Out today: My @AmericanAffrs essay trying to reset the often-fever-pitched conversation about data centers & energy, with concrete ideas for how growth can be accelerated and legacy consumers can be protected -->

Amazing film. A play within a play within a play.

Guess I'm doing this-->

Over the course of 3 years, @usbr is transferring control of the three switchyards at North America's largest power plant, Grand Coulee, to @bonnevillepower -- a move that allows us both to focus on what we are best at, & provides opportunities for additional investment in reliability. I want to thank the Bureau for its cooperation on this complex project. Below: a short video of the switchout and a photo of the great BPA team taking the lead on the transfer, with the 230-kV yard in the background.

Did you know Lady Bird Johnson took a personal interest in the aesthetics of electric transmission towers -- and came up with this? (I certainly did not, and am still wondering whether Grand Coulee personnel are putting one over on me.)

Mark your calendars: Oct. 19. @bonnevillepower intends to launch a ‘rocket docket’ on the use of an open season to provision interconnection & transmission service to large loads in the Pacific Northwest. The workshop on this day is the first to inform the open season’s design. We want to make this process commercial and efficient, so I encourage developers of load and generation, as well as regional utilities, to help us gain our pace by participating in this concept’s development!

Being back in the big village of the Northwest means the small-world chance encounters that can brighten up one's day. Ran into Annie Terracciano -- general manager of Bonneville Power Administration's customer Northern Lights Electric Co-op -- at Frank's Diner here in Spokane

I'm delighted to announce that @bonnevillepower is moving forward and releasing a settlement proposal this afternoon to resolve a major ongoing proceeding, known as TC-27 in the parlance of BPA, that will finally get our transmission queue off pause and maximize service offers for customers with near-term transmission needs. The 'conditional firm' service we will offer will allow offtakers to energize more quickly. Moving forward with an uncontested settlement represents the fastest path to implementing these vital tariff and business practice reforms—enabling the timely service our customers and the region depend on. Meanwhile, stay tuned for announcements coming very soon on how BPA plans to create a future state that firms up this service, and how we plan to integrate load-side projects into our system.

It's only midday on the East Coast but pretty sure this has a lock on Post of the Day

Wanting more information faster in my search for low-tech schools and preschools in Portland, naturally I have turned to Claude

Yesterday, I had the privilege of celebrating an extraordinary group of BPA colleagues and partners at the 2026 Administrator’s Excellence Awards. These honorees have done everything from saving a life while out surfing, to systematically improving the safety of the BPA vehicle fleet, setting up BPA’s remedial action schemes (the original grid enhancing technology), and getting ready to go on day-ahead markets. One thing that struck me was how many of these dedicated public servants described the sacrifices their families made so they could work long hours on special projects that were critical to BPA’s and our customers’ success. People sometimes think of government employees as a 9-to-5 bunch. Well, these aren’t that. This year, we recognized 34 individuals and four teams whose innovation, leadership and commitment have helped move BPA’s mission forward. Learn for yourself about the awardees’ exceptional contributions and watch the ceremony: youtu.be/kOQQpi43xZM?si=Tw3C…

How would you like to trade the largest book of hydropower in the States (with a nuke for good measure)? Do you have opinions about the future of wholesale electricity policy in the West? Maybe the first major acquisition since the passage of the Northwest Power Act of 1980? Do you want a part of other major (unannounced!) policy innovations that are being considered at one of America's most storied utilities? BPA has the most consequential opening of my term to date -- and a rare opportunity to join the career Senior Executive Service, the top echelon of America's public servants. If you have had a senior leadership role in the trade of power, and have executed on origination, I invite you to apply: usajobs.gov/job/885577400

Wait did the @FERC seal get a glow-up?

You read a long essay from someone you usually disagree with, which proceeds so tantalizingly close to the conclusions you've reached -- omg is this really happening? -- and then, naturally, a whiff. And you're left to ask: How can someone think this way? Or am I crazy?

Hello to the country's largest power plant! Thanks for visiting @joshdr83!

Never take a job you don't plan on being a learning experience & for me @bonnevillepower is an opportunity to work with and learn about tribes in the Pacific Northwest (had been more of a Plains Indian focus for me previously!) Diving into this highly recommended monograph today

Thank you to Rich, Aimee, Michael & Neal from @bonnevillepower for making the trek to D.C.! They had the opportunity to explain @FERC a filing where BPA's Administrator defines an Average System Cost methodology for regional utilities, a baseline that is used to calculate the value of a subsidy regulated-utility customers receive from BPA in order to share in the benefit of the federal hydro system. The new program term for Residential Exchange, as the subsidy is known, kicks off in 2028. FERC hasn't seen such a filing since 2008! (And let me take the opportunity to encourage investor- and consumer-owned utilities to settle this and related matters rather than having me, @FERC & the 9th Circuit from having to do so!)