If you thought the 2025 PJM capacity auction was rough, just wait until you see what is about to happen for 2026.
The solar lobby and groups like CUB are quick to point out that PJM has a big and slow interconnection queue, but they won't tell you that solar, which makes up most of the queue, is one of the least valuable resources in the capacity auction. The ELCC is ~10%, and over time that will fall. So not only are we phasing out gigawatts of dispatchable firm resources, we are trying to replace them with something that is significantly inferior. All while load growth is exploding. Its a recipe for significantly higher prices, which will hurt lower income folks the most.
A good City That Works follow up to this would be a proposal for Illinois to exit PJM altogether.... We were our own balancing authority until Enron came around and 'deregulated' us. We have more than enough power to satisfy our own demand. The ComEd zone is a net-exporter of electricity every second of the year. Its the wider PJM region that aren't pulling their own weight, especially the mid-atlantic zones.
"Nearly 85 percent of wildland fires in the United States are caused by ... campfires left unattended, the burning of debris, equipment use and malfunctions, negligently discarded cigarettes, and intentional acts of arson." (https://www.nps.gov/articles/wildfire-causes-and-evaluation.htm)
"Human-caused climate change doubled the area burned by wildfire in the western U.S. from 1984 to 2015, over what would have burned naturally. In national parks and other protected areas of Canada and the U.S., climate dominated physical and local human factors in driving wildfire from 1984 to 2014. Human-caused climate change increased fire season length up to two months in North America from 1979 to 2013."
This paper you've linked is nonsense. Seriously, did you read the Conclusion section? There are no useful insights or recommendations to extract whatsoever. It's all rhetoric.
If you thought the 2025 PJM capacity auction was rough, just wait until you see what is about to happen for 2026.
The solar lobby and groups like CUB are quick to point out that PJM has a big and slow interconnection queue, but they won't tell you that solar, which makes up most of the queue, is one of the least valuable resources in the capacity auction. The ELCC is ~10%, and over time that will fall. So not only are we phasing out gigawatts of dispatchable firm resources, we are trying to replace them with something that is significantly inferior. All while load growth is exploding. Its a recipe for significantly higher prices, which will hurt lower income folks the most.
https://www.pjm.com/-/media/DotCom/planning/res-adeq/elcc/2026-27-bra-elcc-class-ratings.pdf
A good City That Works follow up to this would be a proposal for Illinois to exit PJM altogether.... We were our own balancing authority until Enron came around and 'deregulated' us. We have more than enough power to satisfy our own demand. The ComEd zone is a net-exporter of electricity every second of the year. Its the wider PJM region that aren't pulling their own weight, especially the mid-atlantic zones.
Who would have thought that one of the oldest high tech industry, nuclear power would be saved by the latest , AI???
I'm disappointed that you seem to have bought into the CO2 nonsense. Many sources contradict your concerns, such as https://co2coalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/We-Can-Still-Avoid-the-Net-Zero-Trap.pdf
How’s those wild fires and hurricanes working out for you tax man???? 😆😀💕🤪
"Nearly 85 percent of wildland fires in the United States are caused by ... campfires left unattended, the burning of debris, equipment use and malfunctions, negligently discarded cigarettes, and intentional acts of arson." (https://www.nps.gov/articles/wildfire-causes-and-evaluation.htm)
"Atlantic hurricane season kicks off without named storm for fourth year in a row " (https://www.foxweather.com/weather-news/tropical-weather-outlook-forecast)
I could give you a bunch more of these but I suspect both you and I have better things to do.
"98% of scientists agree with whoever is funding them."
"Human-caused climate change doubled the area burned by wildfire in the western U.S. from 1984 to 2015, over what would have burned naturally. In national parks and other protected areas of Canada and the U.S., climate dominated physical and local human factors in driving wildfire from 1984 to 2014. Human-caused climate change increased fire season length up to two months in North America from 1979 to 2013."
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/climatechange/ccandfire.htm
This paper you've linked is nonsense. Seriously, did you read the Conclusion section? There are no useful insights or recommendations to extract whatsoever. It's all rhetoric.
Weird that whenever I see a comment use the word nonsense, it turns out to be nonsense 😆
I see it as a sign that we've really made it as a newsletter, that we're now attracting our own cranks in the comment section.