Thread — How It Works
This is your monthly opportunity to share! Use the comments section in this community thread to:
CLIMATE JOBS & OPPORTUNITIES: Share climate jobs/opportunities
SHARE WORK, ASK FOR HELP, FIND COLLABORATORS: Share your climate-related work, ask for help, or find collaborators
CLIMATE EVENTS & MEETUPS: Share climate-related events and meetups
EVERYTHING ELSE: Discuss David’s Notes or anything else climate-related
QUESTIONS: Ask a question to the community or for an upcoming bonus episode (anyone can ask a question but bonus episodes are a paid-sub-only perk). Don’t be afraid to answer one another’s questions!
🚨 To keep organized, please only “REPLY” directly under one of Sam’s headline comments. Anything inappropriate, spammy, etc may be deleted. Be nice! Check out our Community Guidelines.
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