“Ideas have consequences. Even new pathbreaking ones that are shaking the foundations of the Federal Power Act of 1938 and state public utility regulation.”
The Department of Energy has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to federalize and streamline the connection of large data centers to the interstate transmission grid. DOE last week (Oct. 23) sent FERC a 16-page draft notice of proposed rule making, asking the commission to enact the new, unprecedented rule by the end of April, which is unlikely.
Under the DOE proposal, FERC would take over interconnection decisions for “large load” data centers, defined as those with a load of 20 MW or greater. These decisions are now made by regional transmission organizations, such as the PJM Interconnection, or by state regulatory agencies.
The DOE proposed rule states:
… Continue ReadingIn light of the unprecedented current and expected growth of large loads seeking to interconnect to the transmission system, and to provide open access and non discriminatory access to the transmission system, it has become necessary to standardize interconnection procedures and agreements for such loads, including those seeking to share a point of interconnection with new or existing generation facilities (hybrid facilities).
Ed. Note: How did a major energy trade association/ lobbying group come to support climate alarm and forced energy transformation, reversing its prior position? The story gets back to an ex-Enron executive who imported Enron’s political capitalism model to the electricity industry, to flip the script.
“Breaking ranks with others in the electric-power industry, [James “Jim” Rogers in 1988] supported legislation putting caps on sulfur-dioxide emissions. ‘Some of my guys thought I was drinking the environmental Kool-Aid,’ he said later. ‘But I said, “Let’s shape this, let’s make some money”.’” (Wall Street Journal, December 20, 2018)
“I made money on sulfur [dioxide], and I’ll make money on carbon [dioxide].” (Bloomberg Businessweek, June 3, 2010)
“The Edison Electric Institute, a trade association representing the electric power industry,” a recent New York Times article stated, “said that if without a federal role in regulating greenhouse gases, states and cities could ‘attempt to fill that perceived void through increased regulatory requirements that could vary significantly from one jurisdiction to the next.’”…
Continue ReadingThis post excerpts energy and climate material from the Media Balance Newsletter, a free fortnightly published by physicist John Droz Jr., founder of the Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions. Droz is also the author of the popular Substack Critically Thinking About Select Societal Issues.
Greed Energy Economics:
*** The Well Hidden and Distorted cost of Renewables: A Comprehensive Comparison of Wind Energy and Combined Cycle Gas Turbine Plant
Wind, Solar Projects Can Stick Taxpayers With the Tab Coming and Going
Cost of Wind and Solar both going up
Japan’s Offshore Wind Setback: A Lesson in the Full Cost of Energy
Unreliables (General):
*** US Energy Department Cuts $7.56 Billion in Green Projects
*** Energy secretary explains the difficulties of relying on wind and solar power
Wind Energy — Other:
*** Avian Mortality: Industrial Wind in Ecological Trouble
*** Texans Should Stop Spending on Fake Climate Crisis
The curious case of the wind project and the seismic array
Nuclear Energy:
*** And Now, SMR Intelligence Global
*** SMR Sector Continues Red-Hot Streak With 5 IPOs
*** Ted Cruz Seeking Answer To Decades-Old Riddle That Has Stunted American Nuclear Energy
Why does the world insanely ignore nuclear power?…