Atonement Loves Company
This week until yesterday in Southern California the summer heat lingered, dawdled, and encamped like an unwelcome house guest. The few wildfires that re-erupted in…
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Let A Smile Be Your Umbrella
My grandson William Isaac Ackerman turned 1 last Sunday. My son and his wife hosted a videoconference for me so I could do my baby…
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Why, Oh Why, Oh Why, Oh
You can take the boy out of Ohio but sooner or later he goes back to visit. I did so this week, and it recharged…
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Beware the 6th of September
Two years ago this week, the CAISO along with its neighboring balancing authorities in the West suffered a heat storm that caused quite a commotion….
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ZGlobal and Silicon Valley Clean Energy – Building a data community with CONNECT
ZGlobal and SVCE work together in the Silicon Valley as an energy consulting firm and an energy provider respectively. They knew there had to be…
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Close Calls and Far Off Dreams
The Burrito is written for intellectual stimulation. Why, then, the dry humor and stale stories? Oh, it’s to give your brain some relief from the…
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As the Paint Dries
The chill and wet weather up to last weekend suddenly turned like clockwork and it became arid and warm. Yep, it’s time to start sprinkling…
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Memora.i.l Da.i.
Monday will be Memorial Day to honor and remember the men and women who have died while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. The holiday…
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Hey Hey Mama
Our beloved 13-year old Halley’s Comet eased into the afterworld earlier this week. Her options became obvious … either let her starve and be in…
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The Kimchi Chronicles and Snack Attacks
If it is March, then springtime is near and daylight savings time is back. A late afternoon golf round is again possible with ample time…
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Tu Two Tambien
Seasonal atmospheric rivers have landed in Southern California this week. The doom-and-gloom media stories have turned from “not enough rain” to “too much rain.” Whatever…
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Yes, There is a Renewables Claus
Every December since 1998 when I began writing the Friday Burrito, I wondered how time passed so quickly. I was writing the January issue and…
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The Null Bull Hypothesis
For some of us the annual ramp-down from work-a-day to break time is on full tilt in anticipation of the upcoming holidays. On the other…
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The Great COP Out
I hope that y’all had a glorious Thanksgiving holiday last week. Sports enthusiasts in my home state of Ohio suffered a dismal football weekend post…
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I’ll Tell You No Lies
The seasonal winter rains have started in Southern California. Perfect timing because I didn’t want to water our lawn, nor did I fancy helping my…
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Ask Me No Questions
I dedicate today’s Burrito to the men and women who protect our country as members of the military. It would be nice if troops, ammo,…
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As The World Shakes
DIY front-yard Halloween decos are the new sensation. Some of our neighbors have created elaborate spooky scenery including 13’-tall monster statues that light up and…
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Somewhere Over the Roomba
There is a reason I ramble on about geopolitical disruptions. They shape our thinking and question our beliefs about justice and civility amongst humans ……
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Peace is What Happens in Between Wars
Do you care to join me in feeling (sick) that the fabric of the civilized world is coming undone? My heart aches for the victims…
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Count The Blessings
You knew today’s masthead picture was coming. You didn’t think I’d pass on the opportunity to introduce my first grandson, William Isaac Ackerman. Born on…
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The Looney and the Huntsman
Today is my grandson’s birthday. I don’t know his name yet. I haven’t even seen his picture. I haven’t heard him wail aloud. I haven’t…
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Time Again to Repair the World
Tonight is the beginning of the Jewish New Year. For me, it marks the passage of time in a nostalgic way. Most of myimmediate family…
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Progress by One Mistake at a Time
Two weeks absent from Burrito writing and I must remind myself how to start. I could talk about what I did over the last fortnight…
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Make it Real Compared to What?
My 36-year-old son informed me that my grandfathering status has been moved up three weeks. My daughter-in-law has a delivery complication for which the doctors…
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THere Must Be Some Way Out OF Here
July is Busting Out All Over As Burrito readers know, each month since last December I have been tracking year-over-year energy output of theCAISO natural…
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Year Over Year
The summer seasonal heat arrived without much fanfare. The weather has been pleasantly sub-normal until last weekend. The only weather-related alarm I received last week…
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Tied Up in Nots
Time to Get Real. With the CAISO past the quarter century mark, it is time to assess the progress made toward regional expansion. Although I…
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Part II: Reflecting on CAISO’s 25th Anniversary
Soon will be the silver anniversary of the California ISO. It was 25 years ago, on March 31, 1998, that the ISO ushered in a…
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Reflecting on CAISO’s 25th Anniversary
Soon will be the silver anniversary of the California ISO. It was 25 years ago, on March 31, 1998, that the ISO ushered in a…
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Don’t count on batteries to be available when they are most needed!
Hybrid and Co-Located Resources The CAISO has two options for representing resources that combine variable energy resources (VERs) with battery energy storage systems (BESS), which…
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The deck is stacked
With California’s heathy appetite for renewables and the shortage of energy and capacity, as demonstrated last August, one might ask why generation development is not…
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It’s time for a serious overhaul
Despite tremendous efforts taken by the ISO, State agencies and other stakeholders to prevent energy and capacity shortfalls like we saw in August 2020, the…
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Not Again!
The year 2020 might feel like nothing we have experienced before, but to many of us seasoned grid operators, it felt like déjà vu when…
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