Robin Millican

Energy, deep tech, and geopolitics at Center on Global Energy Policy @ColumbiaUEnergy | Former Breakthrough Energy policy and strategy leader

[Jason Bordoff @JasonBordoff]

In new @WSJ Saturday Essay, I assess how the Iran energy crisis is affecting diff parts of the world differently & reshaping the global energy map. The most consequential effects are not today’s price spikes but the long-term strategic shifts they prompt. 
https://t.co/uuSh6LCz8c

[Joe Weisenthal @TheStalwart]

Huge. A Brookfield-backed datacenter company is pulling out of a major project in Virginia, that they had been working on for years, due to growing political opposition https://t.co/fdlDPUYky8

[Robin Millican @RobinMillican]

@ts_fisher Thanks Travis! To be clear, I'm not saying massive BTM deployment shouldn't be allowed. I simply believe it would be economically inefficient and a forgone opportunity to make the bulk grid better for everyone. Hopefully we can rise to the challenge?

[Robin Millican @RobinMillican]

As you know I am very pro flexibility and optimization, plus before doing big new stuff I believe need to take a run at the "basics": large load tariffs, more queue reform, implementation of Order 1920 + an interregional planning rule, and strengthened backstop siting authority. That's my wish list!

[Robin Millican @RobinMillican]

Yes to this @robinsonmeyer in NYT: "We should not want a system of two parallel power systems: a fossil-fuel-intensive grid used by data centers, and an aging one used by everyone else. Since we can’t solve the grid crisis by blocking the data center buildout, we should focus on harnessing that buildout to improve the power grid overall."

https://t.co/dUhC0d3eFZ

[Robin Millican @RobinMillican]

@edison_eclectic @xiaowang1984 Working definitions I’ve seen typically include DLR, topology optimization, APFCs, and advanced conductors — so yes, the taxonomy is broad enough that basic switching infrastructure arguably qualifies. Fair point.

[Jason Bordoff @JasonBordoff]

In today’s @FT, I argue the Iran war shows how profoundly shale has affected US foreign policy. With the US far more insulated from global shocks, there are fewer restraints to using US economic and military power abroad — with major consequences for allies, rivals & markets.

[Robin Millican @RobinMillican]

CC @JamesHewettDC @JesseJenkins @LizaBReed @JaneAFlegal @DanielPalken @tylerhnorris @markeliotcaine @daniel_wolf1 @RicOConnell8 @RobGramlichDC @ts_fisher @noahqk @XanFishman

[Robin Millican @RobinMillican]

1/ FERC just announced a notice of intent to act on DOE's large loads ANOPR, with a ruling expected in June. Good. Ensuring interconnection costs from data centers, advanced manufacturing, and big electrification projects aren't passed to retail customers is overdue. But there is a larger affordability agenda:

[Robin Millican @RobinMillican]

16/ The good news in all this? Some of these costs are cyclical, and will smooth out over time. And, as it relates to large loads, the headline is the worst outcomes aren't structurally inevitable. States like ND, NE, and NM absorbed large load additions while reducing real prices. The difference wasn't just resource endowment, it was tariff design and planning capacity. Those policy choices are replicable.