Willett Kempton

Correction,
$4.31/Watt capital cost

For scale, a 2.6 GW OSW wind project, at 55% capacity factor, would run the entire state of Delaware—houses, industry, offices, everything. After the paperwork it’s a 3 year build. And reduces electric bills (a little) statewide.

Dominion says largest US offshore wind project on track The 2.6-GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is set for completion by the end of 2026 despite vessel delays, the utility company said Friday.

Largest US #OffshoreWind project by the numbers:

2.6 GW, 176 turbines (≈15 MW each)
$4.31/MW total capital
$84/MWh cost of energy
63¢ /month customer bill SAVINGS
Utility-owned
Q1Y26 first power into grid
Q4Y26 expected completion
Lowering bills & meeting VA's load growth!

Great detail on Dominion’s progress building 2.6 GW #offshorewind. First OSW project for this utility, new port, new installation vessel. And, unexpected glitches, like 200 punch list fixes for the big boat🤯. #energytransition @rtoinsider.bsky.social

Vehicle-to-Grid Power Is Becoming a Reality, But Why Isn’t Progress Faster? - Inside Climate News Your EV battery is often an underutilized resource that could be part of a network that acts like a power plant for your region.

New V2G demonstrations, but… Why Isn’t Progress Faster? Asks @dangearino.bsky.social in @insideclimatenews.org. Good analysis of reasons, including current projects and my perspective on fundamentals, recent advances, and overcoming barriers. #EV #V2G #storage 🔌💡

That solves for the big BTM devices. Sure, also good to have access to premises smart meter. But we didn’t need that access for home solar (done with RECs+NEM), and I think we won’t need it for #V2G nor BTM home batteries.

Thanks, helpful link. We have successfully carved the turkey at different joints within 2222. Premises meter for kWh energy and TOD transactions at 1-h time resolution, settled with EDC via bill. Device meter for RTO A/S & capacity at 1-sec resolution, settled from RTO via aggregator. Running now.

Hi @jigarshahdc.bsky.social Our UD #EV group is now running EVs in PJM A/S markets; entering PJM Capacity market seems blocked by their market requirement to also sell energy (impossible for batteries), not blocked by data release problems. Clarify, who should release what data?

How Trump’s Case Against Revolution Wind Fell Apart The administration argued in the name of national defense — but Orsted had receipts.

Scoop: Trump lost the legal battle over halting the offshore Revolution Wind project after Orsted, its developer, brought reams of evidence to court alleging the government was lying about military security concerns.

It’s a sign truth can empower companies Trump targets.

Via @heatmap.news

Trump claims offshore wind is worthless. This project proves the opposite is true. South Fork Wind, the U.S.’ first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, is demonstrating the folly of the Trump’s administration’s misguided war on offshore wind.

Are US Administration worries about #offshorewind valid? South Fork Wind now has a year’s operating experience, Orsted has released a report on it, and @justingerdes.bsky.social has a quick-read summary—a factual, data-based alternative to today’s government propaganda.

US judge allows halted US offshore wind project to resume construction A federal judge on Monday granted a request by Danish offshore wind developer Orsted to restart work on the nearly finished Revolution Wind project, which President Donald Trump's administration halted last month.

Rule of law prevails! Big clean energy project can proceed. #offshorewind #energytransition 🔌⚡️

Incisive article “Power Struggle” by @jefftheyoung.bsky.social on how US policy drives investment, factories and jobs out of USA, favoring China. Quote (below) by @billmckibben.bsky.social if US blocks new expanding technologies, it could become the Colonial Williamsburg of internal combustion.

How fast can the world install 1GW of solar? Below graph 2004=1 year, up to 2023=1 day!
As of 2025, 11.5 hours—see ember-energy.org/latest-updat...
For explanation, see McKibben books.apple.com/us/book/here...
(Similar acceleration seen for wind, next storage.) Growth now unstoppable!

Representative Seth Magaziner (@magaziner.house.gov) Proud to fight for working people as the Representative for Rhode Island's Second Congressional District.

US Rep Seth Magaziner bsky.app/profile/mag... asks Mr. Suess, Acting Ast Sec at DOI, why halt Revolution Wind for redundant US Gov. review? Why raise energy prices, put US workers on unemployment & kill new domestic energy? No answer: youtu.be/IWpW000opLU

Also WSJ: www.wsj.com/us-news/...

We Need Permitting Certainty...from Start to Finish The U.S. Chamber urges the need for permitting reform as well as the importance of providing certainty for energy projects already permitted.

Even the US Chamber🎩is: “…concerned… halt work orders on offshore wind projects that already have permits, some… far along in construction… risks raising the cost of electricity… America needs every possible electron it can get, from any source,”💸

From @slashklc.bsky.social , a very plausible explanation of why US Admin vehemently opposes some low-carbon energy technologies and neutral or mildly positive on others.
Q: How to determine what is opposed? Look at current deployment sizes and growth rates.
A: #solar and #windpower

W. Kempton holding one module of an EV battery pack, in EV lab

Part of UDelaware EV R&D team, in front of V2G capable EV.

