Doug Lewin
@douglewinenergy • 20,931 subscribers
Leading energy strategy and market development in Texas @Google. Powering breakthroughs and innovation at scale. Opinions stated here are my own. RT≠endorse
Videos
Something remarkable just happened in Pakistan. In only 8 months, citizens built the equivalent of half the country’s national electric grid, without waiting for government or utilities. How? ☀️ Cheap solar panels ☀️ TikTok tutorials showing how to install them ☀️ Farmers leading the way, swapping diesel pumps for solar The results: ✅ Diesel sales dropped 35% in one year ✅ Families slashed costs and gained energy independence ✅ National demand on the grid actually declined because of so much distributed generation This isn’t just about Pakistan. It’s a glimpse of how fast the world can shift when technology gets cheap enough and people take energy into their own hands. These are the kinds of numbers that change the world. 🎧 Full Energy Capital Podcast episode with Bill McKibben here: #EnergyTransition #Solar #Pakistan #EnergyCapitalPodcast
Doug Lewin782,067 Aufrufe • vor 10 Monaten
One acre of corn for ethanol = 25,000 miles in a Ford F-150. One acre of solar = 700,000 miles in an F-150 Lightning. That’s the scale of possibility Bill McKibben laid out on the Energy Capital Podcast. And here’s the kicker: with agrovoltaics, farmers can still use that land. Grazing, shade for certain crops, pollinator habitat, even just as fallow land. French wine growers reported 20-60% higher yields with shading from solar panels. Instead of displacing agriculture, it supercharges it. 📊 Corn ethanol is a rounding error compared to what solar can deliver and uses far more land. 📈 Solar turns land into a true energy cash crop, while preserving ag value. ⚡ The opportunity is sitting in front of us, if we choose to take it. The question isn’t whether solar works. The question is how fast we’ll unlock its potential here in Texas and across the U.S. 🎧 Full episode: #EnergyCapitalPodcast #SolarEnergy #TexasEnergy #CleanEnergy #EnergyPolicy
Doug Lewin137,504 Aufrufe • vor 10 Monaten
China installed 400 GW of new power last year, over 350 gigawatts of solar and wind. The U.S.? Just 63. We talk a big game about leading on AI, chips, and reshoring manufacturing. But where’s the electricity going to come from? Some say natural gas can replace renewables. But the largest turbine manufacturer, GE Vernova, is already sold out until after Trump's term. Meanwhile: 📌 China = 400 GW 📌 U.S. = 60 GW 📌 GE Vernova's global gas turbine output = 20 GW… for the entire globe! If we gut clean energy incentives now, we don’t just fall behind, we're cooked. You can't grow your economy and run AI data centers on backorders and broken promises. We’re demanding more energy than ever. And we’re about to constrain the resources that are actually delivering it. Full Video:
Doug Lewin75,442 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr
I’ve watched energy hearings in Texas for over 20 years. The hearing on SB 819 was unlike anything I’ve ever seen for an energy bill. 50+ Texans spoke up to oppose the bill, including this rancher from Armstrong County: "Y'all don't realize what small counties need." 1/5
Doug Lewin61,289 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr
HB 3356 and SB 715 will raise power bills and lower reliability, all while pretending to be a fix. This proposal is expensive, inefficient & would lead to retirements of existing generation. The bill acknowledges "net increased cost to consumers." Who would pay for that? #txlege
Doug Lewin39,480 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr
90% of new solar installs in Houston now include batteries. That’s not a trend. It’s a transformation. On this week’s Energy Capital Podcast, I spoke with Nat Bullard of Halcyon about the explosion of smaller batteries popping up across ERCOT. Small, distributed systems doubled from 2023 to 2024 and are now one of the fastest-growing trends in the state. ⚡ They’re consumer-driven. Policy helps, but most growth is happening because Texans want reliability, resiliency, safety, and control. ⚡ They create community resilience. As Nat said, “If you’re the only house on the block with power during an outage, your neighbors will notice and come charge up.” This isn’t just about hardware. It’s about a new relationship with the grid. One where Texans generate, store, and distirbute power locally. Texas has quietly entered a new phase of the energy transition, one led from the garage. Could this decentralized model become ERCOT’s greatest strength? 👉 Full conversation in the reply.
