Maryland, My Maryland

 Olivia Murray at Am Think thinks Electricity bills projected to jump 20% in coming months for these 13 states

In 2024, prices jumped a whopping 800% at PJM Interconnection, a “traffic controller” part of the grid that provides service in 13 states as well as D.C. For context, PJM operates the largest power grid in the U.S., with around 67 million customers—that’s more than 20% of the American population.

Here’s some quick context: Each year, PJM holds a capacity auction which sees power providers bid to meet the future demand in PJM territory, and it’s during this event that PJM “secures commitments” from power providers who will generate the future supply. As Reuters reported in July of 2024, amid a dwindling supply and an increase in demand, “Prices for power plants landed at $269.92 per megawatt-day, compared to $28.92 per megawatt-day” in 2023.

Now, according to a new piece by Laila Kearney at Reuters, prices are set to spike again, and the projection for this year is around 20%. If you live in Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, or D.C., this could affect you. Kearney revealed that the cause of the price increase can be blamed on AI demands:

America’s largest power grid is under strain as data centers and AI chatbots consume power faster than new plants can be built.

The grid as it is now is barely able to meet current demands, demands which are only expected to soar in just a few short years, and prices for consumers substantially increased for more than 20% of the citizenry in less than two years…but politicians and lawmakers continue to order the closures of operational power plants for their “renewable” energy crusade.

Now to even have this debate it requires us to ignore the elephant in the room, and that is that oil, coal, and natural gas are far more “renewable” energies than solar and wind. Yes the sun will shine and the wind will blow, but the technologies required to harness those energies have much shorter lifespans (by far) than the traditional sources.

I reported on this when the capacity auction happened, back in the Biden regency. Now the bill is coming due. Fortunately, this cost is only a fraction of the cost of electricity, so the increases will only be 20% or so.

Build more nukes. 

Palm Sunday

KVPR, A palm husk was mysteriously floating over a Fresno street. We asked a meteorologist about it.

FRESNO, Calif. – A palm husk. Around six feet long. Floating in mid-air.

That is what Fresno council member Luis Chavez stumbled upon during a walk canvassing for votes as part of his campaign for county supervisor. Chavez caught the mysterious floating husk on video, during a break in the rain. It looked like magic. “I’ve seen some really creepy stuff, but nothing like this,” he said, walking all the way around the floating husk to show that there were no wires or hidden structures holding it up over the damp road.

KVPR asked meteorologist Victor Proton at the National Weather Service office in Hanford how this could happen. Proton was also surprised. “I’ve seen two-by-fours from tornadoes in the sides of houses, straws stuck in car tires from tornadoes,” he said. But a piece of a tree hovering above the ground? “That’s a new one on me,” he said.

Proton also said there’s a likely explanation. It’s not witchcraft or a glitch in the matrix – despite what many commented on social media – but a weather phenomenon we’re more accustomed to seeing during dry weather. “It’s the same process as a dust devil, we were just missing the dust,” he said.

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Country Girls up on time at The Other McCain.

Promise?

From WUWT, Climate Change Causes EXTREME CALM!

“Global Stilling” from Global Warming (latest EU/UK energy excuse)

By Robert Bradley Jr. — October 12, 2021

“The explanation of [wind speed anomalies] points to the phenomenon called global stilling and it is related to #climatechange induced warming in the poles.” (Roberta Boscolo, UN World Meteorological Organization, below)

“… we were told not to worry … it would resolve itself, they said, either because wind is usually blowing somewhere, or through the development of electricity storage in giant battery farms. This was plain wrong.” (Matt Ridley, September 20, 2021)

 

The present UK/EU energy crises, expected to head into the winter, have much to do with forced energy transformation from coal/natural gas to wind/solar. After looking the other way, the mainstream media now recognizes the problem but is offering excuses.

Excuses, excuses. It’s COVID and an economic snap-back that was faster than expected, as well as poorly coordinated international energy planning, states Thomas Friedman in the New York Times. Or it’s just a cost of doing business in the climate emergency: a bump in the road, not overinvestment in dilute, intermittent energies and underinvestment in dense, mineral energies.

Add something else. Someone, somewhere has a brand new theory–and the cause of the global energy crisis is … you and me via the human influence on climate. Global warming for global stillness….

Too much wind is my most used excuse for no going fishing. If it would help still the wind, I'd go drive a few more miles... 

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Danielle Rose Russell up on time at The Other McCain.

Fatal Truck Accident Off Bay Bridge Tunnel

Driver dies after tractor-trailer goes over the side of the CBBT

The driver of a tractor-trailer that went over the side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (CBBT) Thursday afternoon has died. CBBT spokesman Tom Anderson confirmed the driver died when he was on the way to the hospital.

Authorities identified the driver as 47-year-old Joseph Chen, of Greenville, North Carolina. Chen was hauling a load of seafood for Evans Transports, which is based out of Washington, North Carolina.

The tractor-trailer went into the water on the southbound side of the CBBT at mile marker 15 around 12:30 p.m. Navy spokesman Cmdr. Dave Hecht said a crew with HSE 2 out of Norfolk was in the area training when police called for help.

That crew responded in an MH-60 Sierra and pulled the driver out of the water. WAVY’s Erin Kelly tweeted that officials said the driver was standing on top of the vehicle before he was hoisted into the helicopter.
. . .
Bridge officials issued Level 2 wind restrictions Thursday, with winds exceeding 47 mph. There was a Level 1 restriction at the time of the accident.

Under a Level 2 restriction, tractor-trailers must be hauling a gross payload of 30,000 pounds, in addition to the weight of the rig.

It's Pretty windy out. It peaked here at nearly 40 with gusts to 50.