I'm skeptical that typical residential & small business rate payers will ever be adequately informed, represented or served by any utility regulatory body. "Regulatory Capture by Shareholders" is the term that most accurately describes the status quo, and expecting it to somehow magically change seems foolish.
The best strategy I've seen for residential & small business rate payers is to create their own local town BYONCE on ridiculously under-utilized land. Build Your Own integrated solar farm right in town with a matrix of modular solar parking lot canopy microgrids, including on-site BESS & EV Chargers, at all large apartments, condos, shopping centers, business parks & various municipal facilities. Energy savings payback in 8 years. After that, sunshine's free for the next 20 years. Then, just replace the solar panels & inverters; modular canopy structures & conduits are good for 75 +years. All the local single family residential rate payers, with or without solar, can piggy-back on the microgrid matrix.
I realize this subject could probably use a couple podcasts, but would have been good to understand more about the back log. Why is there a backlog, what does cleaning out the backlog mean? What does it mean for new interconnection requests? How soon will additional generation get interconnected?
PJM is woefully behind on batteries and solar generation compared to others. It has a decent amount of wind. Maybe a follow-up at some point...
The whole discussion of the PJM capacity market really sidestepped how absolutely vital capacity accreditation is to the underlying structure and function of that market (and every capacity market). To get 100MW of accredited capacity, you'd need 1250MW of solar, or 244MW of onshore wind, or 105MW of nuclear, or 135MW of gas combined cycle, or 172MW of 4hr batteries. But those percentages change year to year since they're based on expected contribution during the system's periods of highest risk, which will change based on what's currently on the system.
This was sooo good. As a federal energy lobbyist, I’ve often lamented that Congress ceded so much authority to FERC (and through it, RTOs) so long ago that there’s no longer a meaningful statutory hook for new legislation to manage energy policy. To your question about some RTOs being better than others, things do seem to function best in SPP and ERCOT, while things go furthest off the rails with respect to capacity markets - ISO-NE had an even more restrictive MOPR before transitioning to a prompt seasonal market, now it leaves PJM as the last capacity market standing. I also appreciate the reminder that the capacity market started as a solution to the “missing money” problem, because a lot of people talk about it as the key to reliability, as if there’s no other way to manage resource adequacy.
It sure seems like "capacity auctions" are crap during periods with fast growth and when variable renewables could be paired with batteries. (IF, counties allow them.) Texas is not just "connect and manage," but it's an energy price/cost market, and I think those prices are even very locational in addition to time dependent.
I looked at EIA; TX has very little $/kWh change in the last few years despite what looks like faster load growth than states in the PJM. PJM can or has manipulated capacity factors and whatever to favor that wonderful FIRM power but sorry Chris Wright it ain't bringing "abundance" or "dominance," the way ERCOT solar, wind and batteries are working.
TX also does not allow counties to stop private landowners from installing solar and wind (and O&G), though the NY Times just framed such efforts in IL, NY, MI, etc. as liberal climate plans.
Good grief. these RTOs and FERC desperately need structural reform. It's bad enough when regulators are sourced from their own industries, only to thereafter return to those industries, let alone when they're currently working in those industries. The proportion of consumer advocates and representatives on the voting boards is criminally imbalanced.
If states pass laws to mandate cleaning up the grid, they need representation on the boards that determine when and how generators are integrated to the grid.
Is PJM an acronym? If so, for what?
Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection
I'm skeptical that typical residential & small business rate payers will ever be adequately informed, represented or served by any utility regulatory body. "Regulatory Capture by Shareholders" is the term that most accurately describes the status quo, and expecting it to somehow magically change seems foolish.
The best strategy I've seen for residential & small business rate payers is to create their own local town BYONCE on ridiculously under-utilized land. Build Your Own integrated solar farm right in town with a matrix of modular solar parking lot canopy microgrids, including on-site BESS & EV Chargers, at all large apartments, condos, shopping centers, business parks & various municipal facilities. Energy savings payback in 8 years. After that, sunshine's free for the next 20 years. Then, just replace the solar panels & inverters; modular canopy structures & conduits are good for 75 +years. All the local single family residential rate payers, with or without solar, can piggy-back on the microgrid matrix.
I realize this subject could probably use a couple podcasts, but would have been good to understand more about the back log. Why is there a backlog, what does cleaning out the backlog mean? What does it mean for new interconnection requests? How soon will additional generation get interconnected?
PJM is woefully behind on batteries and solar generation compared to others. It has a decent amount of wind. Maybe a follow-up at some point...
The whole discussion of the PJM capacity market really sidestepped how absolutely vital capacity accreditation is to the underlying structure and function of that market (and every capacity market). To get 100MW of accredited capacity, you'd need 1250MW of solar, or 244MW of onshore wind, or 105MW of nuclear, or 135MW of gas combined cycle, or 172MW of 4hr batteries. But those percentages change year to year since they're based on expected contribution during the system's periods of highest risk, which will change based on what's currently on the system.
What does PJM stand for?
This was sooo good. As a federal energy lobbyist, I’ve often lamented that Congress ceded so much authority to FERC (and through it, RTOs) so long ago that there’s no longer a meaningful statutory hook for new legislation to manage energy policy. To your question about some RTOs being better than others, things do seem to function best in SPP and ERCOT, while things go furthest off the rails with respect to capacity markets - ISO-NE had an even more restrictive MOPR before transitioning to a prompt seasonal market, now it leaves PJM as the last capacity market standing. I also appreciate the reminder that the capacity market started as a solution to the “missing money” problem, because a lot of people talk about it as the key to reliability, as if there’s no other way to manage resource adequacy.
It sure seems like "capacity auctions" are crap during periods with fast growth and when variable renewables could be paired with batteries. (IF, counties allow them.) Texas is not just "connect and manage," but it's an energy price/cost market, and I think those prices are even very locational in addition to time dependent.
I looked at EIA; TX has very little $/kWh change in the last few years despite what looks like faster load growth than states in the PJM. PJM can or has manipulated capacity factors and whatever to favor that wonderful FIRM power but sorry Chris Wright it ain't bringing "abundance" or "dominance," the way ERCOT solar, wind and batteries are working.
TX also does not allow counties to stop private landowners from installing solar and wind (and O&G), though the NY Times just framed such efforts in IL, NY, MI, etc. as liberal climate plans.
Solar farms are farms!
So I’m moving from a bad RTO (PJM in VA) to a state with no RTO (NC) - which is worse? 🫠
Good grief. these RTOs and FERC desperately need structural reform. It's bad enough when regulators are sourced from their own industries, only to thereafter return to those industries, let alone when they're currently working in those industries. The proportion of consumer advocates and representatives on the voting boards is criminally imbalanced.
If states pass laws to mandate cleaning up the grid, they need representation on the boards that determine when and how generators are integrated to the grid.