Jack Conness

🚨 Major 2024 election updates made to the IRA + CHIPS Dashboard: Familiar to some, new to many: 80%+ of investment dollars and 70%+ of jobs are headed to red congressional districts across the country. A 🧵 to understand how this looks moving forward: www.jackconness.com/ira-chips-in...

A big day for Fervo and even a bigger moment for the future of geothermal energy.

From niche to necessary 🔥 "Now [Fervo] has scaled up operations dramatically at the Utah site and, in doing so, shown a 70% reduction in drilling time year on year while achieving high temperatures and flow rates. In 2026 it will start to deliver energy to the grid." Cape Station 🫡

"By using drilling technology advanced by the oil and gas industry, Fervo is drilling deeper, drilling sideways and drilling in new places to unlock new reserves of heat energy. The DOE estimates that EGS has the potential to power more than 65M American homes and businesses."

What does the future of enhanced geothermal power generation look like? Fervo offered an update to partners and investors at its #capeconnect event today, showcasing progress on its 100MW Cape Station project in UT. I tagged along and I learned a lot. Some highlights based on my notes follow… 🔌💡

Come work with us!

“Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) could plausibly contribute up to 20% of total US electricity generation by 2050 & drastically reduce the cost electricity decarbonization even in lower-quality resource areas east of the Mississippi – a much larger role for the technology than previously assumed.”

Fervo's VP of strategy Sarah Jewett walks through how the company used a variety of capital to build its record breaking geothermal facilities: www.latitudemedia.com/news/what-fe...

Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS): - Reliable, constant source of power ✅ - Rapidly declining costs ✅ - Limited land footprint ✅ - Flexible generating capacity ✅ - Transferable oil & gas workforce ✅ - Resilience to weather-related disruptions ✅ - 90 GW of potential by 2050 ✅

The policy analysis being done on advancing next-generation geothermal is really top notch. Huge appreciation to the smart people thinking hard about how to move the needle on EGS. The tech innovation is moving fast here and we need policy to keep up if we're going to meet the moment for clean firm:

To my people in Seattle & my Energy Innovation crew - you will be dearly missed. To those in Denver - please reach out! I'm joining the Fervo Energy team to hopefully play a small part in making next-gen geothermal the next big thing. I continue to surround myself w/ people far smarter than me >>>

Joe B, Locker, and O. What a moment and what a 20-year run. 🐐🐐🐐

"A survey conducted by the pollster Mason-Dixon in February 2022 found that among 625 registered FL voters, 84% supported net metering, including 76% of self-identified Republicans." It's pretty great that despite endless political noise, solar is pretty freaking awesome (and cheap).

"There are “literally no limits” to how much Aspen can increase capacity [in China], said CFO Ricardo Rodriguez." Constant threats, gutting federal programs, and widespread policy uncertainty is destroying business opportunities in the U.S. Every industry and every investor has their hands tied.

“Generally speaking, it’s not to say these resources don’t exist but we know very little about what there is to offer.” I spoke with CNN about the rumored US-Ukraine minerals deal last week and what we know about minerals in Ukraine. However, the deal between Trump and Zelenskyy fell apart.

Outdated views on grid reliability and slow-moving institutions pose a far greater threat to a resilient grid than any single technology. We should stay focused on building a diversified electric grid capable of responding to a rapidly changing world. www.latitudemedia.com/news/a-diver...

Chaotic times for cobalt. The DRC just banned cobalt exports for 4 months due to oversupply (low prices). Additionally, Rwanda-backed group invading eastern DRC and occupying resources. DRC president asking US to buy cobalt from them and get involved. Lots of moving parts.

Great thread from @cleanpowerdave.bsky.social. Similar to oil and gas “shortage worries” in the past, we’ve managed to find nearly endless lithium resources in the past few years. Tech improvements + just looking harder goes a pretty long way.

Happy to have received this outreach from King County, but man, what a microcosm of some of the building issues we face today. Planning began in 2016(!!!) and construction is tentatively scheduled to be completed mid-2028. 12 years for a water storage tank. We have to learn how to do things faster.

As White House resources disappear, the IRA + CHIPS Dashboard remains alive and well. If you need battery, EV, solar, wind, and semiconductor manufacturing data, you can find it all here. Jobs, investment dollars, and important political data too. It will continue to be updated.

As White House resources disappear, the IRA + CHIPS Dashboard remains alive and well. If you need battery, EV, solar, wind, and semiconductor manufacturing data, you can find it all here. Jobs, investment dollars, and important political data too. It will continue to be updated.

Fascinating map. Probably not surprising, but any blue location has a light rail station (Northgate on the north side, Othello on the south side, plenty downtown and by UW). More light rail, please! Seattle loves it. Let's speed up that West Seattle/Ballard 2032 timeline & get the east side opened!

this is incredible stuff. most state DOTs would spend tens of billions on highway expansions to try and see numbers like this (that wouldn’t even pan out anyway thanks to induced demand lol)

I don't need to remind everyone how much more work needs to be done, but 96%(!!!) of power capacity added in the U.S. last year came from clean energy. Stunning IMO. Solar, wind, & batteries are cheap, plentiful, & make too much financial sense.

In April, I wrote for @forbes.com about how 2024 could be the year for the American lithium industry. Turned out - it was! A lot happened & I break it down in an updated piece released on Sunday. The article gives you all the goods, but let me share some important takeaways...🧵

It would be great if elected officials, city planners, and police departments took road design and safety seriously. Or even attempted basic enforcement of speeding, aggressive driving, expired tabs, etc. Everyone is aware of how ruthless driving is post-COVID, but no one is doing a thing about it.