With the Feast of All Hallows rapidly approaching I thought it would be apt to explain how the grid is haunted by a concept that doesn’t really exist. A pre-occupation with a made-up concept risks the security of our power grids. In this blog I will explain how “vars” aren’t real, and treating them as if they are is creating existential risks on our power grids.
Not being able to properly explain reactive power is common in the energy industry – ask a dozen people to explain it and you’ll get twelve different answers. Most will reach for the beer-glass analogy where real power as the liquid and reactive power is the froth, or mutter something about “energy sloshing back and forth” on the grid. More sophisticated responses will mention capacitors “injecting vars” and inductors absorbing them. These phrases are repeated so often that they’ve become folklore. Unfortunately none of them describes what actually happens in power grids.
“Vars” in particular is an accounting fictions that obscure the underlying physics. And because we’ve replaced understanding of the physics with shorthand, we now incorrectly believe that anything producing current including batteries, solar inverters, or a clever algorithm, can perform the same stabilising role as the electromagnetic machines that built our power system.This misunderstanding could one day cost us the grid.
We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Mirrors
“The planet is warming,” they warned me. “So let’s make the sun shine at night, they said.”
Sparky Barbie
Good luck with that.
Let me get this straight.
Libs subsidized the development of this GM elecric van. The vehicle tanked commercially and now the Libs want to hold GM accountable for that???
AND they're creating some kind of response group to develop a new EV van???
— Kat Kanada (@KatKanada_TM) October 21, 2025
@GasPriceWizard, back on April 12th: I took this video of the excess and unsold Brightdrop EV vans a month ago to predict its demise thanks to Liberal NetZero hubris and folly
We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars
…ALL of the following highlighted EV subsidized projects are now either bankrupt, cancelled or delayed
Technology so popular they’ll pay you to buy it.
Related: No one is coming to save us.
We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars
Make us buy them harder, daddy: Cabinet is far short of its target to build electric auto charging stations despite more than a billion in subsidies, says a federal audit. The report warned even if successful there was “no evidence” that financing a national network at taxpayers’ expense would lower emissions: ‘Government involvement is necessary to address market failure.’
Deep Pockets
When I chose the title, I was referring to the deep pockets of taxpayers. There’s no way this boondoggle is ever going to turn a profit.
Carbon capture startup Deep Sky says it will build a commercial carbon removal facility in southwestern Manitoba.
Scroll down to examine Deep Sky’s track record when it comes to sequestering not just carbon, but tax dollars.
The Alberta carbon capture project was built at a cost of $58 million by the company, Deep Sky, which has received “investments” from the Alberta government ($5 million), two banks ($2.5 million), a grant from the Bill Gates Foundation ($40 million), with Royal Bank and Microsoft committed to buying 10,000 “removal credits.” On its website, Deep Sky, which also received funding from Investissements Quebec, pitches for more. “We’re looking for industry leaders who want to join our fight against the carbon crisis.”
Y2Kyoto: State Of Anorexia Envirosa
In today’s episode of Should’a Asked Kate;
Spain’s grid operator warned that a resurgence in sharp voltage swings threatens to disrupt the country’s power supply less than six months after it suffered the most severe outage in Europe in decades.
Red Electrica requested urgent changes to its operating procedures to better manage voltage in its system, according to a document published by the regulator. The company said the challenges are being caused by abrupt changes in scheduled production, particularly from renewable power plants.
It’s a sign that while investigators have called the events of that blackout unprecedented, the conditions that led to it may be a persistent problem for the stability of Spain’s power network. Spain has been a leader in deployment of renewables and its grid stresses will be closely watched by grid operators across Europe who seek to rapidly decarbonize their grids without jeopardizing reliability.
We Don’t Need No Flaming (checks notes) Sparky School Busses
We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars
Demand was “…not as robust as expected”.
GM CAMI Brightdrop EV van assembly plant takes another hit
"Unifor Local 88, which represents workers at the plant, says it has been informed by GM the plant will reopen mid November with just 400 people. That's down from 1,050 and significantly less than the 600 union officials… https://t.co/1mI232xZll pic.twitter.com/KGiZOXjGS2
— cbcwatcher (@cbcwatcher) September 9, 2025
We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Fans
@ReliableAB — Here’s a chart showing the yearly average wind capacity factors over the past 15 years.
We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars
Think of the billions that might have been saved if they let me run the world.
Quebec’s Northvolt project is officially dead — and the government says it is cutting its losses.
Christine Fréchette, Quebec’s economy minister, announced Tuesday that the province will invest no further money in Northvolt Batteries North America.
“The company’s failure to present a satisfactory plan with regard to Quebec’s interests has led us to assert our rights in order to recover as much of our investment as possible,” Fréchette’s said in a statement. “This venture proved unsuccessful, and we are obviously disappointed.”
