First things first:
- I guess the Texas grid held after hitting record demand;
- apparently things are in better shape than expected: works that way as long as the sun shines and the wind blows, which means Texas will be fine this summer
- that doesn't mean we won't have warnings, alerts, brownout and rolling blackouts but won't amount to much
- bigger story will be watching ISO-NY and ISO-NE
- that "winter thing" a couple of years ago: not only a "one-off" but it wasn't due to excessive demand
- ERCOT today:
- capacity projected to be 86K MW
- demand projected to max out at 76K MW
Nicest thing about 104°F over the weekend?
- Monday morning, today, feels almost cool
- poolside with strong breeze; quite cool
- this a.m. -- still in bed -- I thought the a/c had come on -- it felt so cool -- but I don't use a/c when my wife is not home
The Sports Page:
- NASCAR yesterday: what little I saw, not interested
- PGA: stellar tournament this past weekend and now the US Open this week -- Brookline (Boston), MA
- Rory! Phil, who?
- NBA: fifth game tonight; now it gets serious; series tied; Stephen Curry amazing
Cryptocurrency:
- two cryptocurrencies stop withdrawals: Binance and Celsius;
- is this like a "run on the banks"?
Bear market. Everything is on sale.
EVs:
- ELMS: seeks bankruptcy protection
- happening faster than expected, link here;
Ovintiv: this is really, really cool
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Banner Week For Coal-Powered EVs
These made my week (actually, over the past two weeks, or so):
- GM Chevy Volt runs on coal.
- ELMS seeks bankruptcy protection.
- California grid.
- Coal: India and China coal production surging by 700 million tons per year; greater than all US coal output; link here.
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Solyndranization Of America
See Solyndra tag for background. See the list.
SPACs: just another name for laundering.
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BNPL
Let's see, one pays for a large luxury item -- let's say, an Apple computer -- $2,500 -- on a major credit card, with "promise to self" to pay off in one month
- promise broken
- first month balance not paid in full: 24% APR interest rate
- difficulty paying it off; miss the deadline; vacationing, forgot about due date? Add "late fee" to that 24% APR interest
- Big Bank: making huge amount of money
Now, imagine, make that same large luxury item purchase and retailer says, "four easy installments" with no late fees and no interest as long as fully paid on time -- over "four easy installments"
- now we get story after story in the press telling us BNPL is "bad"
- ever wonder who plants those stories?
- next big thing: BNPL
- but interestingly, we've had BNPL forever -- only difference, AAPL is now getting into this big time
Firestone: has had BNPL for as long as I can remember. An incredible marketing idea. Except for annual inspections and simply oil changes, my hunch is that the average automobile "tune up" or "servicing" runs $600 for the average American, being able to pay for that very, very necessary charge over six months at no interest is a godsend for many. I wonder how many folks take advantage of this?
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Anti-Fracking
Tea leaves suggest OPEC knew long ago that their spare capacity was a myth.
- their biggest fear: US shale would fill the gap
- all of a sudden, OPEC loses not only money, but power
- then, story after story about the dangers of fracking
- ever wonder who planted those stories?
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From Twitter
Things don't just happen.
They happen by design.
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But ...
... having said all that, my favorite story all weekend was AP's fact checking confirmed that EVs placed a strain on California's power grid more than a year ago ... and it was not covered by mainstream media until someone noted it on twitter.
The AP trying to spin that story was more hilarious than the actual story itself.
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