#isonewengland — Public Fediverse posts

Blistering scorn heaped on #ISONewEngland by the #NoCoalNoGas & #FixTheGrid campaigns, for throwing hardworking ratepayers under the bus: https://www.utilitydive.com/press-release/20241106-regional-grid-operator-holds-board-meeting-at-boycotted-hotel-drawing-crit/

No wonder we had a New England wide grid emergency Aug 1. #isonewengland was off in its day ahead high temperature forecast by 5x the average day ahead forecast error:
A 13 degree error (82F forecast vs 95F actual).

#isonewengland creates enormous profit off of ignoring science. The grid emergency (almost no one knows about) two weeks ago (August 1, where grid prices spiked higher than possibly ever, over $2700/MWh) was caused in large part by a day ahead weather forecast for high temperature that was 13 degrees Fahrenheit too low.
ISO marketed electricity assuming the next day’s high would be 82F, when it actually was 95F. A bad forecast means huge profit, a case of #DisasterCapitalism

The #isonewengland grid is all Yang and no yin. That’s why costs are ballooning & the reliability narrative is framed so narrowly.

#ISONewEngland is a fully capitalist grid. There’s never enough, and only a few can supply need. A distributed economy threatens the ISO capitalist model and therefore the market is rigged against distributed power. The fact is, there is enough, and will be enough, if we let distributed systems grow. There is actually plenty.

A #ISONewEngland's website search produces 1393 hits for "scarc*" (scarce + scarcity) and only 65 hits for "abundan*" (abundance + abundant). ISO's market is irreconcilable with abundance, only able to treat it as waste or something to be hoarded.
Antithetical to ISO, the fact is, there is enough energy to go around for everyone, after we build distributed renewable energy collectors.

#ISONewEngland’s profit model is based on a scarcity mindset, which works against abundant renewables and conservation. Exhibit A is ISO’s opposition to mentioning #DemandResponse as a tool to manage #eclipse2024.

For the rest of my term as a member of the #ConsumerLiaisonGroup I will be emphasizing an #abundancemindset to grow a resilient and healthy grid for all.

Unlike other grid operators, #ISONewEngland did not issue any public information notice about the coming event, even though it was forecast. This would have been helpful for a number of reasons, including providing public assurance that the probability of outages is low, and another opportunity for broad public education with STEM co-benefits.

It’s another lost opportunity, which is why members of the ISO-NE #ConsumerLiaisonGroup like myself are filling in the info & communication gaps.

End.

Last night at 8:30 #ISONewEngland issued an abnormal condition alert related to the #geomagnetic #solarstorm

https://www.iso-ne.com/event-details?eventId=155085

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#isonewengland apparently didn’t think this event was worth communicating to the public, like maybe assuring people that no outages are expected:
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/geomagnetic-storming-likely-persist-weekend

This is why #ISONewEngland is all talk & no action on #DemandResponse: it beats gas/oil peakers badly in the market, at the moments when gas/oil plants otherwise profit most.

https://www.iso-ne.com/static-assets/documents/2022/11/iso_dr_11_03_2022_hy.pdf

“Most DRR’s [Demand Response Resources] are offered extra-marginally in the energy market - i.e., they offer at a very high energy price.” (See slide in link for full slide text)

The principles of balance in yoga apply to a resilient, flexible, renewable, tensegritive grid. Instead of everything being additive and separate (the ISO way), grid yoga promotes complementarity and integration. Like demand response complementing renewables, the thing #ISONewEngland doesn’t talk about.

#DemandResponse pairs *extremely well* with solar & wind, almost like they were made for each other.

That’s exactly why #ISONewEngland silenced that message in #EclipseGate, and why they try to keep discussions of DR & renewables separated. It hurts gas Peaker plant profits, who dominate #NEPOOL, ISO’s “partner”.

Good news! #ISONewEngland has offered to answer questions about #DemandResponse at the June 4th #ConsumerLiaisonGroup public meeting coming up in Holyoke. DM if you need a ride.

