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Paul Perez
@paulperez.bsky.social
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Reposted by Paul Perez
whinemixer.bsky.social
AI putting strain on power grids, potentially causing cascading outages & increasing electricity cost, puts everyone in danger of being unable to cool themselves during heatwaves. Lower income people will be particularly susceptible if they cannot afford their bills. It is all so irresponsible!
The surge in data center demand, combined with heavy investments from power companies like Dominion on new substations, transmission lines and other infrastructure to support it, are also increasing the likelihood customers will see their energy prices go up, experts say. The cost of some upgrades are typically allocated among electricity customers in an entire region, showing up as a line item on everyone's monthly utility bill. Goldman Sachs estimates that US utility companies will have to invest roughly $50 billion in new power generation capacity to support data centers. "That's going to raise energy prices for both wholesale energy and retail rates," said power market analyst Patrick Finn of energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie. Costs including grid improvements are divided among each customer class, from residential to industrial, based on how much it actually costs to serve each, according to a Dominion representative. (cont next image) (previous) As a result, residential customers have seen their share of transmission costs drop in recent years while data centers have seen their portion rise, the representative said. (current) But even markets eager to streamline data center buildout face constraints. What's missing in Johor, especially for an industry like tech that is known for its climate pledges, is renewable energy. The power supply at Sedenak comes from Tenaga Nasional Berhad, which uses coal or gas-fired plants. While Malaysia has ambitious goals to bolster renewables, including plans to build a 500-megawatt solar farm in Johor, today it relies on coal for more than a third of its generation. Most of Malaysia's data center capacity is not in use yet, but factoring in everything under construction, the amount of electricity used just by data centers would exceed the country's total renewable output in 2022, the latest year for which data is available, a Bloomberg analysis found. While power in Texas looks plentiful, there are limits. Solar panels and other gear needed for clean power are starting to see some supply constraints, Hollis said. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas also recently cautioned that it has underestimated demand in the San Antonio area, where Microsoft's big data center campus is located, potentially causing cascading outages statewide in the future. Back in Virginia, opposition to data centers is growing. At a March supervisors meeting in Prince William County, frustrated residents spoke out against a zoning change that would allow data centers on a specific plot of land to be built about twice as tall. One woman told officials that data centers were turning her quiet neighborhood into a "dystopian nightmare." A 48-year-old homemaker named Rachel Ellis spoke remotely to say the change would mean more demand on a grid that's already strained. "It's reckless governing to continue to approve data centers without knowing the full impacts of where this electricity will come from," she said. After hearing a dozen people speak against the zoning change, the supervisors voted. The bigger data centers were approved.
June 23, 2024 at 1:12 PM
Reposted by Paul Perez
justinbaragona.bsky.social
Here's another angle from Fox News reporter Bill Melugin of Sen. Alex Padilla getting roughed up by law enforcement after he tries to question Kristi Noem at her presser:

“I’m Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary. Because the fact of the matter is, a half dozen... Hands off!”
June 12, 2025 at 6:11 PM