Matthew Boyda
@atxcanadian.bsky.social
Husband, father of two boys, dog dad, and a curious mix of jock and nerd. Passionate about sports, science, clean energy, politics, and the adventures Saturday nights bring.
A nodal model is right for 2028 and wrong for 2046. Nobody knows yet what gets built or retired by then. Where to switch to equilibrium economics is what I keep chewing on.
www.ascendanalytics.com/blog/enhance...
www.ascendanalytics.com/blog/enhance...
October 7, 2026 at 1:31 PM
A nodal model is right for 2028 and wrong for 2046. Nobody knows yet what gets built or retired by then. Where to switch to equilibrium economics is what I keep chewing on.
www.ascendanalytics.com/blog/enhance...
www.ascendanalytics.com/blog/enhance...
Most bad surprises I've seen came from the node, not the hub. Basis eats the return, and nobody notices until the model's built. Our PowerVAL folks just put nodal basis on a map so you can catch it sooner.
www.ascendanalytics.com/powerval-boo...
www.ascendanalytics.com/powerval-boo...
October 7, 2026 at 12:32 AM
Most bad surprises I've seen came from the node, not the hub. Basis eats the return, and nobody notices until the model's built. Our PowerVAL folks just put nodal basis on a map so you can catch it sooner.
www.ascendanalytics.com/powerval-boo...
www.ascendanalytics.com/powerval-boo...
Is "green-ish" good enough in NYISO and ISO-NE? Hard to forecast when policy and project risk move together. Webinar Oct 15, 11am MT.
www.ascendanalytics.com/blog/nyiso-i...
www.ascendanalytics.com/blog/nyiso-i...
October 5, 2026 at 3:10 PM
Is "green-ish" good enough in NYISO and ISO-NE? Hard to forecast when policy and project risk move together. Webinar Oct 15, 11am MT.
www.ascendanalytics.com/blog/nyiso-i...
www.ascendanalytics.com/blog/nyiso-i...
Heard a version of this at the Ascend Summit in Boulder and keep coming back to it. A large load can show up in two or three years. New generation takes five or six. Somebody has to commit money before the load is certain, and I'm not sure we've agreed on who that should be.
October 2, 2026 at 2:58 PM
Heard a version of this at the Ascend Summit in Boulder and keep coming back to it. A large load can show up in two or three years. New generation takes five or six. Somebody has to commit money before the load is certain, and I'm not sure we've agreed on who that should be.
Sat in on the Day 2 keynote panel at Ascend Summit 2026. Google's Jacob Susman framed the new generation as a coordination problem, and I think that's the right frame. Large loads, developers, and grid operators each plan on their own clock. The hard part is getting them onto one shared picture.
October 1, 2026 at 7:15 PM
Sat in on the Day 2 keynote panel at Ascend Summit 2026. Google's Jacob Susman framed the new generation as a coordination problem, and I think that's the right frame. Large loads, developers, and grid operators each plan on their own clock. The hard part is getting them onto one shared picture.
Left Ascend Summit Day 1 with one worry. Our industry explains data center growth well to itself and badly to the public, who may pay for it. Still figuring out what good education looks like.
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
October 1, 2026 at 1:56 PM
Left Ascend Summit Day 1 with one worry. Our industry explains data center growth well to itself and badly to the public, who may pay for it. Still figuring out what good education looks like.
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
Ascend Summit 2026 opened with a panel on who pays for AI load growth.
Cost allocation is the hard part to me, and public trust may settle it before market design does. Who's working on that?
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
Cost allocation is the hard part to me, and public trust may settle it before market design does. Who's working on that?
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
Ascend Summit 2026 Agenda & Registration | Ascend Analytics
Join power market experts at Ascend Summit 2026 for energy market developers, utilities, investors, and buyers.
www.ascendanalytics.com
September 30, 2026 at 9:51 PM
Ascend Summit 2026 opened with a panel on who pays for AI load growth.
Cost allocation is the hard part to me, and public trust may settle it before market design does. Who's working on that?
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
Cost allocation is the hard part to me, and public trust may settle it before market design does. Who's working on that?
