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Posts from December 0

‘Free Enterprise Zone’ for Electricity?

By Kennedy Maize -- January 29, 2025

“Under the proposed deregulation plan, data centers would not need to worry about grid reliability to keep their business running. The two parties can make their own reliability arrangements, involving engineering (underground connections, backup generation, storage or through contract provisions).”

Data center madness due to artificial intelligence (AI) struck the U.S. Last week. President Donald Trump kicked it off with a strange White House session January 21, as AI gurus announced a $500 billion plan (scaled up from an initial $100 billion bet) to use private money for a veritable plethora of data centers across the entire U.S. The moniker was “Stargate,” not to be confused with “Watergate.”

Joining Trump at the White House meet-and-greet were Open AI founder Sam Altman, Oracle founder Ellison, and SoftBank CEO Masayosh Son. They would find the money, not ask the government for it.…

California Battery Storage: Continuing Fire Problems

By Kennedy Maize -- January 24, 2025

“The Monterey County Board of Supervisors held an emergency meeting Friday morning to discuss the fire. County Supervisor Glenn Church told KSVW-TV, ‘There’s no way to sugarcoat it. This is a disaster, is what it is’.”

The world’s second largest lithium-ion battery storage facility broke into flames last week (Jan. 16) some 77 miles south of San Francisco at Vistra Corp’s Moss Landing gas-fired power plant site, prompting an evacuation order of site workers and some nearby areas. The fire initially began to subside but flared up again the next day.

Firefighters decided to let the fire burn itself out rather than trying to extinguish it. A Monterey official told Reuters, that “the best approach, according to fire staff, is to allow the building and batteries to burn.” Officials said the fire finally burned out on January 20.…

French Nuclear: End of the Line?

By Kennedy Maize -- January 15, 2025

“Construction of the advanced ‘European Pressurized Reactor’ (EPR) at Flamanville began in 2007. It was projected to come into service in 2012 at a cost of $3.4 billion. The final cost, according to (Électricité de France) is about $13.7 billion.”

Last month (December 21), the 1,600-MW Flamanville nuclear power plant near Normandy (below) began delivering electricity to the French and European grid. It became the first new unit in France’s once-aggressive nuclear power program since 1996. The new reactor becomes the 57th in the French fleet.

EDF (Électricité de France) the French state-owned electric utility, was once seen as at the forefront of nuclear power, ahead in many ways of even the U.S., which has had its own troubles moving beyond its initial nuclear boom times. No more.

Construction of the advanced “European Pressurized Reactor” or EPR at Flamanville began in 2007.…

Negative Pricing in California (surplus solar at work)

By Kennedy Maize -- January 8, 2025

COP29 Preview: Hot Talk vs. Reality

By Kennedy Maize -- November 12, 2024

Naturally Hot, Exaggeration Not

By Kennedy Maize -- October 21, 2024

U.S. Offshore Wind: GE Vernova’s Big Problems

By Kennedy Maize -- October 3, 2024

The Department of Interior (Project 2025)

By Kennedy Maize -- September 6, 2024

U.S. Offshore Wind: The Struggle Continues

By Kennedy Maize -- August 21, 2024

Nuclear Fusion: More Government Fail

By Kennedy Maize -- July 24, 2024