This comes on the heels of this #EclipseGate kerfuffle wherein #ISONewEngland failed to mention DR as a tool to maintain grid balance during the eclipse. Maybe because they don’t actually use it? Hopefully we’ll find out.
https://indepthnh.org/2024/04/16/total-eclipse-of-the-iso-new-england-consumer-liaison-group/

#ISONewEngland’s next report:
“If I Did It: Activating Demand Response”

@isonewengland #isonewengland did not like that psa AT ALL and *asked* to refrain from communications like that. I responded by doubling down asking for demand response data during yesterday’s eclipse. They apparently just fired up gas peakers at ratepayer expense & didn’t activate DR - or at least neglected to mention it. Our grid manager is failing us, it’s getting exposed, & they don’t like it. https://isonewswire.com/2024/04/09/new-england-power-grid-reliable-throughout-eclipse/

The late afternoon bump is what #ISONewEngland forecasts, assuming people go on unthinking/inactive (how ISO wants us always to behave). That way profiteering polluting Peaker plants rake in ratepayer $$. #GridEclipse2024 #Eclipse #eclipse2024

#ISONewEngland talks a good game on strategic conservation, aka #DemandResponse (as recently as 2 weeks ago!), but when it comes down to it, must not be interested in saving energy, climate, air quality and ratepayer money. Because that's at odds with profiting off scarcity, the #ISONewEngland business model. https://isonewswire.com/2024/03/19/first-clg-meeting-of-2024-features-discussion-on-demand-response-video-available/

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Unfortunately, #ISONewEngland #ISONE isn't doing sh*t to encourage anyone to conserve electricity during #eclipse24. Instead, it says it'll just fire up peaker plants: "...solar production is expected to drop off fairly rapidly over the course of the eclipse and will need to be replaced by other sources of power generation. The exact amount of additional generation needed will depend on cloud cover that day." - https://isonewswire.com/2024/03/07/iso-ne-preparing-for-aprils-total-solar-eclipse/

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Help the Electric Grid during the Solar #eclipse24! #TheMoreYouKnow #PSA

The Solar eclipse on April 8 will cross several major grid regions across the US, including Texas #ERCOT, #MISO, #NYISO and #ISONewEngland, reducing grid electricity by up to 50% or more. Ratepayers can help the grid manage in a big way!

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#isoNewEngland, our regional grid operator,
sucks.

TLDR: we ratepayers have got this: we have the power today to solve the electric grid shortfalls the #ISONewEngland board spent hours hand-wringing about yesterday.

My public comment to the #ISONewEngland board today:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BzOLl3XSrmTi_e9FWWAYk0sVrUPlGLyu2PmL09s5zRI/edit

#ISONewEngland wields language to disempower ratepayers. They call household solar “demand response” rather than electricity generation. If rooftop solar owners band together as an entity, they call it a “virtual power plant” rather than a physically real but distributed power plant. They call ratepayers “consumers” to remind us that they want us to stay in our consuming lane.
They never use the word “democracy”. The most radical change to our grid will be changing the language of the grid.

A mere 22% of New England electricity demand met by behind the meter solar, which #ISONewEngland sees but doesn’t count as part of its market.

@CelloMomOnCars yes, I refer to it sarcastically as merely a financial emergency, which #ISONewEngland seems to suggest is tolerable, even though it is ratepayers who pay for these failures of #UnreliableFossilFuels.

@CelloMomOnCars sure! Here’s a description of what happened: https://indepthnh.org/2023/01/04/the-electricity-nightmare-before-christmas-2/

and here is #isonewengland’s explanation for what generators failed (gas & other fossil fuels): https://www.iso-ne.com/static-assets/documents/2023/02/combined_storm_elliott_op4_letters.pdf

@CelloMomOnCars
huh! Gas was also the biggest failure on the #nightmarebeforexmas 2022 in #isonewengland.

Here’s the 1/10th that is #isonewengland’s “official” solar:

Behind the meter solar is crushing it with 5 GW - added to the 0.5 GW that #ISONewEngland currently “counts”.