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
ERCOT and PJM have run different reliability designs for 20 years. Large load growth is the first thing I've seen stress both at once. Curious whether the answers converge at the Ascend Summit.
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
September 28, 2026 at 5:18 PM
ERCOT and PJM have run different reliability designs for 20 years. Large load growth is the first thing I've seen stress both at once. Curious whether the answers converge at the Ascend Summit.
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
Heading to the Ascend Summit next week. The session I care about most is hedging when load growth is itself the uncertain variable. Never found a clean answer on the trading side. Has anyone?
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
September 23, 2026 at 4:25 PM
Heading to the Ascend Summit next week. The session I care about most is hedging when load growth is itself the uncertain variable. Never found a clean answer on the trading side. Has anyone?
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
A battery's value sits in a handful of hours at one node. In my experience, that's the hardest part of the valuation to get right. I'll be at the Ascend Analytics Summit next week to compare notes. www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
September 21, 2026 at 3:00 PM
A battery's value sits in a handful of hours at one node. In my experience, that's the hardest part of the valuation to get right. I'll be at the Ascend Analytics Summit next week to compare notes. www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
Fired up for this lineup. A former @ferc.gov Chairman opens day one on demand, cost, and reliability, then ERCOT, PJM, and CoreWeave on turning policy into practice. Ascend Summit, Sept 30-Oct 2: www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
September 18, 2026 at 2:49 PM
Fired up for this lineup. A former @ferc.gov Chairman opens day one on demand, cost, and reliability, then ERCOT, PJM, and CoreWeave on turning policy into practice. Ascend Summit, Sept 30-Oct 2: www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
Power markets are running closer to the edge of supply, and forecasting errors are becoming asymmetric. An extreme hour now costs a lot more than an average one. www.ascendanalytics.com/blog/enhance...
September 17, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Power markets are running closer to the edge of supply, and forecasting errors are becoming asymmetric. An extreme hour now costs a lot more than an average one. www.ascendanalytics.com/blog/enhance...
Ascend Summit 2026: sessions on capacity market shifts, procurement decisions under load growth, capital allocation, and M&A/asset valuation in a risk-aware market.
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
September 16, 2026 at 11:24 PM
Ascend Summit 2026: sessions on capacity market shifts, procurement decisions under load growth, capital allocation, and M&A/asset valuation in a risk-aware market.
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
Bidding on 3CE's Clean Energy and Reliability RFP? Ascend Analytics is hosting a webinar today on the process, ahead of the Sept. 25 deadline. 2 pm MT / 1 pm PT. Register: www.ascendanalytics.com/3ce26/clean-...
September 16, 2026 at 1:36 PM
Bidding on 3CE's Clean Energy and Reliability RFP? Ascend Analytics is hosting a webinar today on the process, ahead of the Sept. 25 deadline. 2 pm MT / 1 pm PT. Register: www.ascendanalytics.com/3ce26/clean-...
PJM and ERCOT don't need the same capacity market fix. Their load and resource mix differ. Megawatts matter less than who shows up when the system is actually stressed. www.ascendanalytics.com/blog/load-gr...
September 11, 2026 at 2:58 PM
PJM and ERCOT don't need the same capacity market fix. Their load and resource mix differ. Megawatts matter less than who shows up when the system is actually stressed. www.ascendanalytics.com/blog/load-gr...
I don't think the frameworks that finance and permit power have caught up to how fast load growth and reliability risk are moving. We're digging into that at the Ascend Summit, Sept 30-Oct 2: www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
September 10, 2026 at 4:14 PM
I don't think the frameworks that finance and permit power have caught up to how fast load growth and reliability risk are moving. We're digging into that at the Ascend Summit, Sept 30-Oct 2: www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
Utility Dive projected ERCOT at 154 GW by 2035, and our own is closer to 120 GW by 2030. Interconnection queues aren't a forecast, they're requests. The gap is timing and attrition. www.ascendanalytics.com/blog/ercot-l...
September 9, 2026 at 4:51 PM
Utility Dive projected ERCOT at 154 GW by 2035, and our own is closer to 120 GW by 2030. Interconnection queues aren't a forecast, they're requests. The gap is timing and attrition. www.ascendanalytics.com/blog/ercot-l...
