@paulosanalysis.com
Consulting on energy policy, technology and trends at http://PaulosAnalysis.com. Affiliated with the Incentive Finder (govcentives.com), Ava Community Energy, Clean Energy States Alliance, and @solarunitedneighbors.org but posts are my own.
Great River Energy discovered 60% more capacity on their power lines using "magic balls." One of a number of grid enhancing technologies that can deliver big benefits at low cost.
www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
See also my article on GETs at www.renewableenergyworld.com/power-grid/g...
It's a travesty. I'm such a failure.
What's with the Fleetwood Mac? Kids today.
In Ep. 271, @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social rejoins us to tease apart the complex picture of China’s energy transition. Listen and learn why China’s total CO2 emissions have been falling for the past two years even while it’s building more coal power plants than ever. xenetwork.org/ets/episodes...
I think solar policy should encourage home electrification, not batteries. So if you go all electric, you get NEM2 forever. Use the solar to pay for the expensive heat pumps. The annual true-up of NEM is key, since solar is in summer and heating is in winter.
Balcony solar is great for renters (40% of residents) and for adding to current solar NEM systems. It cuts soft costs, and could be under $1/W for hardware. But the MWh are not going to be as big as conventional solar.
Of course the 30% federal tax credit is gone now and the new Base Service Charge puts a $24/mo tax on solar. Installers will have to cut costs to make up for it. Customer acquisition and permitting are the obvious targets. Battery costs could be lower, and EV-to-X options should be expanded.
According to state data, the market seems to have recovered at about 150k residential installations last year. Most of those have batteries. Clearly rising electric rates are making solar+storage cost competitive.
www.californiadgstats.ca.gov/charts/
Prof. Fowlie at the @ucenergyinstitute.bsky.social raises a forbidden topic -- should people in cities have to pay for wildfire safety in rural areas? SF state senator @scottwiener.bsky.social doesn't think so. 🔌💡
energyathaas.wordpress.com/2026/03/09/t...
Or even simpler, how about a building code that limits home EV charging to 30 amps? That’s still almost 30 miles of range per hour of charging, a full charge overnight.
@jeffstjohn.bsky.social @buildingdecarb.org
The Minnesota Community Solar Garden program is being named after Melissa Hortman, the slain speaker of the Minnesota House of Reps. @solarunitedneighbors.org @commercialsolarguy.com @ilsr.bsky.social @startribune.com @kenpaulman.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g7u...
Looks like Google is being a bad neighbor in Iowa, playing the venue shopping game to avoid having to mitigate the problems it is going to cause.
insideclimatenews.org/news/0403202...
I'm assuming Africa, south Asia, and South & Latin America are the next big markets. You know, those 5 billion people.
Has anyone ever over-estimated solar growth? We are still in the early days of solar deployment, IMO.
And... California DG solar has recovered to an install rate of 1500 MW per year, or about 150k systems, after the end of net metering. Almost all have batteries. This is cost effective. Solar = affordability.
www.californiadgstats.ca.gov/charts/
I just put a plug-in solar system on my garage roof. $650 for a 950W-AC system, around 65¢/W. It displaces retail rates at around 35¢ per kWh. Payback is 18 months.
My rooftop 1.7 kW system was $8/W in 2011. I assume it has paid off by now.
It's funny when people think that data bros will pay the full cost of new nuclear plants, and wait the decade it will take to bring them online.
There are about 2 million electric cars on the road in California, with about 25% market share for new sales. And about 70% of power generation is zero-emission. That's a lot of energy independence!
www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports...
If you want to see the Alto Tunnel reopened for bike and pedestrian use, please sign our petition, and share it with anyone you know who lives (or rides) in Marin!
openaltotunnel.org
I want to turn this into a “In this house we believe “ sign.
The cost of fire insurance and the cost of improving the power grid to safely serve customers in high fire hazard areas — both are causing a massive cost shift from urban to rural/suburban areas. SF doesn’t want to pay for either.
Ah geez, the Hinkley nuclear plant in the UK is now $66 billion, about $20 per watt. How awkward for the nuke bros.
www.wsj.com/business/ene...
ReJoule’s second-life electric vehicle battery energy storage system gives used batteries a powerful second act that outlasts many new utility-scale storage systems.
EPIC is funded by California utility customers under the auspices of the @californiapuc.bsky.social.
CONTD.
Solar, electric cars, and heat pumps are becoming geopolitical security assets. They offer protection from oil and gas as weapons.
Lots of balcony solar in the news. Here's a clip from DW, the German outlet, with a nice video at the end showing their touch-safe plugs and local solar retailers -- two things that will come here once the market gets going.
amp.dw.com/en/the-diy-s...
How about some disaster options? Like a hurricane or Sharknado.
Oh please please tell Ryan not to say "While lithium-ion batteries are effective for 4-hour shifts." They can discharge at full capacity for four hours, but at partial capacity for longer -- like any battery.
That was a smart move. We did "active streets" in Berkeley -- turning them into temporary playgrounds -- which was immediately undone at the end of lockdown, resulting in no lasting improvement.
