Joshua D. Rhodes

US aluminum producers need cheap, clean power. That may be tough to… Century Aluminum and Emirates Global Aluminium want to build the nation’s first smelters in decades, but must compete with data centers for a limited…

It's AI vs. Al for cheap power

“Ultimately, this is about energy,” said Matt Meenan, VP of external affairs for the Aluminum Association.

“I think we’re going to have a hard time becoming fully self-sufficient for primary Al in the U.S.”

www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...

It is Texas! #knowthyaudience

Why Texas’s ‘cut-throat’ approach to net zero is paying off Trump’s anti-green agenda has put him on an unlikely collision course with supporters in the state

On why the cheapest form of energy does well in Texas:

“[Texas] set up its markets to be cut-throat,” says Joshua Rhodes, a research scientist at [UT Austin]

By contrast, in many other parts of the US, there is no competition at all, says Rhodes.

www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/80aac07...

Oh hey, IdeaSmiths CTO @joshdr83.bsky.social did this analysis!

The short version: voting to attack wind and solar is a vote to raise electricity prices and escalate chances of outages and shortfalls.

Engineer mountain was just calling out to me!

Renewable energy survived Texas attacks. Its future now depends on Trump. Texas bills targeting solar and wind power are dead, so the state’s flourishing renewable energy industry remains alive and well — for now.

It’s official: Texas bills targeting solar and wind power are dead.

Here's a recap of the arguments that worked, as the renewable energy industry tries the same appeals to lobby against Trump's "big, beautiful bill." www.houstonchronicle.com/business/ene...

Investing in US technology and US supply chains delivers benefits that reach far and wide.

"I'm a husband, father, and softball coach, and welding puts food on the table, smoked ribs on the grill." – Lee Evans, Welder, Grenzebach, Newnan, GA.

Learn more: bit.ly/43vszfW

#AmericasSolarCompany

Happy Texas Sine Die to those who celebrate!

You know what comes after A for Abundance? B for Billions of dollars of local taxes and landowner payments $50B to be approximate.

static1.squarespace.com/static/652f1...

Oh man, that would be awesome

It’s suburban Rs vs. urban Ds + rural Rs. Most of the bad stuff didn’t actually make it though, just made a bunch of splashy headlines.

Need to read book, did they talk to a Texan? @costasamaras.com

Connect and manage + b/c of no state income tax that gets redistributed, most local coffers are filled by higher property taxes. This means tax revenues from renewables stay local, which can help with local support.

Thanks!

Joshua in print, Josh over beers ;)

With respect to the alternative of no renewables, we find that there would be ~577 million more tons of CO2 (through 2022).

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How will the ERCOT grid hold up during this week's Texas heat wave? Electricity demand is expected to set an all-time May record this week, according to forecasts from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.

“The same sun that heats up buildings, that drives air conditioning, that drives peak (electricity) demand in Texas, is the same sun that's producing electricity for solar panels,” said Joshua Rhodes

www.houstonchronicle.com/business/ene...

Federal Energy Star label program, which helped curb electricity demand, said to be on chopping block The Trump administration reportedly plans to cut the program, just as electricity demand is rising in the United States due to the rise in data centers and AI.

“The electricity grid is looking to grow with new loads, like AI and data centers…” “Building new [infrastructure] takes time and money. ->, “it would be good to continue to be efficient in places where we can, [Rhodes] said.

www.marketplace.org/story/2025/0...

Sometimes it feels like it's just us, but it's not.
While Virginia is holding on to the title of data center capital of the world, this industry has the ability and incentive to go where the power is, not just where the initial infrastructure was laid.

Texas GOP moves closer to killing the state's renewable energy boom The bills would require nearly every solar and wind farm in the state to back up their electricity output with natural gas power plants or a fleet of batteries.

“It's like expecting a trumpet to play a drum line — it's just not going to work. It's not the right tool. But if you put all the tools together, then you can get an orchestra,” Rhodes said.

via @clairehao.bsky.social @houstonchronicle.com

www.houstonchronicle.com/business/ene...

Super cool map showing electricity, data, and datacenter infrastructure from NREL has been updated:

www.nrel.gov/docs/gen/fy2...

Been out for a bit to welcome this new addition to our family, really excited to be a dad! He is doing great, just working on what sleep means now ;)

How does AI change the latter part of this post? j/k! 🤣

#cartography #maps #datamapping #datacenters #energy #energymapping… | Billy Roberts | 399 comments I often get asked to make seemingly impossible maps. Recently I was asked to map existing data centers across the US. “Also, it needs to show fiber optic lines. Oh and transmission lines. Probably wat...

www.linkedin.com/posts/billy-...

ICYMI: amazing and timely map by Billy Roberts at NREL showing electricity and data infrastructure across the US!

lolz

Clean energy is powering local economies in Texas » Yale Climate Connections Wind, solar, and battery storage projects are generating billions in tax revenue for communities, a University of Texas study finds.

Rhodes: “And that can make a big difference for a rancher or a landholder to have that revenue. … A lot of landowners talked about wind and solar being like a drought-proof crop. It doesn’t have to rain to still get paid.”

yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/03/Clea...

A huge jump in the ERCOT solar peak generation record today at 12:20 pm.

New record = 26,321 MW
Old record = 25,015 MW - set just 10 days ago.

Note: Solar share of total generation was 56.3% when the record was set. Crazy!

Source: www.gridstatus.io/records/erco...

#energysky

They might be, but 1-axis tracking solar is often flat on sunny days b/c tracking and high DC-AC ratios that result in clipping -- most of TX solar is 1-axis tracking.

Can you believe these wind turbines? 🤣

Is wind energy really driving up electricity rates in Texas? What experts say Trump officials slammed wind energy during CERAWeek comments in Houston this week, claiming it has driven up electricity costs for consumers.

“AI is not going to wait for 2030 to come. It is going to be won or lost in the next few years,” Rhodes said. “And the things you can build today are wind, solar and storage.”

www.houstonchronicle.com/business/ene...