3CE's 2026 RFP seeks 20+ MW of renewable generation, paired with storage or standalone, to meet RPS, GHG, and reliability goals. Ascend hosts a webinar on Sept 16 at 1 pm PT. Register: www.ascendanalytics.com/3ce26/clean-... #3CE
September 4, 2026 at 3:19 PM
3CE's 2026 RFP seeks 20+ MW of renewable generation, paired with storage or standalone, to meet RPS, GHG, and reliability goals. Ascend hosts a webinar on Sept 16 at 1 pm PT. Register: www.ascendanalytics.com/3ce26/clean-... #3CE
Mark Christie ran @ferc.gov. He's opening day at the Ascend Summit, then ERCOT, @pjminterconnection.bsky.social, and CoreWeave have to show how reliability holds up on a live grid. That's the part worth watching. www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
September 3, 2026 at 9:27 PM
Mark Christie ran @ferc.gov. He's opening day at the Ascend Summit, then ERCOT, @pjminterconnection.bsky.social, and CoreWeave have to show how reliability holds up on a live grid. That's the part worth watching. www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
Running real assets teaches you what backtesting can't. Ascend Analytics just hit 5.2 GW of live battery storage bid through SmartBidder. Matt Tormollen on why the scale matters: www.ascendanalytics.com/blog/ascend-...
September 2, 2026 at 2:58 PM
Running real assets teaches you what backtesting can't. Ascend Analytics just hit 5.2 GW of live battery storage bid through SmartBidder. Matt Tormollen on why the scale matters: www.ascendanalytics.com/blog/ascend-...
The real bottleneck in energy right now isn't capital or technology, it's speed to power. Interconnection queues and regulatory reform haven't kept up with how quickly load is coming online. Digging into this at Ascend Summit this year. www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
September 1, 2026 at 6:30 PM
The real bottleneck in energy right now isn't capital or technology, it's speed to power. Interconnection queues and regulatory reform haven't kept up with how quickly load is coming online. Digging into this at Ascend Summit this year. www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
Battery storage in NY is not solar redux. Dispatch strategy determines the economics. Optimize it right and beat solar returns, mess it up and you don't have a deal. www.ascendanalytics.com/blog/new-yor...
August 31, 2026 at 7:29 PM
Battery storage in NY is not solar redux. Dispatch strategy determines the economics. Optimize it right and beat solar returns, mess it up and you don't have a deal. www.ascendanalytics.com/blog/new-yor...
The large-load market is stuck. Utilities and developers want to move, but they're trapped on the same question: how do you make the energy transition economical? Ascend has the modeling rigor and the data to answer it. That's the work.
www.ascendanalytics.com/blog/ascend-...
www.ascendanalytics.com/blog/ascend-...
August 28, 2026 at 5:40 PM
The large-load market is stuck. Utilities and developers want to move, but they're trapped on the same question: how do you make the energy transition economical? Ascend has the modeling rigor and the data to answer it. That's the work.
www.ascendanalytics.com/blog/ascend-...
www.ascendanalytics.com/blog/ascend-...
Central Coast Community Energy's new RFP: 4-hour storage minimum. 20-year contract ceiling. Open to alternative tech. That's not standard utility procurement anymore. The market is reshaping, and the procurement is following.
www.ascendanalytics.com/3ce26/clean-...
www.ascendanalytics.com/3ce26/clean-...
August 27, 2026 at 4:14 PM
Central Coast Community Energy's new RFP: 4-hour storage minimum. 20-year contract ceiling. Open to alternative tech. That's not standard utility procurement anymore. The market is reshaping, and the procurement is following.
www.ascendanalytics.com/3ce26/clean-...
www.ascendanalytics.com/3ce26/clean-...
Load growth is reshaping the reliability and capital allocation math faster than most markets move. That's why 350+ energy leaders are gathering in Boulder next month. This is where the conversation is actually happening.
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
August 27, 2026 at 3:05 PM
Load growth is reshaping the reliability and capital allocation math faster than most markets move. That's why 350+ energy leaders are gathering in Boulder next month. This is where the conversation is actually happening.
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...
www.ascendanalytics.com/insights/asc...