• irotsoma@lemmy.worldEnglish
    851·
    1 day ago

    We took profit for decades from letting our infrastructure decay. Now we still want that same amount of profit, so you have to pay more for us to fix all the problems that should have been fixed with that profit money in the past.

    • Possibly linuxEnglish
      1·
      3 hours ago

      The other issue is the impact renewable energy has on the grid. Most renewables are either on or off instead of having a spinning generator. Rotation of a physical generator adds a lot of stability and makes it easier to sync the phase of the power. With things like solar panels you need to have a station to sync the phases which adds more things to worry about.

      • irotsoma@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        3 hours ago

        That is only an issue in very small grids that are entirely renewables in one location. And the impact of AI on the grid has been much more problematic than any renewable sources because it’s localized and its is sudden spikes in usage whereas spikes in generation can be mitigated with battery and capacitor tech. Spikes at the usage side need to either be mitigated by the user or the grid has to implement mitigation at just those locations which is more difficult to plan for.

      • desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        0·
        3 hours ago

        if solar was incentivized to have batteries, power factor correction, and (if the power companies can shut off the connection at the house during service to prevent backfeding) use frequency correcting inverters.

    • setVeryLoud(true);@lemmy.caEnglish
      32·
      1 day ago

      And then eventually we’ll stop fixing it for that amount of money, pocket the difference and go “tough, pay more” if you want it fixed again.