- Essays··7 min read
The Auction That Did Not Run
FERC's suspension of PJM's Reliability Backstop Procurement on 29 September 2026 left funded, construction-ready datacenter projects without a capacity price or delivery timeline. The mechanism was designed to separate genuine demand from speculative filings — it did not run. A facilities director with signed contracts, active interconnection rights, and steel already rising now waits in the same indefinite queue as a letter of intent with no site and no tenant.
pjmenergy-policydatacenter-infrastructurecapacity-marketsRead - Essays··8 min read
The Permit You Can Now Block
Pennsylvania's Executive Order 2026-05 restructures permit sequencing: state environmental review now waits on local zoning approval, turning a township planning commission vote into a genuine gate rather than a formality. The shift arrives as utilities sought $18.6 billion in rate increases in the first half of 2026 alone and active opposition groups doubled to 833 across 49 states. This piece examines what the order actually changes — and why sequence is the mechanism that matters.
data-centresenergy-policylocal-governanceai-infrastructureRead - Essays··10 min read
The Invisible Optimisation Tax
Dynamic electricity tariffs like Agile Octopus offer genuine grid benefits — and quietly reassign the utility's demand-response coordination work to the household, unpaid. Responding to half-hourly price signals requires daily monitoring, scheduling, and appliance management that the pricing brochure does not cost out. The attention this demands is not free; it is merely unpriced, and the resulting savings accrue unevenly across household types.
energy-policydynamic-pricingdemand-responseconsumer-protectionRead - Essays··7 min read
three acts, one substation: Brussels just promised to triple Europe's datacentres
Brussels promised to triple Europe's datacentres in five-to-seven years. That is a power problem dressed as a permitting problem, and the substation queue will decide whether any of it ships.
eu-tech-sovereigntydatacentre-capacitygrid-powerai-infrastructureRead