W. Kempton on boat in front of offshore wind project in Denmark.

Vineyard Wind single turbine deployment (GE 13MW) out of New Bedford, Mass., using feeder-barge method with motion stabilizers.

I’m Willett @ U Delaware, leading research, development, & policy on #offshorewind & #EV, latter including #V2G (using batteries in EVs to make the grid more reliable & renewables-efficient).

Practice sequence:
find-huge-gap➡️research➡️ prototype➡️standards&enabling-law➡️educate-companies➡️better-world

Revolution Wind receives offshore stop-work order from US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management On 22 August 2025, Ørsted’s subsidiary Revolution Wind LLC, a 50/50 joint venture with Global Infrastructure Partner’s Skyborn Renewables, received an order instructing the project to stop activities on the outer continental shelf related to the Revolution Wind project from the US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). Revolution Wind is complying with the order and is taking appropriate steps to stop offshore activities, ensuring the safety of workers and the environment.

Dept Interior issued work stoppage to Revolution Wind—700 MW of clean power, 80% built, power on this fall, contracted to RI and CT. All permits approved long ago. This is anti-business, chills investment, raises costs. Chokes off needed ⚡️🔌.

🇺🇸Admin told Feds🫵favor energy produced using less land even if more$$ 😵‍💫. See great analysis by @mzjacobson.bsky.social; my refinements: corn🌽ethanol is not production, and space between turbines is not “used” (2nd link, tbl S28). Result:
Fossil+nuc 1.6% land
Renewables 0.16%

So💨☀️🟰 ⬇️$ and ⬇️land!

Largest offshore wind project worldwide, Berwick Bank, 4.1 GW, approved contingent on avian study & mitigation if needed. How big 4.1 GW for Scotland? 🟰 power of 2x households OR 🟰 to taking ALL cars of the road. Running well before 2030.
BBC: bbc.com/news/article...
Dev: www.berwickbank.com

I agree that output is a better measure of effect or value. My prior message answered your why: It’s business advantage in competitive markets, not some secret. Also, I gave you links to data on many projects. The information is out there but you don’t seem to want to do the work to find or read it.

Power production is a highly competitive business. If you approach one project, right, their data is proprietary. Many reports summarizing data results, easy to find. Or, to analyze yourself, use pubic data, for example, click "download" on any of these: catalog.data.gov/dataset/util...

You asked for a number, I gave you it, told you I’ve calculated it and it’s in textbooks. You replied saying it is fabricated and showed you don’t understand it anyway. So a waste of my time to be helpful. Parting advice:if you build things based on ideology rather than engineering, they fall apart.

U.S. mid-latitudes, installed capacity factors average 18% for solar, 30% for land-based wind, and 50% for offshore wind. That’s ± for equipment variants and local climatology. I’ve calculated these and reviewed with other analysts many times. They’re in intro textbooks. Don’t need to “find out”.

This thread, and the cited IEA Report, are based on measurements, experience, and expert review. You responded with unsupported qualitative claims from political blogs, quantitatively wrong plus ridiculous given > $1 Trillion invested this year. Try posting in a political thread for more reactions.

World energy investments. #Grid, #solar, and #wind dwarf all others—in $/year or in (not shown) new MWh/yr. Seems the current US Admin. missed this trend, and believes that blocking growing technologies in one country will change the many market drivers of their growth. 🔌 www.iea.org/reports/worl...

New Senate GOP bill would kill clean power and spike energy costs Under pressure from Trump, Senate Republicans unveiled legislation so restrictive that even Elon Musk and the Chamber of Commerce’s policy chief oppose it.

Senate Republicans are pushing a tax cut bill that would undermine billions of dollars of clean energy investment, kill jobs, drive up energy prices and add a new 'tax' on solar and wind so ugly that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Elon Musk oppose it:
www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...
#energysky

The Senate version of GOP's budget bill dropped in the middle of the night. Astonishingly, it got EVEN WORSE. It raises energy costs, kills $100s of billions of investment in manufacturing, makes grids less reliable, increases pollution & constrains our ability to compete w/China on AI. Loser stuff.

Report on navigating with current weather forecasts

First text is from my in-law, a capable #mariner. #Weather forecasts appear to be the same, but suddenly way less accurate. 2nd from meteorologist colleagues on how specific staff cuts degrade forecast accuracy. One of many ways the national infrastructure we rely on is being silently destroyed.

‘Half the tree of life’: ecologists’ horror as nature reserves are emptied of insects A new point in history has been reached, entomologists say, as climate-led species’ collapse moves up the food chain even in supposedly protected regions free of pesticides

This is giving me chills. Read it carefully. The math. chaos we’re adding into the climate is wiping insects off the planet. Even insects likely won’t be able to evolve fast enough to keep up. I’m scared to think about more complex organisms in the food chains.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Costs to build gas plants triple, says CEO of NextEra Energy 
 - Gas Outlook NextEra Energy’s CEO said that gas turbines have a multi-year backlog, leading to soaring costs for new gas-fired power plants.

😲 “We built our last gas-fired facility in 2022, at $785/kW. If we wanted to build that same gas-fired combined cycle unit today…$2,400/kW" - NextEra CEO John Ketchum
gasoutlook.com/analysis/cos... 🔌💡