Not just power grid …
US infrastructure overall is in need of a “jolt” (updating).
Bridges, highways, power grid and more are all aging and in need of massive updating / refresh.
The aging U.S. power grid is about to get a jolt
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Re: The aging U.S. power grid is about to get a jolt
#42Not just power grid … US infrastructure overall is in need of a “jolt” (updating). Bridges, highways, power grid and more are all aging and in need of massive updating / refresh.
Didn’t congress pass a gargantuan bill a few years back for this?
Re: The aging U.S. power grid is about to get a jolt
#43Not just power grid … US infrastructure overall is in need of a “jolt” (updating). Bridges, highways, power grid and more are all aging and in need of massive updating / refresh.
Didn’t congress pass a gargantuan bill a few years back for this?
Yes but that money went to the working groups who need it more than silly bridges.
Re: The aging U.S. power grid is about to get a jolt
#44[deleted]
Re: The aging U.S. power grid is about to get a jolt
#45Not just power grid … US infrastructure overall is in need of a “jolt” (updating). Bridges, highways, power grid and more are all aging and in need of massive updating / refresh.
Didn’t congress pass a gargantuan bill a few years back for this?
Yeah; it's a good start.
As per the third paragraph of the article: "In New York, Algonquin Power won a $42.9 million grant to install devices that automatically redeploy power when lines are overloaded. Virginia’s Dominion Energy won $33.7 million for a project that includes devices that will let it adjust power distribution in response to changing conditions on the grid. The funds are part of a $3.5 billion program for grid-boosting projects the Energy Department rolled out in October."
To save you a few clicks, that program is funded by the bill in question, as per https://www.energy.gov/gdo/grid-resilience-and-innovation-pa...
Re: The aging U.S. power grid is about to get a jolt
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Didn’t congress pass a gargantuan bill a few years back for this?
Yes but that money went to the working groups who need it more than silly bridges.
I mean, for just one example, the DoT awarded $600 million to replace the I-5 bridge between Washington and Oregon. I don't pretend the funding is perfect but it is reaching real projects.
Re: The aging U.S. power grid is about to get a jolt
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
They're not being built though. Not at nearly the rate needed. https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/transmission/the-us-is-...
> not being built though. Not at nearly the rate needed …according to “consultancy Grid Strategies and commissioned by trade group Americans for a Clean Energy Grid (ACEG).” This is like the civil-engineering society perennially failing our civil-engineering spending.
That doesn’t make them inherently incorrect, in the same way that oil companies are correct that building more pipelines is safer and more environmentally friendly than oil trains.
Re: The aging U.S. power grid is about to get a jolt
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is this not just the same question as for decades? Which is cheaper, a peaker plant after the transmission line hitting peak capacity, or increased transmission line capacity for a small percentage of the time? Now it's just battery storage instead of natural gas peaker plants. You can still smooth out the transmission line capacity with downstream storage. Or have we already done that to the max with peaker plants a…
Here is the thing: planning a grid is always done with cost in mind, we do not build golden pylons for the sake of it. But on the other hand, reasonable grid planning is done a decade ahead, more for some equipment. Money spent in a hurry is likely to be wasted in that business. Storage to optimize grid (not production) cost is neither efficient nor resilient as far as I know. Also having a peaker plant solves produc…
But imagine how much better audio quality we would have if we had gold electrical lines to our houses.
Re: The aging U.S. power grid is about to get a jolt
#49Re: The aging U.S. power grid is about to get a jolt
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Meanwhile in China Outside China, companies and governments usually have to be careful when making investments. They can't decide to start building transmission lines/housing/fast train lines/deploy 5G everywhere and spend huge amounts of money if the return is small/non existent... And so usually things are only built or improved when there's a demand for it. China can make a 5 year plan to build UHVDC everywhere…
> has been working for them so far It works in the wake of a decimated economy. War. Natural disaster. Cultural revolution. There is so much slack in the system virtually anything will be put to productive use. In that state, you can build a road to nowhere and people will put it to use , not because it’s a well-placed road, but because it’s the only road in the vicinity.
China’s is not a decimated economy and they haven’t been in cultural revolution for decades. Their government functions much more like a corporation than the popularity contest that will likely give a reality TV star his second term.