Doug Lewin16,849 Aufrufe • vor 7 Monaten
Recently, Congressman Chip Roy compared renewable energy jobs to jobs in the drug trade and Alex Epstein called clean energy jobs “fentanyl jobs.” Yes, really. They should apologize. Who works in the renewable energy industry? 📌 Millions of Americans 📌 Roughly 60,000 Texans 📌 And thousands of Texas veterans These are people working long hours to power our grid and increase reliability. ERCOT’s own numbers show solar and storage reduced emergency risk by 95% in one year. So let’s be clear: These are hard working Americans providing vital energy to our homes and businesses. They deserve respect and they deserve an apology. If you think solar makes the grid weaker, you’re ignoring the data. If you insult the people building our future, you owe them an apology. This isn't a partisan issue. It’s a question of decency and facts. 🎧 Full video:
Doug Lewin21,364 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr
Solar supply is no longer a constraint. Around 600 GW were installed globally in 2024 and global capacity is now over a terawatt per year; total capacity of all sources installed in the US is about 1.2 terawatts. Modules are cheap, abundant, and getting installed almost everywhere, including places that previously didn't have much, if any, electricity. If we get to 1 TW of PV modules shipped every year, that would be like "multiple single digits percent of total electricity demand every year being added from just solar electrons." Key question though: how much demand will there be? And how much induced demand? Solar in many parts of Africa, Southeast Asia, and South America is not displacing existing generation, it's bringing generation where there wasn't any. Meanwhile, the bigger questions are around how you configure a system around very, very low cost but variable power: ⚡ How quickly does storage scale? ⚡ Can you move demand around to match supply? ⚡ How do energy systems in places that aren't electrified get designed to account for variability? "Flexibility on the demand side is the more interesting question for the future than how much solar are we going to manufacture." 👉 Full conversation with Nat Bullard in the reply.
Doug Lewin14,782 Aufrufe • vor 7 Monaten
This year, renewables and storage covered 100% of Texas’ demand growth. Through July, ERCOT consumption rose ~17 terawatt-hours compared to last year. And nearly all of that incremental demand was met by clean generation. Through July of this year: ⚡ Solar is up ~47% year, adding 12 TWh ⚡ Wind added 3 TWh ⚡ Storage tripled to 3 TWh Gas still provides a large share of ERCOT’s power and remains an important part of the grid. But the growth in demand this year, the extra electricity Texans are using, has been supplied almost entirely by renewables and storage. That extra supply matters for affordability. Prices are rising due to higher fuel and transmission & distribution costs, but renewables and storage are holding them down compared to where they would be otherwise. This analysis comes from my special quarterly presentation, a deep dive into the latest trends in Texas energy and power. The takeaway: Texas’ growth story is increasingly being powered by renewables and storage. That strengthens reliability today and builds a stronger foundation for the future. 🎧 Full breakdown: #TexasEnergy #ERCOT #GridReliability #Renewables #EnergyTransition
Doug Lewin17,620 Aufrufe • vor 10 Monaten
How close is the U.S. to a fully domestic solar supply chain? Closer than most people realize and Texas is leading. When we talk about reshoring clean energy, few examples are as tangible as this. I sat down with Dan Barcelo of T1 Energy to break down what an end-to-end solar supply chain in Texas actually looks like: ⚡ Polysilicon sourced in America from Corning ⚡ American polysilicon converted to wafers with Corning subsidiary Hemlock Semiconductor ⚡ By the end of 2026, wafers turned into cells at the upcoming G2 Austin near the shuttered Alcoa aluminum plant ⚡ Modules assembled at G1 Dallas, already employing more than 1,000 Texans. By 2026, that chain will stretch from raw material to finished panel, all within Texas, and can produce 5 gigawatts of solar per year. And that's just scratching the surface of what's possible here in Texas. That’s not just industrial policy, it’s reliability insurance for ERCOT. Shorter, more reliable supply chains, faster build cycles, and local jobs feeding local power. If Texas can pull this off, it won’t just be making solar. It’ll be making history. What do you think, can Texas own the full solar stack? 👉 Full conversation in the comments. #TxEnergy #SolarManufacturing #CleanEnergy #GridReliability #txlege
Doug Lewin14,056 Aufrufe • vor 8 Monaten
Texas solar isn’t a sideshow anymore. It’s carrying over 30% of energy demand for many hours most days. When we recorded this episode, solar was producing 40% of Texas’ power. Most Texans would be shocked by that number. As Bret Biggart of Freedom Solar Power told me: “The common misconception is it’s like 4%. You’re like, no it’s 40!” That scale matters. Because if renewables slow down and we use gas for a higher share of power production, electric bills will rise. They're already rising due to rising distribution and transmission costs, inflation, etc. Most utilities are actively pursuing rate hikes. The 30% federal tax credit might fade, but higher energy prices will offset it over time. Economics still point toward solar growth. ⚡ Solar is now mainstream, providing more than 50% of energy demand at some points and 15% across all hours this year. ⚡ Electricity rates are rising. ⚡Texas solar companies are adapting with innovation. The short-term picture is rocky. The long-term trend is clear: solar will be a major part of Texas’ energy future. 👉 Link to full episode in the comments.
