Texas to double $5B state fund aimed at expanding the power grid | Hacker News Reader

Texas to double $5B state fund aimed at expanding the power grid

texastribune.org

17 pointsthelastgallon14 comments

From the linked article about the usage

  The state’s main electric grid operator has sharply increased its prediction for how much power demand will increase in coming years. If it’s accurate, the state would need to be able to provide nearly double the amount of power within six years.

That's nuts. Are other states seeing similar increases?

> Are other states seeing similar increases?

Have other states capitulated to (crypto) miners in the same way?

I don't know enough to really speak on this, but that seems to be a notable difference in conditions. Instead of paying them not to mine, let them see the extreme cost of their demands

Avoiding this Texas Special seems to contribute a bit of a mitigation

>> The state’s main electric grid operator has sharply increased its prediction >> for how much power demand will increase in coming years. If it’s accurate, >> the state would need to be able to provide nearly double the amount of power >> within six years.

1. Texas' power grid has not been the best during periods of extremely high demand.

2. Electric cars pull a lot of power, and could theoretically benefit from smart grid tech.

3. AI pulls a lot of power.

This sounds like socialism. The state should leave this stuff to the free market, and not give out low-interest loans that private banks aren't willing to give out. If that results in blackouts and people freezing to death in the winter, that's ok.

Honest question, is this sarcasm? Seems to me the thing to do is to follow in the TVA’s footsteps- which is owned by the federal government.

Yes, it was sarcasm.

>Seems to me the thing to do is to follow in the TVA’s footsteps- which is owned by the federal government.

Such a thing is complete anathema to the mentality of Texas voters, which was the whole point of my comment. Texas won't even connect their power grid to the other states, which is why they had people freezing to death not long ago when they found out the generation facilities weren't designed for freezing temperatures.

Banks were willing to lend but they were banned by Texas for being woke

Priorities

I just want to see Texas stick to their principles (and then see how that turns out for them).

Texas is a middle-spending state by tax as a percentage of income (on a per capital basis, it’s lower-middle quartile) [1].

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_tax_levels_in_the_Unit...

I'm not sure how state tax levels relate to this discussion. My complaint is that the voters in this state are the type of people who scream about "leaving things to the Free Market". Pro-"Free Market" people aren't opposed the existence of taxes, though they do tend to complain about them a lot and how they're used. Presumably, such people should logically complain about their taxes being used to give out as loans to private companies, instead of just letting the "Free Market" work.

> not sure how state tax levels relate to this discussion

Expenditure is a good proxy for government size. Point is, when you look at what Texas does versus how it’s portrayed, this action is very much in sticking with their principles.

I’m not clear whether the fund is specifically for natural gas plants? Surely any power source rated to provide power in emergency conditions would be a better idea and a level playing field?

> any power source rated to provide power in emergency conditions would be a better idea and a level playing field?

Texas bet big on solar and wind. Batteries are promising, but gas is proven. If we want to keep taking down baseload coal, our options are nuclear or natural gas [1]. Nuclear is politically unworkable, so we’ll do gas. (They’ll spin about 22 years [2], by which point battery production should be at the point that it can take over.)

Put another way, the gas restriction is a limiter on coal and nuclear without being that blunt.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_of_the_Un...

[2] https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=34172

Note this is a Fossil fuel subsidy they are doubling.

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