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This sounds like a good reason to have a lot of batteries.
by jeffbee 4mo ago
This sounds like a good reason to have a lot of batteries.
- weird-eye-issue 4mo agoA lot would probably be an understatement. Aren't most batteries in data centers designed to just hold load for seconds or a few minutes at a time while generators start up?
- zephen 4mo agoYeah, different batteries, different purposes. Keeping the data center up is completely different from keeping the grid up. Not only are the batteries too small; they're also on the wrong side of the disconnect.
- jeffbee 4mo agoIf the problem is an instant disconnect of a large load, switching that large load into charging batteries at that instant, for a minute or so, feels like a solution.
- weird-eye-issue 4mo agoWhat?
- jeffbee 4mo agoWhy is this confusing? Batteries are both generator and load. If the grid needs load to stabilize frequency and voltage, batteries can become loads instantly.
- weird-eye-issue 4mo agoOh, okay. I was confused because I was talking about batteries on the side of the data center.
- forgetfreeman 4mo agoI'd rather see legislation banning crypto mining and AI data centers from the public grid entirely. No sense in forcing the broader public to subsidize them.
- MBCook 4mo agoThe problem with that is one of the best things we have to control pollution at power plants is the rules that go into place when connecting to the US grid (I know TX is different). I really don’t want to incentivize private power plants that aren’t on grid. Or just running tons of industrial sized generators instead. If we’re going to allow enough of this stuff to be built that it can destabilize things why not require they behave and don’t stop off like that? Some sort of organized draw down? And if they don’t? Mandatory cutoff for X amount of time. Weeks/months.
- toomuchtodo 4mo agoBan private fossil generators above a certain size without a license. You can just do things. They can build as much solar and batteries as they want. https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/google-confirms-1gw-data-center-campus-near-detroit-michigan-partners-with-dte-energy-on-27gw-power-generation/ https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/google-confirms-1... https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/google-announces-first-data-center-in-minnesota/ https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/google-announces-...
- dpark 4mo agoSpaceX is running a bunch of “portable”, high pollution gas generators in Memphis, TN specifically to get around the regulation you’re describing. Elon definitely got the “you can just do things” memo.
- toomuchtodo 4mo agoRight, that’s what I was thinking of when I wrote my comment. Regulate back. If there is no will to do so, well, that’s a choice. Write the law, pass the law, aggressively enforce civil and criminal penalties for violations. They haul gas generators in without a license? Confiscate and tear them down for scrap (which will be painful, as these turbines are in short supply and their manufacturers are backlogged years into the future), in accordance with law you pass. Hold the utility liable if they provide a fossil gas pipeline connection. Humans like Elon may not care, but utilities have something to lose. Find “one throat to choke” as the saying goes. It is not politically easy, but it is logistically straightforward. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/one_throat_to_choke https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/one_throat_to_choke
- threwrfaway 4mo agoMore scarce resources used to feed the surveillance state's fancy chat bots
- drak0n1c 4mo agoTexas was the leading state in new grid battery installs for the last few years.