The announcement spells the end to Northvolt’s highly touted, but controversial, plan to build a $7-billion plant in Saint-Basile-le-Grand and McMasterville in the Montérégie region. The Quebec government had supported the proposal and changed its own rules, allowing the project to bypass an environmental review.
Quebec had invested $510 million in the project, saying it would create 3,000 jobs in the area and make Quebec a battery producing powerhouse.
The investments included a $240-million guaranteed loan and a $270-million investment in Northvolt Batteries North America’s parent company.
Quebec officially lost that $270-million investment, Fréchette said in a news release. Northvolt declared bankruptcy in Sweden in March.
We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars
General Motors Co. is slowing production of two electric SUVs at Detroit’s Factory Zero plant amid lower-than-expected U.S. interest in battery-powered vehicles.
The automaker confirmed Thursday that it will shut down one shift each for the GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Escalade IQ from Sept. 2 to Oct. 6; the move was first reported by the Detroit Free Press. Production of the Chevrolet Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV pickups at the Factory Zero Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Center will be unchanged.
“Factory ZERO is making temporary adjustments to production to align to market dynamics,” spokesperson Kevin Kelly said in a statement. “General Motors updates schedules as part of our standard process of aligning production to manage vehicle inventory. Impacted employees will be placed on a temporary layoff and may be eligible for subpay and benefits in accordance with the GM-UAW national contract.”
Y2Kyoto: Sunshine Is Free
Our Chinese-Installed Governor In Ottawa
The more things stay the same, the more things stay the same.
Why Are We Trading Our Breadbasket for a Battery Pack?
In protecting a shaky electric vehicle dream, Ottawa is putting a $43-billion canola reality at risk — sacrificing a cornerstone of our agricultural economy for a battery pack that may never deliver. […]
The backdrop to all of this is Ottawa’s high-stakes bet on the EV sector. Despite nearly $50 billion in combined federal and provincial investments, Canada’s EV industry is faltering. Sales are dropping, mandates are clashing with market realities, and major projects are delayed or shelved. Without a significant acceleration in charging infrastructure, policy recalibration, and restored investor confidence, the sector risks collapse.
Ottawa’s trade stance is effectively protecting a fragile EV industry at the expense of a robust and profitable canola sector. One is speculative and policy-driven; the other is market-proven and globally competitive. The policy choice here should be obvious: Canada must either adjust its EV tariff position toward China or carve out exemptions to protect agricultural exports. Beijing has made its expectations clear.
Related: Built in 1960, the Second Narrows Bridge was not designed for the volume and weight of modern freight trains, which have grown substantially in size and frequency to meet rising global demand.
Y2Kyoto: Blunder Down Under
You can’t cheat Father Physics.
“The head of one of Australia’s biggest power retailers has warned that Australia’s energy transition is veering out of control, pointing to a major market disruption that hit New South Wales as evidence of the turmoil. During a week in which NSW agreed to extend the life of the state’s biggest coal plant, Alinta boss Jeff Dimery cited dramatic events in the market earlier in the month to argue the system was in distress.
The Australian Energy Market Operator was forced to step into the NSW market and cap wholesale prices between May 8 and 15 after a series of shocks sent costs into orbit. It’s believed to be only the second time the market operator has had to make such an intervention in NSW — the first being the energy crisis of 2022.”
[…]
“He said the energy system was getting more fragile as the addition of new clean sources of power failed to keep pace with the retirement of coal-fired generation.”
Via Doomberg.
We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars
Blacklocks: A federal regulator yesterday predicted weaker 2025 sales of zero emission vehicles just ahead of mandatory quotas. MPs on June 17 voted 194-141 to uphold the federal mandate that requires 20 percent of 2026 new vehicle sales be zero emission: “Weaker sales in 2025 are likely.”
I Want A New Country
BC & Manitoba just signed an economic trade partnership
Not to build pipelines, LNG, unlock energy corridors.Nope two NDP provinces are teaming up to build wind farms, export virtue signals, and pat each other on the back while the real economy rots
pic.twitter.com/KSn0SuumSk— Marc Nixon (@MarcNixon24) August 6, 2025
Related! Gas is $1.649 in Abbotsford, BC. Jumped 17 cents overnight!
We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Fans
Heh.
NOW – Trump lectures Ursula von der Leyen on windmills: "It's a horrible thing… the whole thing is a con job." pic.twitter.com/rtajF0zy5q
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) July 27, 2025
We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Mirrors
Sunnova’s bankruptcy saga reads like a sequel to Enron’s downfall, complete with glitzy deceptions and government-fueled illusions. Back in February, dealers gathered at a lavish summit, expecting praise and payments. Instead, they were fed assurances by then-CEO John Berger, an Enron alum, that funds were secure if they kept installing solar systems. But the truth was grim: Sunnova was already teetering, months behind on reimbursements, and hiding severe liquidity issues.
We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars
All the right people made bank and that was the objective: Biden push for $10B electric mail delivery fleet flops with just 250 trucks built in two years