That may change in some areas.
AI's strain on power markets
- Thread starter buster
- Start date
So your thinking were firing those plants back up? Or are you saying something else?
I do think China builds a coal plant a week - or were. So if you want to compete.
The article I saw was discussing building new plants in some states.
I struggle with how this works out - because you start building things and the laws revert back in a few years so no private investors would be likely to do it. Maybe Microsoft would but seems foolish even for them?
I think MS would have the capital if they wanted to see it completed. It might actually be the start of companies privatizing energy production.
It's a hype, no one is going to replace a decommissioned nuclear plant for this. They are in Wisconsin for the water availability.
Which may be the case. However I was addressing your statement that “we” have sufficient reserve capacity without new generating facilities, which isn’t the case in Wisconsin.
Yes, there have been a lot of power deals in the datacenter industry lately. The datacenter vendors have seen the writing on the wall. They know that on some level they will need to generate at least some of their own power.
I have taken a tour of Microsoft's San Antonio datacenter. They have 20 Cat V-16 quad turbo generators and a couple of diesel fuel silos that are enormous. When ERCOT calls them and asks them to disconnect from grid power, for example when a summer peak hits, they do so. They consume enough electricity to power 50,000 homes under normal operations.
And cooler weather. Microsoft told us on our tour that they want to build datacenters with passive cooling.
I want to know why/how/when if at all we can start making nuclear power plants. I'm looking at our governor's race and trying to see who has the better energy policy. Our PSE&G bill was insane over the summer. Also on a federal level, which I'm told current admin is pro nuclear.
New government policy is extremely friendly to coal electric plants. Opening up a massive amount of federal land for coal mining and releasing 625 million for coal plant upgrades and to keep them running. Also pushing to reopen hundreds of coal plants.
We need the power, foolish decisions decades back we stopped interest in clean nuclear power. Now we need that power both for AI and EVs.
We need the power, foolish decisions decades back we stopped interest in clean nuclear power. Now we need that power both for AI and EVs.
Don't most people charge their EVs overnight when the rates are low? Asking for a friend...
I have never lived somewhere that had residential electricity prices be time of day dependent.
I was actually thinking about grid demand. But yeah, time of use is big around here. Of course, my electricity bill is peanuts because I make use of that big nuclear reactor up in the sky. Such a deal!
I have and also where I am currently living. They will charge two different rates based on "Peak Demand" hours and "Off Peak Demand" hours. For residential, most peak demand hours are from 2pm to 9pm
Were the panels free to start with?
I know there are places. The question was don't most people charge off peak. And the answer is "it depends on where you live". I am sure those here just plug in whenever.
Of course not. The solar project, which included a full re-roof, was an investment with an expected return. I considered solar for over 5 years before inking the deal. The numbers made the investment the biggest no-brainer in the world. And I got a nice big fat tax credit!
Given the rising costs of energy in Silicon Valley, my calculations were very conservative. I am a fiscal conservative; I do the arithmetic.
Add to that:
- I have since retired so I am home much more, consuming more electricity. Blare that AC.
- I have been charging a Tesla since Dec 2018; the fuel savings add to the value. They were not in my calculations but now add to asset utilization.
The panels are far better than free based on ROI.
Last edited:
Similar threads
