John Engel

[John Engel @EngelsAngle]

18,000 of our closest friends and the biggest @DISTRIBUTECH ever. Thank you! #EnergyTwitter

[John Engel @EngelsAngle]

@mischa_steiner @BryceJohanneck @xiaowang1984 Let’s connect! Glad you enjoyed @DISTRIBUTECH

[Logan Stewart @DE_LoganS]

This is the first time @DukeEnergy has shared behind-the-scenes details about how we responded to #HurricaneHelene #Helene as well as coordinated mutual assistance from other utilities with challenges like limited cellular networks.

https://t.co/TIglifB855 @EngelsAngle

[John Engel @EngelsAngle]

@jeffsaintjohn Thank you for covering this, Jeff.

[Naomi Kowles @NaomiKowles]

Hi, local reporter who’s also been traveling some of the most rural and hard hit areas across WNC. You’ve shared my reporting before, so I assume there’s some trust in me. Here’s the context I’ve learned on the ground:

[Evan Fisher @EFisherWX]

The Town of Black Mountain is asking folks to hold off on donations for a few weeks.

We are overwhelmed with supplies. Some churches are even having to turn supplies away. It’s a logistics nightmare.

We’ll need help for MONTHS. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

[Jamie Dupree @jamiedupree]

Donald Trump and Republicans claim that FEMA doesn't have money for Hurricane Helene relief, because as much as $1 billion or more was transferred out of FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund to deal with illegal immigrant needs.

There is no evidence of that. 🧵 1/ with receipts

[John Engel @EngelsAngle]

Scenes from Asheville today

[John Engel @EngelsAngle]

#ASHEVILLE: Police escorted convoy of a few dozen @Walmart relief trucks heading westbound on I-26 into town. What a beautiful sight. Thank you!! #helene @WLOS_13

[Tyler Norris @tylerhnorris]

Open grocery stores in Asheville:
I just spent a few hours visiting stores in-person to confirm. This list is not intended to be 100% exhaustive but hopefully helps. I'm sharing as a screenshot & text thread for max accessibility. (1/7)

[Hannah Goetz @HannahGoetztv]

THREAD: Today we flew in Chopper9 for nearly 5 hours to get a look at the damage in Western North Carolina.
What we saw was devastating.

@wsoctv
These are some of the images:

📍Riverside Dr NW Charlotte

[John Engel @EngelsAngle]

Day two of no power, no cell service, no water in Asheville.

[Calgary Flames @NHLFlames]

It’s with great sadness, we mourn the tragic deaths of our friend Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew Gaudreau.

Our hearts are broken by this devastating loss. Johnny was and always will be a member of the Flames family and loved by all of Calgary.

[Justin Gerdes @JustinGerdes]

New England’s plan to boost power grid capacity to support 4.8 GW of new offshore wind capacity includes a 100-hour battery from @FormEnergyInc: https://t.co/ON6mxAxc0V via John Engel (@EngelsAngle)

[John Engel @EngelsAngle]

So far, we know that the PUC of Texas, Corpus Christi utilities, and NYSEG have been impacted by the #CrowdStrike outage. DOE website is also down.
https://t.co/W6jmkSwUTZ @powergridintl @DISTRIBUTECH #energytwitter

[John Engel @EngelsAngle]

CenterPoint says utility workers in Houston are facing violent threats as they work to restore power from #HurricaneBeryl.

One out-of-state lineworker had a gun pointed at them, others were shot at with an airsoft gun.
https://t.co/XFOj4WTdoa @powergridintl

[John Engel @EngelsAngle]

@powergridintl Watch for yourself: https://t.co/VJjVea0M4J

[John Engel @EngelsAngle]

@powergridintl The council didn't appear to recognize that xAI is affiliated with Elon Musk. One council member, unconvinced by the infra upgrade plan stated:

“This (presentation) was ok, but this is not it. There are other options... We need to get some Megapacks!”

[John Engel @EngelsAngle]

@powergridintl The utility briefly mentioned that xAI is affiliated with Tesla but it didn't seem to land with council.

But the most interesting piece is he believes the data center deal with xAI could lead to getting "batteries to come faster and cheaper than anywhere else" for the utility.

[John Engel @EngelsAngle]

@powergridintl The CEO of Memphis' utility said they have plenty of capacity to support the data center and that it would be a win for the community (property taxes, potential for a new water treatment plant, etc.).

[John Engel @EngelsAngle]

Subtly wild back-and-forth over plans by Elon Musk's AI company to bring a data center to Memphis by the city's utility and council.
https://t.co/UaJMrRlRqC #energytwitter @powergridintl

[John Engel @EngelsAngle]

@powergridintl Council members were upset that they were only learning of the plan as it neared the finish line.

xAI will occupy an existing industrial building, plans to fund $1 million in distribution upgrades, will front the cost of a 150 MW data center, and won't receive tax breaks.