Dylan McConnell

@dylanjmcconnell

Renewable Energy & Energy Systems Researcher at University of NSW (..but also I live in Melbourne)

424 Folgt3.738 Follower1.273 Posts

Bluesky

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Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· 6d

.. genuinely surprised at how small my 1TB hard disk is. Not sure what I expected exactly but it was more than this!

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· 7d

I am the Jane of my own tools and libraries 🥲 Never left per se, but still applicable 🫠

Every company has one. The little internal tool that Jane built back in 2021, and then Jane left. Nobody understands it, nobody will touch it. There are two unwritten rules around it: don't change it, it's working. And if you break it, you bought it. That's dark-matter enterprise software.

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· 7d

Colleagues at UNSW are conducting research on the Australian energy industry’s capacity to deliver First Nations outcomes. If you work in RE project development, community engagement, construction, finance, etc would love you to participate in this survey! unsw.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· 10d

I think I just bought something from the mid-2000's

Some kind of "excited business people" stock photo photo, probably from like 20 years ago

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· 21d

Amazing: "Queensland dissented from this Communique" .. federation is working well then www.energy.gov.au/energy-and-c...

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· 21d

.. at least the lollies are 100% RE

Package of natural confectionery with label that says "Jellies made with 100% Renewable Electricity"

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· 21d

Screen shot of some text:

If they could not develop their own power generation fast enough, they would simply soak up whatever power they could from the market of existing or committed projects.

"That will be a key point of contention," he said.

"How much of the stuff is actually new and not just taking up existing projects or projects that would have been used elsewhere?"

At least in the short term, Dr McConnell said, data centre demand would put upward pressure on wholesale power prices, which made up about 40 per cent of a typical bill.

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· 28d

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Guardian headline: "Australian ski resorts smash July climate records with temperatures 12C above average"

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· Jul 13

Mr Tehan: “Small modular reactors & micro reactors should be part of the energy sources that are available to data centres and AI as they continue to evolve and expand in the future” A perfect fit for anthropics plan to have ~1.4GW of capacity by next year 🙃 www.couriermail.com.au/news/nsw/coa...

Screencap of courier mail article feature a big cooling tower: "Coalition’s nuclear plan to court data centres, former sites still on the table"

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· Jul 12

Only tangentially related (I think?) but was reminded of this passage (bottom para) in the latest Quarterly Essay Would much rather be writing code than reviewing it or managing it ..

Photo of para in latest Quarterly Essay (QE102): "The God We Made" by Anna Goldsworthy

"But it is one thing to be delivered of busywork; it is another to be relieved of meaningful occupation. There are many ways we find purpose in work, ranging from the satisfaction of a job well done to the sense of contributing to something beyond ourselves. Just because a task can be automated does not mean it should be. In a conversation with Oliver Burkeman, behavioural strategist Samuel Salzer identifies the danger of "automation drift," citing the example of a writer who suddenly finds themselves editing rather than writing, when "what they used to enjoy doing was the writing part and they hated editing." Burkeman notes that this is a version of the phenomenon of being "kicked upwards" out of the job you are good at and into management. For some this may be a happy landing; others may find"

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· Jun 29

Significant increase (..almost ~50% 🤯) in cumulative generation from coal in the latest ISP. FY27 projection is a mere ~27%~ higher than where we thought we would be in 2024 ISP 🥲.

Figure showing projection of coal generation in the latest (2026) ISP, compared to the previous (2024) ISP. Shows a marked increase in coal generation from mid 2030's onwards and considerable increase in the immediate terms (cf. The previous iteration)

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· Jun 14

It's completely normal for your daffodils to start flowering in 2nd week of winter...... right? 😬

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· May 29

.. a breezy 2.4GW datacentre proposed for outer west Melb 😳

Article in The Age - "As big as 175 MCG playing fields: Mega data hub coming to Melbourne's west"

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· May 27

DCA: "claims that data centre growth is going to demand the energy grid uses more fossil fuels applies equally to electric vehicle charging, household electrification & manufacturing" Important context missing! Something I said earlier to @cameronwilson.bsky.social: www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05...

Screen cap of some quotes from me:

Dr McConnell said even the comparison between the demand of data centres with the electrification of vehicles, homes and businesses did not capture the impact of the new load.

Electrification of vehicles and gas in houses is replacing an emission-intensive energy source with a lower-emission one.

"They're not replacing consumption of fossil energy, they're a new load," Dr McConnell said.

He said this mismatch of growing energy demand with the slower pace of building new renewable projects meant existing power plants may remain online for longer.

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· May 21

Hmm yes, much efficiency......

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· May 21

.. call me crazy, but this does not exactly sound like an "increase efficiency" win www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05...

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· May 7

.. who could possible say? 🤷‍♂️

RenewEconomy article: "AGL sees 7-fold increase in AI-driven data centre demand, much more than AEMO forecasts. Will this be good for the energy transition or bad?"

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· Apr 16

huh.. turns out they design them to *not* catch fire

ABC headline:

"Why oil refineries are designed to not catch fire:
A former refinery safety manager says preventing fires is hardwired into refining plants."

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· Apr 15

Not now, out-of-control-blaze ...

Headline: "Firefighters battle out-of-control blaze at one of Australia’s two remaining oil refineries in Geelong"

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· Apr 15

And here I was thinking this idea had died at least a decade ago ..

Headline in the Australian "Brown coal can fuel a fix" (about converting brown coal to liquid fuels in the latrobe valley).

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· Apr 1

In case folks interested in seeing how the forward netback gas prices have moved over the last couple of weeks.. Mid $20's per GJ for next 12 months .. haven't been that high since early 2023, following the first energy shock. Domestic prices haven't seemed to move up..... yet

Figure showing the ACCC's LNG netback price series - historical, and forward curve just before the (current) middle eastern crisis, and week after. Shows significant increase (almost 2x) in forward price over next 12 months.

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· Mar 23

.. forward curve for NSW over the past couple of weeks:

Figure showing the forward curve for NSW baseload swaps - rising across considerably (15-20% ish) across the outlook

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· Mar 23

In case you're interested in what's happening to the futures prices for next FY in the NEM...

Figure showing the FY2027 baseload contract prices - with noticeable / sharp increase in last few weeks following the beginning of conflict in the middle east

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· Mar 17

Stockpiling valuable liquid un-Australian? The Rum Corps would like a word...

Photo of Chris Bowen above a guardian headline: "Chris Bowen declares rush on jerry cans ‘un-Australian’ as he urges end to panic buying of petrol"

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· Mar 8

They've gone and shrinkflationed a dozen ..

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· Feb 5

.. haven't looked too closely, but demand seems to be outstripping forecasts by a pretty decent margin.

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· Jan 31

Underlying demand, and underlying demand ex-solar contribution (both utility and rooftop) over the last week or so ... 🔌💡

Figure illustrating the underlying demand, and the underlying demand minus solar contribution - showing solar providing a
huge chunk of daytime demand.

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· Jan 30

(rest of the figure)

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· Jan 30

lol these actually look like ducks.. 🔌💡

Dylan McConnell@dylanjmcconnell· Jan 29