Since ending his tenure as Director of the Department of Energy’s Loan Program Office under Joe Biden, Jigar Shah has been producing hands down the most useful and informed energy transition content available.
Shah has pointed out that my state of Michigan has been doing some of the most forward leaning work to harness Data Centers and the AI juggernaut on behalf of clean energy goals, and I’m hoping he’ll consider doing an interview to help support my work in communicating that reality in a political year when everyone seems to have lost their damn minds in a panic about AI and how to deal with it.
I got my “Energy Empire” swag today, little reward for submitting a question to the “Ask Jigar” segment of the Energy Empire podcast. See Below
In Michigan, the Public Service Commission, our Regulatory body that is in charge of utilities and grids, has put some strong and sensible safeguards on a the hyper scale Data Center that Oracle is building in Saline, just south of Ann Arbor.
In addition, Oracle has agreed to provide for the ratepayers of Michigan, 1400 MW of battery storage, to be owned and operated, DTE, on behalf of of ratepayers.
The point I am trying to make to anyone that will listen is that these projects do not automatically mean electric rates will go up, despite what you may have heard on social media. In fact, the data shows, that some states with a lot of Data development have seen rates go down. So why is that?
One of the consistent points Shah makes is that the Tech Bro mania for “behind the meter” powering of hyper scale facilities with cobbled together gas turbines is not just obnoxious, polluting, and a climate obscenity – it’s just not going to work.
I’ve spent a lot of time getting up this learning curve to help educate candidates and thought leaders going into this election, and Energy Empire has been a major help. Stay tuned