@douglewin.bsky.social
⚡ Energy Expert 🎙 Host: Energy Capital Podcast 📜 Author: Texas Energy & Power Newsletter 🌎 Founder of Stoic Energy www.douglewin.com
Varun Sivaram says ERCOT is the model the world should copy.
Texas has headroom, speed, and the chance to lead flexible AI load growth.
We break it down on the Energy Capital Podcast.
"Data centers [can] contribute to grid reliability & help us to avoid rolling blackouts. I think we can get there, but we’re not on that path rn & folks are right to worry. This is the moment where we switch from the villain to the hero."
www.douglewin.com/p/the-hero-...
There are two paths for AI data centers: hero and villain. Emerald AI founder & CEO Varun Sivaram and I talked through the two paths. If you want to understand how AI data centers can strengthen the grid and lower electric bills, give it a listen. 1/2
19.11.2025 14:13 — 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 2 📌 0
Last week, Google announced a $40 billion investment for which they'll build more than 6 gigawatts of new power. There is massive potential to use these investments to improve grid reliability and lower power costs for consumers. I explored that here: www.douglewin.com/p/texas-is-...
17.11.2025 18:00 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
The Wall St. Journal published this chart which shows there’s about 40 gigawatts of power already built or under construction for AI data centers and another 70 gigawatts of planned AI demand for power in 2025 alone. Next year will almost certainly be even bigger. 1/2
17.11.2025 18:00 — 👍 7 🔁 2 💬 2 📌 0
More on the potential for data centers to improve reliability, nascent flexibility markets that include residential and small commercial demand, and gas prices rising as winter approaches. All here:
www.douglewin.com/p/texas-is-...
More data centers are coming to Texas. Google announced $40 billion in investments, including 6.2 gigawatts of new supply and an investment in residential energy efficiency. Flexibility will be the key as these massive energy users come onto the grid. #txlege #txenergy 1/2
16.11.2025 18:37 — 👍 7 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0
Even if you don’t care about climate change at all, for national security & economic reasons alone, the US needs to have a share of the renewable export market. If it happens, Texas will play a major role. Much more here:
www.douglewin.com/p/energy-af...
China is energy dominant. The US absolutely could provide a meaningful counterweight but it would require broad political consensus to pursue an all-of-the-above strategy that includes both molecules and electrons, renewables and lower emission fossils. 1/2
10.11.2025 18:06 — 👍 7 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
Also, the Economist on China's meteoric rise as an energy superpower; the Houston Chronicle on how the federal gov is messing with Texas; Heatmap on a new load flexibility proposal in Texas; affordability as a massive political issue; and much, much more
www.douglewin.com/p/energy-af...
China is moving forward with renewables at a breakneck pace, but Texas could be a counterweight as we install 15-20 gigawatts of wind, solar, storage and gas per year. Unfortunately, federal big government overreach and red tape are slowing down the Texas energy miracle. 1/2
09.11.2025 18:47 — 👍 17 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 1
There's a new November electric demand record in Texas. It's 92 degrees in Austin – on November 7. There are 25,000 megawatts-worth of thermal plants offline for seasonal maintenance. Solar + wind providing >50% all day. Could see a battery record this evening. #txlege #txenergy
07.11.2025 21:22 — 👍 27 🔁 10 💬 0 📌 1Gas turbines are scarce, and supply won’t catch up soon.
I discuss with Nat Bullard why physics and lead times, not wishful thinking, set the pace, and how Texas can bridge the gap with renewables, storage, and smarter demand.
Texas is where the future of energy is being tested.
In this week’s Halcyon post, @nathanielbullard.com joins @douglewin.bsky.social to dig into ERCOT’s soaring load queue, the state’s one-of-a-kind market, and what its data signals for the rest of the country.
Read + listen 👇
hubs.ly/Q03RNcSl0
Texas severely lags on residential demand response, making reliability risks higher than they need to be; PUC Staff recommended higher profits for Texas' largest electricity utility; and Texas added 1.3 gigawatts of solar & storage in October. Link in reply. 1/2
04.11.2025 22:31 — 👍 6 🔁 2 💬 2 📌 0
How Hayek can help us think throught competition on the distribution grid by weighing the "knowledge problem" and balancing planning with markets; thoughts on human-centered AI; reaction to Bill Gates' new climate note, and much more here:
www.douglewin.com/p/proposed-...
Oncor wants a billion more per year in rate increases but "does not consider" DERs in its planning. DERs could save $8.5 billion over 10 years. It's time for regulators to require some form of competition and price discovery for the socialized distribution system. 1/2
02.11.2025 19:08 — 👍 12 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 01,200 Texans are already building America’s solar future.
Doug Lewin talks with Dan Barcelo (T1 Energy) on how Texas could make every step of the solar supply chain, from polysilicon to panels, right here.
Texas doesn’t wait for permission to build.
Doug Lewin and Dan Barcelo (T1 Energy) explore how Texas’ “build, build, build” spirit could turn distributed power into sovereign energy and why that matters for the next boom.
Over 75% of power installed last year globally was solar and over 75% of that was made in China. Can the US manufacture enough solar for our needs and maybe enough to export? I talked with T1 Energy CEO Dan Barcelo about building a solar supply chain in Texas. 1/2
29.10.2025 12:34 — 👍 22 🔁 5 💬 3 📌 1
Clean energy is full of opportunities for Texas, read more below
www.douglewin.com/p/the-energ...
ERCOT demand is up 5% year-over-year & 23% since 2021 with nearly all of the demand growth being met by wind, solar & batteries, according to EIA. Solar has gone from a barely perceptible sliver to nearly 15% in only 4 years, with most of the growth in the last year. 1/2
27.10.2025 18:49 — 👍 48 🔁 12 💬 1 📌 2
Much more on that as well as the re-emergence of energy as a weapon in geopolitics, the rise of critical minerals and not-so-rare earths mining in Texas, the EIA on rising demand in Texas, and more here:
www.douglewin.com/p/the-energ...
AI data centers aren't driving bills higher. In many places, rising demand is lowering costs as fixed costs are spread out to more users. 1/2
26.10.2025 17:27 — 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 2 📌 0
More on batteries and other grid updates, including on Entergy's very expensive gas plants and the growth of ERCOT's large load queue here: #txlege #txenergy
www.douglewin.com/p/texas-lar...
