Carl Lenox
@alphaconstant.bsky.social
490 followers 2.1K following 190 posts
All in for clean distributed energy abundance. At it for a good while now. Product, strategy, technology & policy
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
alphaconstant.bsky.social
Very interesting. Would be interesting to find out what drove the need for higher frequency reserves in Australia, but batteries crushed that growth and then some.

Also cool to see distributed batteries taking a bite, wish we could provide this service in the US!
dylanjmcconnell.bsky.social
Pretty cool graph from AEMO showing batteries and loads eating up the the FCAS markets in the NEM..

🔌💡
Reposted by Carl Lenox
usrepkathycastor.bsky.social
By raising electric bills and increasing power outages during hurricanes and heat waves, the Big Ugly Bill deserves a new name:
 
🪫 The Big Blackout Bill 🪫
**sponsored by Big Oil and Gas
Reposted by Carl Lenox
costasamaras.com
Tell your Reps not to vote for the blackout bill. Tell them you like cold drinks & air conditioning and if they vote for this they are taking those away from you & making energy more expensive. With all the new demands on the grid from AI, now is not the time to raise taxes on American clean energy.
Reposted by Carl Lenox
jessedjenkins.com
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.
alphaconstant.bsky.social
I’ll say this, if the outcome is bad (it ain’t over yet - still
some room to maneuver it seems) we need to relentlessly connect the dots to the consequences and make people like Alex Epstein OWN them
Reposted by Carl Lenox
cwebbonline.com
Spot on. This is the clearest explanation I’ve seen. It ‘s relatable, and humanizes the issue in a way everyone can understand.
alphaconstant.bsky.social
In Oakland, cross streets to the march were uncontrolled, except for volunteers in yellow vests and their cargo bikes. Useless against a maniac in a F150 or cargo van. This was negligence on the part of the OPD and just dumb luck something similar or worse didn’t happen.
alphaconstant.bsky.social
Great commute bonus the last few days on the Bay
alphaconstant.bsky.social
Cause aside for a moment, the ability to black start a massive, nearly islanded system in less than a day is very impressive — especially doing so on a very IBR heavy system.

Thoughts?

#energysky
alphaconstant.bsky.social
Yeah it’s hard to square that with ‘no permits’ and ‘no utility permission needed’
alphaconstant.bsky.social
1440W per the NEC (80% rule means 12A for ‘continuous’ duty, that is 3+ hours
per day)

But if we take the German example, they allow up to 800W backfeed (last I checked) which would turn into about 440W at 120V in the US (vs 220V there)
alphaconstant.bsky.social
That’s a good point! It seems like certification would still be an issue because you can’t ensure that only dedicated circuits are used once the equipment is in the wild.
alphaconstant.bsky.social
That post discusses a loan, not TPO. The OP owns the system.

In general TPO providers have a strong incentive for smooth home ownership transfers compared to loan companies, FWIW
alphaconstant.bsky.social
Sorry everyone I broke it
Claude fail whale
alphaconstant.bsky.social
240V circuits are always dedicated. A 120V dedicated circuit is possible but then this isn’t plug & play, an electrician needs to run that; and then that’s the only circuit the appliance would be allowed to use. In other words you’re back to hard wired.
alphaconstant.bsky.social
Didn’t know that but makes sense! Loved watching my meter spin backward in the olden days tho, a neg sign on the LCD just ain’t the same feeling
alphaconstant.bsky.social
Actually it’s super easy with analog meters, they literally spin backward and ‘unwind’ the readings. This is a big reason for simple net metering approaches, which long pre-date smart meters; no new metering had to be installed
alphaconstant.bsky.social
Positive development — addresses utility interconnection issue in UT, but there are other challenges that need to be worked through. Big thread on this from a few months ago:

bsky.app/profile/alph...
alphaconstant.bsky.social
#energysky

“Balcony Solar” - a hot topic!

The question is: how is this DIY, “permission-less” solar allowed in Europe, but not the US - and what’s stopping us here!

I may have some answers!

A 🧵
alphaconstant.bsky.social
UL Listing of this for intended application is a lot more involved than meeting UL 1741. Previous attempts have been unable to achieve listing because the concept of having a source & load on the same branch circuit is a non sequitur to the NEC, and UL won’t list if NEC non-compliant
alphaconstant.bsky.social
Heard - and acted on - this rumor earlier today. #energysky, have any details or confirmation including timing come to light in the last several hours?
allisonwgood.bsky.social
Hearing DOGE is cutting off access to EIA and NREL datasets 🔌💡
alphaconstant.bsky.social
Starter packs will get you the juice. Basically one-click follow of groups of folks focused in particular areas. Search for energy / climate / electrification and so on