Happy Birthday USA
"While the country celebrates its 250th birthday, I've spent the week watching the grid that powers it operate at the edge of its limits. EEA2 declared, Deploy All Resources executed, Attachment O invoked operationally for the first time, $2,980/MWh at PEPCO. I've been documenting it in real time since Monday morning. Full after-action analysis coming next week — it's a story worth telling right."
I've been watching NYSIO; not only has NY's grid gone to the wall a few times, oil and coal came back in to the picture. I wonder if the City of Jamestown BPU revived a coal boiler? AES Greenedge in Dryden had one nicely mothballed as well; wonder if it was re-lit? Price per MW/hr above $700 ought to make the Citizens howl when the electric bill arrives next month.
Wind and solar never got above 8% total load demand. NY is headed for some tough choices.
I look forward to your analysis. Your observations bring to mind the statement made by Apollo 13 astornaut Jack Swigert on April 13, 1970, "Houston, we've had a problem."
California has the greatest amount of battery storage and solar of any state.
Per CAISO, https://www.caiso.com/documents/key-statistics-may-2026.pdf
16,531 MW batteries on 06/01/26 As of 06/11/26, 23,000 MW Solar 12,332 MW Wind.
In Californians for Green Nuclear Power's (CGNP's) physics and engineering-based analysis, inverter-based resource (IBR) generation is "junk power" because IBRs fail to contribute meaningful amounts of synchronous grid inertia (SGI,) an essential grid reliability service. Generators which contribute large amounts of SGI are like giant flywheels like Diablo Canyon Power Plant. See the June 11, 2026 GreenNUKE article, "Why is Grid Inertia Still Important:" https://greennuke.substack.com/p/why-is-grid-inertia-still-important
This seems to be an example of the power of aggressive lobbying paired with ideological bias. The reality is that physical laws will not be repealed by any legislative action. As the April 28, 2025 mid-day Iberian Peninsula illustrates, the consequences of ignoring physical laws are deadly and expensive. CGNP has learned that Spain is now burning much more natural gas to insure adequate SGI at all times. The reason for using natural gas instead of nuclear is the Spanish PSOE government has decreed that nuclear power is supposed to be completely shut down by 2035 as Spain emulates Germany and the U.K., among other left-leaning Western governments. Per the U.S. EIA, the fuel cost for nuclear power is stable at about 1/4 the cost of natural gas or coal on a BTU basis.