Comment on Texas becomes leading test ground for small nuclear reactors
Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 17 hours ago
This should be interesting. Texas can’t even keep its own electric grid functioning all year round.
Comment on Texas becomes leading test ground for small nuclear reactors
Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 17 hours ago
This should be interesting. Texas can’t even keep its own electric grid functioning all year round.
ramble81@lemmy.zip 9 hours ago
I know that’s a funny quip and it was true in 2021, but it hasn’t been a problem since that event 5 years ago. Fun fact, Texas is actually the largest producer of wind energy in the nation, and they’re also building out massive solar farms.
The reason most people don’t hear about it, is it’s being done by the same oil and gas companies that are raking in the money. They’re just diversifying their portfolio so they continue to make money.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
We’ve been spared any serious natural disasters affecting the grid during that time. No major hurricanes. No big freeze.
The worst event was the 2024 derecho, and that definitely knocked out power here and there. But it was high enough above the treeline to really wreck infrastructure at the ground level.
I’ll note that a huge increase in wind and solar capacity means we aren’t exposed to the same kind of economic pressure from five years ago, either. The '21 freeze came, in large part, due to gas power plants locking up when they were needed, because they hadn’t been weatherized. With less acute demand issues (that’s to new green energy) we haven’t been in a position where gas plants could casually wait for prices to spike before turning on.
hector@lemmy.today 6 hours ago
Idk it’s a problem still for the people that were charged ten thousand dollars for a week’s worth of electricity, especially if they had automatic withdrawals.
ramble81@lemmy.zip 6 hours ago
Frankly that’s the customers fault. It’s like taking out an ARM based mortgage. You’re gambling that the rates will stay low and then bitch if they spike. The people that were affected opted in to a variable rate plan to take advantage of lower commercial prices, then started botching when it spiked. Coupled with automatic withdrawal meant they thought “it would never happen to me!”
hector@lemmy.today 5 hours ago
Victim blaming. Deregulation of energy always leads to less service for more money, from Enron to now. Especially in texas.
I can’t imagine defending a group that through their own greed failed to do their job and responded by overcharging a thousand times their victims. Talk about losing any credibility.