texas power grid interconnection when
November 4, 2026 at 10:12 AM
texas power grid interconnection when
Attempting to unpack what I understand as the strongest argument for how BAAJA could reduce US fossil fuel *production* (which feeds domestic use + exports).
1. BAAJA accelerates transmission buildout and interconnection queue processing, accelerating siting and interconnection of new power plants.
1. BAAJA accelerates transmission buildout and interconnection queue processing, accelerating siting and interconnection of new power plants.
Let me crowd-source this one: Imagine a world identical to ours in every way except that BAAJA (federal permitting draft bill) is in full effect. In this alternate world, US fossil fuel *production*, which feeds both domestic consumption and exports, is lower than in ours. What in BAAJA caused this?
Hi Pete, could you propose one or more causal mechanisms through which BAAJA could *decrease* overall US fossil fuel production (not necessarily domestic consumption, but production, which of course could get exported) relative to a baseline with no BAAJA everything else held constant?
November 6, 2026 at 11:07 AM
Attempting to unpack what I understand as the strongest argument for how BAAJA could reduce US fossil fuel *production* (which feeds domestic use + exports).
1. BAAJA accelerates transmission buildout and interconnection queue processing, accelerating siting and interconnection of new power plants.
1. BAAJA accelerates transmission buildout and interconnection queue processing, accelerating siting and interconnection of new power plants.
There's the reason why Finland quit all Russian energy imports and shut the interconnection when the 2022 illegal invasion of Ukraine began. Should have done it sooner.
Domestic clean power, electrification and sufficiency could cut European dependency of all fossil fuel imports permanently.
Domestic clean power, electrification and sufficiency could cut European dependency of all fossil fuel imports permanently.
"The 400-kilowatt extra-high-voltage line (...) allows Moldova to cut reliance on the Cuciurgan thermal power plant in Transnistria."
“Every time Moldova dares to choose something other than what Moscow wants, they threaten to cut our electricity,” said Sandu.
www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/11...
“Every time Moldova dares to choose something other than what Moscow wants, they threaten to cut our electricity,” said Sandu.
www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/11...
Moldova launches new power line to Romania to cut reliance on Russia
Moldovan President Maia Sandu says 'two more power lines to Romania are on the way'.
www.aljazeera.com
November 9, 2026 at 9:30 AM
There's the reason why Finland quit all Russian energy imports and shut the interconnection when the 2022 illegal invasion of Ukraine began. Should have done it sooner.
Domestic clean power, electrification and sufficiency could cut European dependency of all fossil fuel imports permanently.
Domestic clean power, electrification and sufficiency could cut European dependency of all fossil fuel imports permanently.
Final game for our 2026 @sdhistcon.bsky.social was Tom Lehmann’s 1833NE, brand new from @gmtgames.bsky.social. Lots of new features! Ferries, takeovers, interconnection bonuses! My head is still spinning.
November 9, 2026 at 4:13 AM
Final game for our 2026 @sdhistcon.bsky.social was Tom Lehmann’s 1833NE, brand new from @gmtgames.bsky.social. Lots of new features! Ferries, takeovers, interconnection bonuses! My head is still spinning.
Currently at the Nature Was Always Queer panel at the Edinburgh Radical Book Fair, listening to @acaciathorns.bsky.social talking about interconnection between species, and I feel compelled to share this @everdundas.bsky.social story read by @ashleystorrie.bsky.social:
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
November 8, 2026 at 3:56 PM
Currently at the Nature Was Always Queer panel at the Edinburgh Radical Book Fair, listening to @acaciathorns.bsky.social talking about interconnection between species, and I feel compelled to share this @everdundas.bsky.social story read by @ashleystorrie.bsky.social:
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
BTM gas is incredibly risky for developers and not a sure bet. Its not an escape hatch at all.The way to fight it is to make grid connection easier by building the requisite grid capacity + creating more certain interconnection (costs, upgrades, etc).
BAAJA addresses both.
BAAJA addresses both.
Nothing done about the big escape hatch for data center projects?
Is that respecting the angry voters who just put Dems in power?
Dirty BTM power generation and zero requirements that they ever take service from the grid. Musk's datacenters set the tone. No one is pushing back.
Is that respecting the angry voters who just put Dems in power?
Dirty BTM power generation and zero requirements that they ever take service from the grid. Musk's datacenters set the tone. No one is pushing back.
