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What the #Monopoly #Utility Model Really Costs Us –– a thread on my new report from @ILSR 🧵
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John Farrell ☀️🌬🔋
28.3K posts
John Farrell ☀️🌬🔋
@johnffarrell
Distributed energy nerd | Anti-monopoly policy guy @ ILSR | Making clean power local + fair | 📍Minnesota dad energy 🔌💡
- After what I’ve learned in the past year, here’s my pitch: we’re going about finding new grid capacity for clean energy and electrification all wrong. A thread. (And one caveat) #transmission #cleanenergy
- Inflation is a choice. And there are a lot of US corporate CEOs choosing to inflate profits at our expense. See also: eggs.The latest inflation data is out. The price of breakfast cereal is up 14% over the last year. Post, General Mills and Kelloggs control about 80% of the market. All 3 increased their profit margins in the most recent reporting period. Corporations keep pushing up inflation.
- A gallon of gas nationally will cost you $3.26 and get you an average of 27 miles. That same $3.26 will buy enough electricity to send you 81 miles in an electric car, basically unchanged from a year ago. Go 3x further on $1, buy electric.
GIF - This is a great time to uplift @QueremosSol and its work to build a more resilient grid in #PuertoRico focused on distributed energy resources. Their study shows it also costs less than rebuilding the failing system. queremossolpr.comBREAKING: All of Puerto Rico — every town, neighborhood, house — is without power. That’s 1.4 million households. Winds over the southern portion of the island have gusted 80-100 mph, but elsewhere winds have been much lesser. Despite this, the grid is tenuous at best.
- In their own words, utilities say fight rooftop and community solar because it "presents a danger to utility shareholders." A reminder that most critiques of local solar are just a front for protecting utility profits. vist.ly/g9pf #SolarEnergy #monopoly
- We don't talk enough about gas disconnection as a major electrification barrier. I just spoke with a Mich. resident whose gas company wanted a $5000 ransom for disconnection! Regulators will approve this unless states make electrification a clear policy goal!
- Do utilities fight rooftop solar because it threatens their profits? YES. But don't take my word for it, take theirs. A utility expert witness for investor-owned utility Arizona Public Service lays it out in this rate case testimony:
- Hi all, the truth is that all electricity sources don't work sometimes. The sun doesn't shine, the wind doesn't blow, the coal pile freezes, the gas pipeline depressurizes, the steam turbine fails. A reliable electricity system isn't X. It's many points of failure, and variety.
- Does rooftop solar actually help the climate? Yes. –– A response to the Shift Key podcast discussion between @JesseJenkins and @emilypont that gets a lot wrong about #RooftopSolar. THREAD. #SolarEnergy @robinsonmeyer
- A HUGE congratulations to the collective advocacy of Minnesota groups in the @XcelEnergyMN resource plan. No new gas, 2.5 gigawatts of new solar energy, and a promise to include distributed solar in future resource modeling. Thx @CUB_MN @votesolar @FreshEnergy @MCEA1974
- You know reviewing comments from the interconnection docket in Minnesota is going to be epic when the first comment contains this nugget––@XcelEnergyMN has told a rooftop solar customer they will have to wait ***15 years*** for interconnection review. drive.google.com/file/d/1VwaRYp…
