Garen Checkley

@JonathanClayba1 that is from caiso.com/todays-outlook… - yes, it's locational marginal price. you can see the grid congestion pretty nicely as electrons are cheaper near solar/wind but this is even more fun as it shows the price swings and energy mix over time gridstatus.io/live/caiso

@garencheckley It’s ironic that I went from having really bad PG&E outages to a single minute over five years up to today. Where is that rate data coming from? Is that spot market pricing?

It took 18 months to permit (thanks to the idiocy of DBI), five years ago, but super glad I am getting my first real use out of home batteries!

@Astoll15 if you're building a storefront i have another product for you...

taking preorders now

The grid is really expensive! Google's flex demand contracts show how data centers can help reduce costs for others by better utilizing costly existing grid infra. 1GW is a pretty big number... and it'll keep going up! Proud of this company!

Today marks a significant milestone in the history of demand flexibility, as @Google announces it has contracted one gigawatt of data center demand response capacity into long-term energy contracts with multiple utilities across the US.  Very proud of this team for pioneering a new way to utilize data centers as grid-responsive assets – and while there are limits to how flexible a given data center can be, Google is committed to continue developing this capability and modernizing power system planning to help realize its potential.

California has explicitly pro-renewable policies. Texas has YIMBY. YIMBY is winning in deploying clean energy. We need massive STATE level permitting reform for renewables now. And open electricity markets, like ERCOT.

@CarolineBGolin @_LatitudeMedia @Stphn_Lacey latitudemedia.com/news/open-circ… good episode just need some AI editor to make it 3x shorter :) @Stphn_Lacey

important data center flex insight from @CarolineBGolin on @_LatitudeMedia @Stphn_Lacey 2 things can be true at once: 1) Data centers should/will be flexible via software demand actuation && behind the meter batt+gen 2) It's MUCH more economical for them to pay others to flex

reddit.com/r/bayarea/comm… <-- reddit post in question

As fixed charges come to PG&E in Mar 26, people are upset! Pic 1: Reddit rage (342 upvotes in 3 hrs!) about subsidizing inefficient homes Pic 2&3: Analysis from haas.berkeley.edu/energy-institu… showing that energy consumption is highly correlated with where you live & family size

@douglewinenergy @Google Welcome!

I’m excited to share that I have joined @Google's Energy Market Development team, leading energy strategy and market design work in Texas. Google is helping drive energy innovation at scale, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to join such a fantastic team. In this new role, I’ll be creating and implementing strategies to integrate data centers into the grid in ways that lower costs for all energy consumers while strengthening the grid. From advanced cooling technologies to enhanced geothermal to maximizing distributed energy resources to using AI to optimize the grid itself, Google is driving positive change, and I’m excited to be a part of it. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege to work in different capacities toward one mission: unlocking energy abundance that supports economic growth, public health, and a better quality of life. The opportunity to do that at Google is an extraordinary one. I wouldn’t have this opportunity without a large community of people who have mentored, taught, and supported me over the years—I’m grateful to all of you. The Texas energy community is a great one, and I’m so lucky to be a part of it. I look forward to continuing to work with y’all in this new role and to deepening existing relationships, making new connections, and building the grid of the future together. One more thing I want to address: lots of people are asking the right question about data centers: Why? If that’s a question on your mind, please watch The Thinking Game (link in the reply), an award-winning documentary about @GoogleDeepMind and its Nobel Prize winning founder and leader, Demis Hassabis. Google DeepMind cracked the code on protein folding, a holy grail that had eluded scientists for many decades. This breakthrough has the potential to create cures for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson's, and dementia, among a host of other diseases. My dad has Parkinson’s. I know firsthand how devastating it is. To make breakthroughs like this—and so many more—AI data centers will need a lot more power. This is my why. Working together, we can make breakthroughs unimaginable to previous generations. We already have. My role will be to help figure out how we can power these breakthroughs while also making cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable electricity. I can’t think of a better or more important challenge. I truly believe the future of energy is bright. To be part of a company like Google, helping bring that future into reality, is a dream come true. I’m excited to get to work.

@duncancampbell accessible via settings - but still often too wordy for my liking too, however this could be solved with custom instructions to value brevity, probably.

@duncancampbell not sure costly the verbose answers are (there's actually a setting for this), but verbose thinking / agentic workflows is probably where there's a lot of token-optimization to be had

OpenAI could save a lot of money on inference if Chat-GPT wasn't so overly verbose. If you ask a simple question that needs a one word answer, you get 6 paragraphs plus a pointless follow-up question/offer. It also makes the experience bad. I don't want to read all of that.

Super fun to see @NanoBanana Pro and @GeminiApp help us get excited about re-imagining urban areas I want this!

New insights on how data centers can cover their own costs - and help the grid - rather than straining it BYOC = bring your own capacity. data center providers find the power, and bring it to the grid operator. exciting because DC companies can be very innovative with new tech!

@clawrence I live in a multi family building. I’d love to be able to sell my solar (stored in batteries) to neighboring-units! Unclear if legally allowed - but a baby step. Next might be a wire over the fence to my other neighbor. No infra buildout required to start! @grok allowed in CA?

I have AT&T fiber at my home, have had it for years. Google just came in and installed fiber in my neighborhood. I now have a choice. No ‘ratepayer’ money used. No guaranteed rate of return. Are we ready to discuss this for electricity? And yes I know it’s not the same. But why not try this somewhere?

@Info_Cntrl IMO transparency in EVERYTHING should be the mandate for a monopoly. That's how we treat government - we demand to know everything - so I don't understand why IOUs need to be different. No competition? No [REDACTED] checks.

@garencheckley The transparency would be very interesting especially in a place like VA. I think that might be DOA as long as VA allows Dominion (IOU) to spend unlimited amounts lobbying law markers. Mayor conflicts of interest in plenty of states that greases investors pockets.

are there monopoly investor owned utilities in any of the green states?

@Info_Cntrl VPPs are incredibly cost effective because theyavoid over-building for peak loads because people can just - reduce demand by using batteries - shift usage, or - sell back battery-stored-power to the grid (admittedly not VPP, but similar)) And it's deployable TODAY, unlike nukes

@garencheckley I think shifting the costs onto the budget makes sense. Its more progressive than rates, for one. Would be interested on the estimates about VPPs— Ive always thought that sort of energy production was less efficient than a buildup of things like Nuclear.

@LadakArmaan @duncancampbell Let me know! Here's what I think could actually get it 25% down. Maybe 30% (haven't done the math, but 30% lower by 2030 has a nice sound to it :) x.com/garencheckley/…

The ways I can imagine to fix this: 1) somehow grow the hell out of load despite having terrible pricing and outages 2) get a federal bailout and then restructure the whole thing Checkout @wattarchive to see how bad things are.

@Info_Cntrl 5. radical project transparency so public/auditors/non-profits can suggest alternative 6. cap on IOU returns, currently allowed to be too high 7. some state level inverse condemnation reform

@Info_Cntrl IMO there's a path to 25-30% savings w/ some drastic changes 1. public financing 2. wholesale markets to allowing VPPs (vs building out for peaks, hardening) 3. retail energy choice that encourage increased off-peak utilization && peak shaving 4. some cost shift to state budget