November 9, 2026 at 3:38 PM
BTM gas is incredibly risky for developers and not a sure bet. Its not an escape hatch at all.The way to fight it is to make grid connection easier by building the requisite grid capacity + creating more certain interconnection (costs, upgrades, etc).
BAAJA addresses both.
BAAJA addresses both.
"According to the industry group American Clean Power, BAAJA’s “critical provisions on permitting, environmental review, judicial review, and interconnection would address major barriers that keep viable projects from reaching operation."
What Democratic control of Congress could mean for US BESS and renewables #energysky -- via Energy Storage News:
What Democratic control of Congress could mean for US BESS and renewables
Democrats scored major victories in the US Midterms, taking both the House and Senate and flipping several long-held Republican strongholds.
www.energy-storage.news
November 9, 2026 at 12:30 AM
"According to the industry group American Clean Power, BAAJA’s “critical provisions on permitting, environmental review, judicial review, and interconnection would address major barriers that keep viable projects from reaching operation."
2. I think the idea that "renewables beat gas if we deregulate and let it rip" is outdated. The 30% IRA tax incentives for renewables are gone. ISOs are revising interconnection queues to punt speculative/duplicative projects. Gas dominates revised queues. Links to evidence in next post.
November 6, 2026 at 11:22 AM
2. I think the idea that "renewables beat gas if we deregulate and let it rip" is outdated. The 30% IRA tax incentives for renewables are gone. ISOs are revising interconnection queues to punt speculative/duplicative projects. Gas dominates revised queues. Links to evidence in next post.
It is, in fact, materially restricted by state and local permitting & interconnection rules.
November 5, 2026 at 6:10 PM
It is, in fact, materially restricted by state and local permitting & interconnection rules.
Egypt seeks faster progress on Libya gas, refining and power projects reut.rs/4AjGfrB
Egypt seeks faster progress on Libya gas, refining and power projects
Egypt aims to accelerate energy projects with Libya, including gas pipeline links, refining of Libyan crude in Egypt and an electricity interconnection, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said late on Saturday.
reut.rs
November 8, 2026 at 3:30 PM
Egypt seeks faster progress on Libya gas, refining and power projects reut.rs/4AjGfrB
✦Repurposed jet-engine turbines help data centers bypass slow grid-interconnection queues, increasing local pollution.
November 5, 2026 at 1:06 AM
✦Repurposed jet-engine turbines help data centers bypass slow grid-interconnection queues, increasing local pollution.
"Clean energy stands to disproportionately benefit from these technology-neutral permitting reforms: Solar, wind and energy storage account for 93% of planned 2026 utility-scale additions and roughly 1,742GW of projects seeking interconnection, compared with 253GW of gas.”
November 9, 2026 at 12:30 AM
"Clean energy stands to disproportionately benefit from these technology-neutral permitting reforms: Solar, wind and energy storage account for 93% of planned 2026 utility-scale additions and roughly 1,742GW of projects seeking interconnection, compared with 253GW of gas.”
Whatever we eventually come to, when you're talking transmission interconnection, we can't just be having venture capital wasting thousands of hours a year of planning engineer time, there already aren't enough power engineers
November 6, 2026 at 12:27 PM
Whatever we eventually come to, when you're talking transmission interconnection, we can't just be having venture capital wasting thousands of hours a year of planning engineer time, there already aren't enough power engineers
Zack Polanski and Greta Thunberg talk about the interconnection of human rights, climate change, politics, Palestine. You cannot be selective in your concerns. You can’t say I’m worried about this but that is off limits for me.
Episode out this week with the brilliant Greta Thunberg! 👇🏽
There is no climate justice without social, racial and economic justice.
November 3, 2026 at 6:47 PM
Zack Polanski and Greta Thunberg talk about the interconnection of human rights, climate change, politics, Palestine. You cannot be selective in your concerns. You can’t say I’m worried about this but that is off limits for me.
BAAJA could increase electricity demand by accelerating buildout of power lines or processing of generation interconnection queues, alleviating transmission or resource-adequacy constraints that would otherwise slow interconnection of large loads to transmission grids.
November 3, 2026 at 1:19 PM
BAAJA could increase electricity demand by accelerating buildout of power lines or processing of generation interconnection queues, alleviating transmission or resource-adequacy constraints that would otherwise slow interconnection of large loads to transmission grids.
what determines the assumptions A.
For example, @rff.org include in A the assumption that BAAJA decreases interconnection and spur line costs on federal lands by 50%. The model - the math that derives C from A - includes no causal logic to support this cost assumption. The RFF modelers made it up.
