The big collapse in Texas involved about 30GW of generation going off line. Even if Texas were connected to the Eastern grid, it is unlikely that there would have been 30GW of spare capacity and 30GW of available transmission to draw on. So looks like a well planned system - 30 GW going offline? Explain how this is something that would happen elsewhere. I mean, you're defending their grid. So I want to hear how that was something that was random.
Already happens having nothing to do with UPS's or data centers. If you sell a service, it's on you to provide it.
In most cases you are correct. I'm sure I'll be modded troll for this, but we're talking about Texas, where the power grid was largely influenced by politics. And for a lot of politicians, technical issues are almost irrelevant.
DDG "what's wrong with Texas' power grid", there are many interesting links.
You are building a billion-dollar data center and you aren't putting routine-but-poor-power-quality-tolerant power-conditioning uninterruptible power supplies between the grid and your sensitive equipment???
You misunderstood the problem. They *ARE* doing this. At the first sign of a voltage disturbance they switch from the grid to their UPS / own generators and keep running because they do care about themselves. This is the problem. During a period of grid instability having a massive load disconnect makes the instability worse. It's literally one of the ways cascade failures on the grid can occur.
Yup, And it's worse for the Turbine generating plants. Going from running a heavy load to essentially instantly a lot of the load disappearing is hell on turbines. People could think of it as going uphill in their car with the pedal to the metal, then shifting into neutral suddenly. The load on the engine drops, but at full throttle, it will rev as far as it can.
Why should all the other customers have to pay for it?!?! Also that's not how grid load balancing works.
It is a problem specific to the large user and that same large user should be held responsible for being a responsible part of the community.
The Texas grid which is separate from the rest of the US has a size issue with balancing and peaking that ha shown up from time to time. Their grid collapse a few winters ago would (probably) not have happened if they were connected to the big grid like everyone else is.
What I'm seeing here is a very good possibility that this will end up being a year round problem for Texas.
Who hurt you? Was your mamma scared by an American? Then you were rescued by North Koreans?
Nobody. I'm the bourgeoisie. I'm curious how close to the line I can drag the proletariat to class consciousness without actually triggering a thought in their head. *pats self on back*
Ahh, so we're dealing with repressed memories here...
Ah - Now I see where the Slashdot commie brigade gets their knowledge and "facts" about the USA. Their comments could be taken from that masterpiece. 8^0
I see my comment is at -1 troll now. I guess he is embarrassed the North Koreans had to rescue him, and now he has so much nutrition high quality food to eat, he is getting as fat as an American. Maybe that snow diet is what makes 'Murricans fat?
Crypto should be treated like gold, investment-wise, only more random.
Gold has an industrial salvage value. Crypto does not, unless you count selling the heat sinks on mining equipment as scrap metal.
Perhaps I did not elucidate well enough. When gold goes on one of its wild rides, people buy it up at ever increasing prices. Then it craters. When Crypto goes on one of its wild rides, people buy it up at ever increasing prices, then it craters.
What is the similarity? A whole lot of dollars vaporize very quickly. And the present day trick of giving out paper certificates in lieu of the actual element, takes gold into a whole new level of irrational behavior, IMO.
Yes indeed, gold has an intrinsic value, both as an industrial element, but also as jewelry. Gold will never be worthless. Crypto on the other hand can become worthless. A lot of Crypto has become worthless. It is estimated that between 1,700 to 2,500 cryptocurrencies have just disappeared, no longer are in circulation, and have zero value or utility.
Anyone will tell you that the one thing we need here in the US are lots more loosely-regulated mom-and-pop nuclear reactors with minimal security and oversight.
So much this.
That's not insignificant but it's not nearly the disaster you suggest, and anybody building these systems is using a better estimate than that when they pick specific sites.
AC thinks that the only thing that happens is going after solar panels.
Hmm, maybe that's a new way to protect trailers, the previous targets of tornados?
But what is important, at least in America, is answering the question: will this make important people even richer?
Who hurt you? Was your mamma scared by an American? Then you were rescued by North Koreans?
No one is doubting that electricity is useful. The intended output of nuclear power plants is great: power.
The worrying, doubting, lingering is, "Will they explode?" The pollution from nuclear power plants potentially outweighs the benefits.
How much pollution will the intentionally/unintentionally have?
I'll weigh in with my standard "Fission power plants can be very safe. But not when built by humans, with managers, bean counters and others overruling the engineers." Recent examples . Fukushima should be happily providing power today, had it not been built in a place 100 percent certain to suffer Tsunami, 100 percent certain that Tsunami could occur that would overtop the Seawalls - although they probably saved a lot of money by not making them a meter or two higher. Then an emergency power system for running the pumps was deliberately placed where the saltwater that was going to ingress, would require another form of emergency power, which unfortunately didn't have a matching connector.
And the most recent from South Carolina - the Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station adding two generators project. A 9 billion dollar debacle/scandal that has increased energy costs For North Carolinians, while never generating any power. People have gone to prison, more trials are ongoing.
Aside from all the other issues https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... most brought about from incompetence, Including electrical and safety systems designed by unlicensed people and zero engineer sign-off. So an excellent chance of problems.
And to cap it off, The Base Load Review Act, allowed all of the costs to be charged to electricity users. Still ongoing. The South Carolina Government has removed the baseload act, but the law is the law.
So I'll remain very skeptical that the country will be peppered with small reactors and no issues will result.
A lax regulatory environment and a technology that is outclassed by wind and solar in virtually every single metric except space usage in a country with nothing but space?
The output of a SMR is heat. That heat can be used to power a steam turbine or it could be used to generate heat directly where heat is needed like industrial or chemical plants. Imagine a SMR that could produce electricity, heat, and desalination in high latitude locations like Alaska. Or a small version could be used at McMurdo Station in the Antarctic during their 24-hour nights. If they could be built into the same form as a 40-foot shipping container, ten of these could be prepositioned around the country to generate power after natural disasters.
You are thinking of the SL-1?
Given that gold was basically never a good investment...
Gold is a funny one. I have a bit of Gold, Silver, and Platinum. I prefer to hold the bars in my hands. But it is really just something to play with, I'm not concerned if I lose money, because it isn't all that much.
But Gold "investment" is a fear investment, brought out during unsettling events and times, and almost every normal but foolish person uses the buy high, sell low paradigm, and loses money.
No one imagined it is stable. Even those who buy/sell goods/services with bitcoin tend not to hold it. Buy and transfer immediately, receive and sell immediately, it avoids the volatility risk. As mentioned earlier, "investors" tend to know it is high risk/reward, very speculative.
I suppose some idjits thought it was stable. There are always people seemingly asking to be taken to the cleaners.
Crypto should be treated like gold, investment-wise, only more random.
FWIW, my 2005 Prius lasted 14 years and 295K miles (475,000 km). The engine burned oil for the last 70K miles, the rocker panels and rear suspension rusted out, and finally it wouldn't pass inspection. The battery was fine.
Exactly - The battery and the electrical motor is generally the least of the cars issues. Wear and tear and the ravages of road salt and dirt will end the car long before the batteries and electrical motor.
"Little else matters than to write good code." -- Karl Lehenbauer