Doug Lewin14,876 Aufrufe • vor 9 Monaten
The solar tax credit cliff is coming. But as prices rise, the economics of solar are still moving the right way, for those businesses that can reduce costs and survive. Bret Biggart of Freedom Solar Power told me: “If you can make it through these next challenges, the horse has left the stable for solar.” Even with federal tax credits expiring, the underlying math still works. Because when you strip it down, solar economics hinge on two numbers: ⚡ Cost to install per watt ⚡ Price of electricity If installation costs keep trending down and power prices keep trending up, the curve favors solar, especially in sunny Texas. ✅ Short-term: panels and components are pricier due to inflation, tariffs, etc. and margins are tight. ✅ Medium-term: power costs increase from IRA repeal and continued tariffs, inflation, etc., competition and innovation force solar costs down. ✅ Long-term: solar grows even faster. The transition won’t be painless. But as Bret put it, those who endure the “last punch in the face” will be standing in a stronger industry. One that’s leaner, cheaper, and more resilient. 👉 Full conversation in the comments. #TexasEnergy #TxEnergy #SolarEnergy #CleanEnergy #EnergyTransition #EnergyPolicy #txlege
Doug Lewin11,314 Aufrufe • vor 8 Monaten
Capacity is old thinking. With AI and data centers, we need to measure capabilities over capacity. 1% flexibility = 15 gigawatts saved in ERCOT. That’s what researchers at Duke found: if Texas AI data centers flexed just 1% of their hours, it could offset the equivalent of 15 GW of new load. We keep talking about AI terms of gigawatts and capacity. But we should be focused on gigawatt-hours and capabilities. More energy spread across the year can mean economic growth, re-shoring of American manufacturing, lots of jobs, winning the global race for AGI, AND lower costs for small consumers, if we use energy wisely. Key takeaways from my conversation with Lynne Kiesling: ⚡ Capacity is old thinking, digital tech enables capabilities ⚡ Demand flexibility is valuable, but we don't have price signals for all forms of flexibility yet ⚡ AI data centers can be part of the solution, not just the problem The bottom line: AI demand doesn’t have to break the Texas grid. If we build flexibility into the system, it could strengthen it. 👉 Full conversation in the comments.
Doug Lewin11,559 Aufrufe • vor 9 Monaten
Texas energy use is up 25% in 4 years. Load growth is not coming from people moving to Texas. It’s being driven by data centers, the electrification of industry, including oil and gas operations, and cryptocurrency mining. Oncor's filings show it clearly: 🏠 Residential load is growing very slowly, ~1% per year, even with significant population growth. 🏭 Industrial load is exploding. The Far West zone has tripled in the last 8 years. That's not a projection; it’s history through 2024. Looking forward, the interconnection queue is eye-popping: ⚡ The amount of big projects (data centers, Bitcoin mines, factories) wanting to connect to ERCOT is now 188 GW, more than double Texas’ all-time peak of ~85 GW. ⚡ So far, ERCOT has tracked ~7 GW of large loads operating and has another ~13 GW in advanced stages of study and/or interconnection. So yes, growth is dramatic, but much of what is in the queue won't get built. The takeaway: Texas’ load growth is being driven by large industrials and new digital infrastructure, not households. If large loads can be flexible and scale back, switch to batteries, and/or produce power during a small number of scarcity periods, there's lots of available power 98-99% of the hours of the year. We can have a lot more terawatt-hours of consumption while increasing grid reliability and lowering per unit costs – if we get the right regulatory and market structures in place. 🎧 Much more here: #TexasEnergy #txenergy #ERCOT #LoadGrowth #DataCenters #GridReliability #EnergyTransition
Doug Lewin11,860 Aufrufe • vor 10 Monaten
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