David Riester

I can’t remember the precise definition of “dead weight loss”, but….its this, right?

#econsky

YouTube video by International School History Hawley–Smoot Tariff - Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

When I was as young as 7 I think I understood - deep in my bones - a trade strategy like this was doomed. And all that required was watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off about 163 times.

#energysky
#econsky

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuOH...

As a #wisconsin native, this warms my heart. The trait I most associate with the ethos of Wisconsinites is humility. So an unhinged sociopathic narcissist comin' in hot always seemed like a bad strategy.

As a #renewableenergy professional, this gives me a bit of hope on the state legislation front

NextEra Energy CEO: Energy demand will increase sixfold over the next twenty years John Ketchum, NextEra Energy CEO, joins 'The Exchange' to discuss energy demand going forward, how expensive it is to build a natural gas power plant, and much more.

Never thought I'd hear Nextera's CEO describe renewables as a "bridge" to more gas-fired generation!

Ketchum performs some breathtaking gymnastics explaining Section 45 #ITC. Yet...he usefully conveys general optimism and a purely capitalistic case for leaving the #IRA be. #energysky cnb.cx/43zAGbp

A very important topic, well framed. This odd foundational “assumption” that most data centers truly need extreme reliability and constant operations is absurd to me. Some? Sure. But “need” is often applied where “want” is more appropriate. And we simply don’t have the luxury.

#energysky

David Riester on LinkedIn: Quisling - Wikipedia [Personal, "off-topic" post] Is anyone aware of a log/register/repository that is, well, logging, registering, or tracking the positions that…

Anyone aware of an existing “record” aiming to track influential people who are, essentially, pulling a “Quisling” and voluntarily choosing self-enrichment over preserving the #socialcontract, democracy, morality? We need a visible “Quisling Tracker” to establish a cost for selling civilization out

Wouldn't a hawkish party keen to wield military power want a badass at the helm? Annoying libs is gratifying, I'm sure, and jamming a wife-beater into #sod? touché. But Rus/China/Iran/DPK licks their chops ready to scalp the corpse of a fallen US and you want a dipshit in charge? Demand better #GOP

Deposits, Deposits, Deposits… This article is a retrospective on how financial security deposit solutions for aspiring renewable energy power plants have evolved since 2023.

I wrote an article on "deposits" (IX, PPAs, etc) and the systemic problem #solar #bess #wind developers face in meeting all these capital/credit intensive needs for worthy projects. It's not as sexy as AI, but my is it a driver of the #energytransition
#energysky 🔌💡⚡

segueinfra.com/articles/dep...

I’ve been surprised at how cold the dev community has gone on CAISO. There are fine reasons to steer clear - 1. Queue length, 2. Deliverability, 3 solar saturation, 4. PUCs recent decisions - but we’ve overcorrected. There are durable fundamentals. BESS penetration is spectacular and not slowing.

One of the most predictable experiences I have as a RE project development capital provider is that developers ALWAYS plan for their pending corp. equity transaction closing in weeks when it inevitably takes months…and the possibility of a dead deal is almost never considered.

#energysky 🔌💡

Which I personally don’t find less motivating, as the avoidance of other’s severe suffering is, maybe counterintuitively, almost more poignant than the notion of preserving indefinite runway for a large earth population. But it is sure depressing to watch the task turn Sisyphean on your monitor.

Unfortunately the math became impossible in early Nov - at least according to the NorESM, and MPIESM - with est. scalar shifts applied to US patterns and 2nd deg. effects thereof. It is now a question of how many generations have a decent quality of life and what that life looks like.

Sure, probably. But we aren’t competitive here even absent dumping. Had our window, subsidized oil instead. Now, fruitlessly imposing tariffs costs America too dearly by slowing transition to clean energy, and jobs (90%+ of American solar jobs are related to developing/building/operating plants)🔌💡

There are variations of this, some stale, some half relevant. A tailored look is not terribly difficult but requires making a couple dozen assumptions that are ripe for debate. People freeze up at such junctures. Can you elucidate “different techs ability to shift supply chains”?

Not that we aren’t making great strides with IRA Catalyzed domestic manufacturing, but we’re still more than an order of magnitude short. Frankly our window to avoid heavy import reliance closed when we skimped RD support in the 2000s. It’s now a matter of degrees. Our degree presently sucks.

Did you catch any chatter about sliding domestic content requirement up a notch with PWA requirements for 30%? I have this fear that the 18 letter-writing republicans aren’t sufficiently informed to understand that’s little different than axing it, and are being pushed to support that compromise.

Becketts line has long had its talons in me:

“I can’t go on.”
“I’ll go on.”

Like many, I’ve instinctively retracted inward this month, sensing the coming days will be unbearable.

But the point of the line is that there is some daylight between what seems unbearable, and what is actually so.

On a train in Germany with my kids and they are floored by how many of these old 1-2MW plants we’re passing (look like mostly 100-140W mods). Reminding me of when Germany’s FIT dominated the global market, accelerating everyone down the cost curve. We’re all indebted to that leadership still.