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E. Leon Jacobs, Jr. is familiar with the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). When Jacobs was Chair of the Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC) he served on the Board of Directors of NARUC, chaired NARUC’s Consumer Affairs Committee, and chaired NARUC’s Y2K Ad-Hoc Task Force. So when NARUC came out with a statement about FERC Order 1920 that did not paint a rosy picture, Jacobs, now president of SACE’s Board of Directors, decided to weigh in. He sent NARUC Chair Julie Fedorchak a letter to express support for Order 1920 “because of the positive impact it can have on Florida and the rest of the Southeast.”

NARUC statement of disappointment on FERC Order 1920.

FERC Order 1920 institutes key guidelines for how regions like the Southeast should be evaluating transmission solutions to reduce costs and improve reliability as the electricity sector transitions to clean energy resources.

At a time where all areas of the country are faced with rising costs, shifting generation resources, erosions of the reliability of traditional generating fleets, and increased extreme weather, it is of the utmost importance that state Commissions and FERC focus on avenues to reduce costs and improve reliability. Strategic transmission projects, at the regional level, where the benefits are obvious, will be key at this time. ~ E. Leon Jacobs, Jr. in a letter to NARUC on May 28, 2024

Regional entities engaged in transmission planning include the Florida Reliability Coordinating Council (FRCC), the Southeastern Regional Transmission Planning (SERTP) process, and the South Carolina Regional Transmission Planning (SCRTP) process. Over the course of the next year or so, these entities and the utilities that run them will update planning processes and file an updated process with FERC.

FERC Order 1920 presents an opportunity for Commissions to take a closer look at the potential for regional transmission projects to lower costs and improve reliability for customers in their states. The Order, and the revised transmission planning process we expect to come after it, adds another tool to the utility’s resource planning toolbox. I write because I am optimistic for the positive impact FERC Order 1920 and its implementation can have on electric utility customers across the Southeast as we face increasingly uncertain times. ~ E. Leon Jacobs, Jr. in a letter to NARUC on May 28, 2024

We commend SACE Board President Leon Jacobs for weighing in to highlight that FERC Order 1920 can be incredibly beneficial to the Southeast. SACE will continue to work toward responsible grid planning to improve the reliability and affordability of the grid as we transition to clean energy.

The post Former Commissioner: FERC’s Transmission Rule will Benefit the Southeast appeared first on SACE | Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

Former Commissioner: FERC’s Transmission Rule will Benefit the Southeast

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As Europe Shuns Chinese Turbines and Components, Who Will Fill the Gap?

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As Europe Shuns Chinese Turbines and Components, Who Will Fill the Gap?

While most of Europe has spent most of this year itemizing reasons it cannot, should not, and will not use Chinese wind turbines or components, accusations and arm-twisting tactics have garnered most of the attention.

But we invite you to consider a future – maybe just five, or ten years from now?- in which those same countries and companies are eagerly awaiting orders from wind turbine manufacturing facilities in… India.
What?!
You know that the country has a lot of installed wind.

You may think – and many in the industry would agree – that India’s blade manufacturers are a few revs behind blade-makers elsewhere in the world. But the country is newly committed to manufacturing and it’s busy installing more – provided that it’s made in India, with Indian technology, by Indian workers.
Of course, similar domestic-focused policy currents are running through European countries – where wind OEMs are almost inarguably a decade ahead of Indian manufacturers. But there’s an important reason why we say, “watch India” in wind turbine manufacturing.

It’s because you might learn something.

If you follow The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast, you probably heard this discussion a few weeks ago. It wasn’t the headline story – we try to highlight as many major news items and trends that we can, and follow up as credible information becomes available. India’s quiet moves to strengthen its own renewable energy industries didn’t grab the headlines. But it comprised a good bit of our panelists’ discussion.

With India’s expanding manufacturing capacity, and Suzlon’s strategic offerings for the European market (Blue Sky), there are reasons for European developers to take a closer look at Indian manufacturers.

If Europe continues to squelch deals with Chinese manufacturers due to data security issues, India is a relatively obvious candidate to fill the void, for several reasons:

  • The country has depth and breadth in R&D: India (Suzlon, specifically) has a track record of involvement and relationships across the continent, as it operates research and development centers in Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark.
  • Indian service providers have reach: Inox and Adoni Wind operate multiple wind turbine manufacturing plants and wind farms throughout several Indian states, and Apraava Energy has been commissioning wind projects, working with multiple OEMs, for more than 16 years.
  • The country’s energy sector has size: Tata Power is estimated to be worth about US$16 billion and employs 22,000 people.

And major manufacturers from other countries have had a strong presence in the country for years:

  • GE Vernova has turbine blade and nacelle manufacturing operations and multiple tech/R&D centers in India;
  • Vestas has a R&D technology center in Chennai; and
  • China’s SANY Wind has had assembly facilities in India since 2017, and in 2024, it signed a licensing agreement with JSW allowing SANY to manufacture blades and generators for JSW – enabling JSW Neo Energy to produce wind turbine generators and major components in-country.

So while there is hard data suggesting that India is already a global hub for wind turbines, sometimes the real strength comes from soft skills. Like sharing information.

We’ve noticed that Indian manufactures aren’t stingy with information. They share what they learn in the field and on the shop floor, so that the whole industry can move faster to solve problems. That bodes well for the industry overall, and particularly well for companies who figure out how to solve problems that some manufacturers aren’t even ready to admit to having.

We’ll be watching India with a great deal of interest in the coming months. Subscribe to The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast and follow along with us.

We’re not financial analysts. We’re engineers who watch the wind industry very closely. This is what we’ve noticed, and we thought it was worth sharing.

Where do you think you’ll be looking for solutions, components, and service providers in the next few years or the next decade? Tell us what you think. We’d love to hear from you.

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As Europe Shuns Chinese Turbines and Components, Who Will Fill the Gap?

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When You Write for Idiots, You Can Get Away with Anything

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To the author of the meme here:

“Either” refers to two choices; “any” refers to three or more.

More importantly, it’s amazing how shamelessly the ultra-right wing exaggerates.  The left side of the Democratic party would like to see the United States look like social democracies in places like Scandinavia.  Having government programs that benefit the common person, e.g., Social Security, public schools, emergency relief, libraries, environmental responsibility, etc., does not equate to Stalinism.

When You Write for Idiots, You Can Get Away with Anything

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Are Muslims “Dangerous?”

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Some of my old prep school chums from the Class of 1973 convene via Zoom approximately every six weeks for a 90-minute discussion of current events, science, and anything else that sounds interesting.

Our professions range from medicine, law, finance, and business management. All from highly ranked colleges.  Over 50% hold doctorate degrees.

Here’s something I find fascinating about the group: it includes one right-wing conservative.  I don’t mean a Reaganite; I mean a Trump supporter.  This guy is incapable of any thought that doesn’t come directly from Nexsmax.

It’s almost eerie how closely he toes the line of the far-right.  Yesterday he echoed the Newsmax talking point and told the group that all Muslims holding public office are “very dangerous” and should be removed.

Now, the rest of us are sitting there, dumbfounded at this idea, unwilling waste our breath on this racist and utterly preposterous concept.

All this raises the question: How are our political viewpoints formed?  How much of this is genetics?  Epigenetics?  Early childhood experiences? How do take a boy from among the best environments and turn him into someone who struggles to understand the most basic principles on which our country was founded?

https://www.2greenenergy.com/2026/11/09/principles-country-was-founded/

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