For example, @rff.org include in A the assumption that BAAJA decreases interconnection and spur line costs on federal lands by 50%. The model - the math that derives C from A - includes no causal logic to support this cost assumption. The RFF modelers made it up.
For example, @rff.org modelers - who I respect and mention only because theirs is the most transparent study about assumptions (👏) - assume BAAJA's NEPA changes decrease the cost of interconnection and spur power lines on federal lands by 50%. Why 50%? Because the modelers said so.
Projected Effects of the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act on the Power Sector
In this issue brief, we model how aspects of a broad permitting and energy infrastructure package could drive change in the power sector.
www.rff.org
November 5, 2026 at 1:44 PM
what determines the assumptions A.
For example, @rff.org include in A the assumption that BAAJA decreases interconnection and spur line costs on federal lands by 50%. The model - the math that derives C from A - includes no causal logic to support this cost assumption. The RFF modelers made it up.
For example, @rff.org include in A the assumption that BAAJA decreases interconnection and spur line costs on federal lands by 50%. The model - the math that derives C from A - includes no causal logic to support this cost assumption. The RFF modelers made it up.
“we have at least since the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott [been] living through an unfolding revolution that moves us toward more equality, more interconnection and desegregation, more recognition that we were never separate from each other or nature..” @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social
November 9, 2026 at 12:09 AM
“we have at least since the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott [been] living through an unfolding revolution that moves us toward more equality, more interconnection and desegregation, more recognition that we were never separate from each other or nature..” @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social
4. Seems reasonable.
3. Seems conceivable but implausible. Interconnection and resource-adequacy constraints are barriers to data centers connecting to the grid. If BAAJA does what point #1 promises, then it lowers these barriers and accelerates data center load growth.
3. Seems conceivable but implausible. Interconnection and resource-adequacy constraints are barriers to data centers connecting to the grid. If BAAJA does what point #1 promises, then it lowers these barriers and accelerates data center load growth.
November 6, 2026 at 11:19 AM
4. Seems reasonable.
3. Seems conceivable but implausible. Interconnection and resource-adequacy constraints are barriers to data centers connecting to the grid. If BAAJA does what point #1 promises, then it lowers these barriers and accelerates data center load growth.
3. Seems conceivable but implausible. Interconnection and resource-adequacy constraints are barriers to data centers connecting to the grid. If BAAJA does what point #1 promises, then it lowers these barriers and accelerates data center load growth.
BAAJA could increase electricity demand by accelerating buildout of power lines or processing of generation interconnection queues, alleviating transmission or resource-adequacy constraints that would otherwise slow interconnection of large loads to transmission grids.
November 3, 2026 at 1:21 PM
BAAJA could increase electricity demand by accelerating buildout of power lines or processing of generation interconnection queues, alleviating transmission or resource-adequacy constraints that would otherwise slow interconnection of large loads to transmission grids.
PJM Interconnection Winter Outlook: Power Supplies Should Be Available To Meet Expected Cold Weather Conditions [PaEN] tinyurl.com/54tt7v8f
November 6, 2026 at 12:43 AM
PJM Interconnection Winter Outlook: Power Supplies Should Be Available To Meet Expected Cold Weather Conditions [PaEN] tinyurl.com/54tt7v8f
Dr Dorfman on why the future is all clean renewables + storage, efficiency, interconnection & stronger grids
Less energy is needed as over two thirds of primary energy in fossil fuel & nuclear systems are lost as waste heat
Renewables+ can do heavy-lifting for climate & energy crises
#renewables
Less energy is needed as over two thirds of primary energy in fossil fuel & nuclear systems are lost as waste heat
Renewables+ can do heavy-lifting for climate & energy crises
#renewables
"#Nuclear power was never cheap or safe – this summer shows it’s unreliable."
tiredearth.com/interviews/i...
tiredearth.com/interviews/i...
Interview with Paul Dorfman, Researcher and Specialist in Energy and Environmental Policy
"Nuclear power was never cheap or safe – this summer shows it’s unreliable."
tiredearth.com
November 9, 2026 at 6:02 AM
Dr Dorfman on why the future is all clean renewables + storage, efficiency, interconnection & stronger grids
Less energy is needed as over two thirds of primary energy in fossil fuel & nuclear systems are lost as waste heat
Renewables+ can do heavy-lifting for climate & energy crises
#renewables
Less energy is needed as over two thirds of primary energy in fossil fuel & nuclear systems are lost as waste heat
Renewables+ can do heavy-lifting for climate & energy crises
#renewables