Isaac Orr

I grew up on a dairy farm in WI. Co-Founder at Always On Energy Research. Geology enthusiast. Tweets and typos are my own.

[Isaac Orr @TheFrackingGuy]

Unreliable energy advocates claim solar panels and battery storage are now able to deliver "baseload" power at a lower cost than coal or nuclear.

But we ran the numbers in ERCOT, and solar and storage aren't low cost, they are the most expensive energy out there.

A thread:

[Veriten @TeamVeriten]

Now Live: "There's No Natural Constituency for a Data Center" – Isaac Orr, Always On Energy Research🎙️

Today we had the pleasure of hosting Isaac Orr, Vice President of Research at Always On Energy Research and Co-Author of the Energy Bad Boys substack. Isaac specializes in energy modeling, electricity policy, environmental regulations, and natural resource development, with a particular focus on the cost and reliability implications of energy policies. He has evaluated the impacts of energy policies in more than a dozen states and modeled the effects of federal regulations on electricity markets, including MISO and SPP. As you’ll hear, Isaac grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin and brings a unique perspective to the intersection of energy, economics, and rural America. We were delighted to hear Isaac’s insights on the evolving U.S. power landscape and the outlook for energy policy.

@SuperSpiked @ArjunNMurti @TheFrackingGuy @AlwaysOnEnergy

[Xiao Wang @xiaowang1984]

You should think critically for just a second here.

If an utility is well hedged with generation and they have sufficient contracts to ensure their resource adequacy WHY ON EARTH would they want to pay for a share of transmission that doesn't guarantee capacity that enables "low cost" generation that is redundant with their hedges that they and their ratepayers are on the hook to pay for anyways.

This angle of "evil utilities blocking cheap energy" is asinine. It often doesn't make sense for exactly this reason. And forcing LSEs to pay for transmission so that some corporate can let their $50 PPA intermittent energy displacw $50 hedged energy is not exactly the most economically beneficial thing!

This is the reason the munis and coops fought so hard to be exempted from this smdh!

[Drew Smithee, PE @DrewSmithee]

For $10k I will tweet literally anything.

[Isaac Orr @TheFrackingGuy]

@Dis_invested Hit me up if you ever want to sell I’ll take a look!

[Isaac Orr @TheFrackingGuy]

I pity the fool heating with electric strip heaters

[Josh Barzon @JoshuaBarzon]

Winter is almost here. This is how Americans will heat their homes this winter.

[Isaac Orr @TheFrackingGuy]

@shane_dering Yeah that’s why I specifically said electric baseboard heat instead of electricity generally.

[Isaac Orr @TheFrackingGuy]

@Dis_invested Yeah my place is on a slab so there’s no good way to retrofit it

[Isaac Orr @TheFrackingGuy]

@Dis_invested Also where in central Wi? I grew up in waupaca

[Isaac Orr @TheFrackingGuy]

To the good people in the replies who seem to think they are the first person to inform me that heat pumps exist, I said strip heaters instead of electricity generally specifically to account for the strip heater use case. Your HP will work great until it gets cold.

[Fred Stafford @fredstaffordcs]

Advice for Blue Texas: don't listen to the champions of ERCOT wholesale markets in your energy policy. Outside of the public power territories, the status quo of rah rah energy abundance via renewables is not yielding cheaper prices for Texas households like it is for Texas biz.

https://t.co/1sAO5kjXlP

[Isaac Orr @TheFrackingGuy]

🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[Alexander C. Kaufman @AlexCKaufman]

Data centers as the main driver of electricity load growth? That's American exceptionalism, baby.

In its latest emissions forecast, @rhodium_group has a fascinating chart showing that buildings — air conditioning, heating, appliances — are the main drivers of electricity load growth basically everywhere but he U.S. Electric vehicles are the No. 2 rising demand in China and Western Europe.

Then there's the U.S., which, as the second chart shows, is way behind the rest of the rich world on electrification.

[Isaac Orr @TheFrackingGuy]

@DrewSmithee @Astoll15 I second this

[Isaac Orr @TheFrackingGuy]

@Sportz254 @ratlpolicy My grandpa bought his first truck at 10 years old in 1940 after his uncle, Loyal, lent him the money so he could sell apples and potatoes door to door.

[Isaac Orr @TheFrackingGuy]

@Sportz254 @ratlpolicy Probably because they started working at age six and didn’t squander their money on avocado toast!

[Isaac Orr @TheFrackingGuy]

I grew up in the house my grandpa was born in in 1930. Every day he’d come up to the farm and tell stories of growing up in the depression and his career in the feeder pig business. Grandma grew up in SD during the dust bowl. You can’t get that kind of context for how hard life used to be anywhere these days.

[Isaac Orr @TheFrackingGuy]

@NortonMpls Ken looks like he's aged 15 years

[Isaac Orr @TheFrackingGuy]

Europe should probably start drilling their own resources instead of complaining

Oil and prices at the pump are only part of the story. With natural gas, the US and Canada have a major advantage over Europe and Asia. @JavierBlas explains why https://t.co/xl4dsjAzwp

[Isaac Orr @TheFrackingGuy]

@LLBiggers @storklompen Apology accepted