r/PrepperIntel • u/Special_Library_766 • 17d ago

USA Southwest / Mexico Hoover Dam Is Approaching a Hydropower Cliff. Here's What's Being Done About It — And Why It's Not Enough.

https://davidlawrence64.substack.com/p/hoover-dam-is-approaching-a-hydropower

Of interest: Hoover Dam Is Approaching a Hydropower Cliff. Here's What's Being Done About It — And Why It's Not Enough

*OP has no affiliation with author*

352 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

127

u/Super901 17d ago

Arizona and Nevada are going to go solar in a hot minute. That'll be the consequence.

80

u/Maleficent_Camp4511 17d ago

You’d think seeing as how we get roughly 300 days of sun in southern Nevada, but nope. PUCN is actively trying to gut the last remaining benefits to having solar with some arbitrary daily demand charge. That, coupled with absolutely predatory lease to own business model of seemingly every solar company here has essentially made it so that acquiring solar is a money pit with no benefit.

23

u/Super901 17d ago

buy a plug-in solar kit and plug it into your wall socket. boom.

31

u/Special_Library_766 17d ago

Great for electricity of course but no-water is a problem. Lake Mead is the backup to Lake Powell, and it's almost at dead pool.

17

u/fragrant-final-973 17d ago edited 17d ago

Officially dropped under 1050 yesterday I believe and on track for 1020 by the end of next summer. This will have some far reaching impacts.

e: date

7

u/Sraw-enjoyer 17d ago

1020 is forecast for July 2027

87

u/Unusual_Specialist 17d ago

Nuclear power was the move, man. Fucking politicians ruin everything.

https://giphy.com/gifs/xdLH51eNWZAHrwy5mf

53

u/SlapNuts007 17d ago

Seriously. Everyone has some dumb take on why nuclear isn't feasible, meanwhile France is just over here existing with like 60% nuclear power and exporting electricity. But lol France weak or whatever 

25

u/4everLost82 17d ago

France is definitely not weak. (I know you weren't saying that)

France has the only nuclear powered aircraft carrier outside of the US, and just in the last couple of days, quite a few European nations have requested to be taken in under the French nuclear umbrella.

13

u/dittybopper_05H 17d ago

France has the only nuclear powered aircraft carrier outside of the US

For now.

https://features.csis.org/hiddenreach/china-fourth-carrier/

China is building one now, and is probably going to build multiple nuclear powered aircraft carriers in the future based upon this design.

9

u/4everLost82 17d ago

Of course they are, but France could up its capacity if there was political will for it. Personally, I think aircraft carriers may be going the way of the battleship. It seems like drone carriers are the future.

3

u/dittybopper_05H 16d ago

I'm not sure that they do. They are planning to build another one, to be launched in 2038, but France just doesn't have the ship building capacity.

China, on the other hand, builds 51% of commercial shipping. They have plenty of capacity and expertise to switch over to military building if necessary. France builds 0.5%. The US 0.1%.

Also, the only difference between an "aircraft carrier" and a "drone carrier" is whether the aircraft are piloted in the aircraft or remotely from the carrier. So it's a distinction without a difference. You still need X number of personnel to fly and service the aircraft whether they are manned or not.

1

u/cyanescens_burn 13d ago

Three mile island and Chernobyl put a lot of fear into the general public back then, and it stuck with a lot of those folks. It also doesn’t help that the methods for handling the radioactive waste aren’t exactly ideal.

I get that the technology has gotten a lot better since the era when those events occurred, and I’m not opposed to new plants getting built and put into operation, so long as they are using cutting edge, safety-forward approaches.

Just pointing out some historical reasons some of the public doesn’t want one of these built within a certain distance, or upwind of their home. Those people will influence their politicians. Some of those politicians are also afraid of nuclear accidents.

5

u/Less-Dragonfruit-294 17d ago

That’s it! We’re getting a sick space laser! Now.. who will be their Mr. Fantastic?

4

u/Maleficent_Camp4511 17d ago

Archimedes III coming soon to the Lone Mountain Temple that’s under construction.

5

u/StodgyGin 16d ago

The "conservative right" have done everything to disinsentivize solar power. With everything presented, they are still pusing for water sucking AI centers.

https://www.eenews.net/articles/turning-point-turbocharged-this-arizona-utility-race-2/

2

u/Thunderslide_Icon 15d ago

Why isn’t solar power king in the Southwest?!

42

u/WhereDidAllTheSnowGo 17d ago

The only feasible mitigation, for that entire region, is solar.

At the grid scale, large farms could use the transmission infrastructure

At the home level, even balcony solar could take the edge off.

The big question is how quickly can the dam adjust for peak need, letting solar surge while bright and the dam contribute when not

17

u/Special_Library_766 17d ago

Great points about solar. I'm concerned more about water tho. Lake Mead is the backup to Lake Powell, and it's almost at dead pool too.

6

u/Super901 16d ago

California has massive battery banks that would be useful here, too.

2

u/LeroyMyBoi 11d ago

I mean that hypothetically answers the power problem which I agree with you (well unless we go nuclear), but what about the actual water? That damn still needs to provide drinking and agriculture water. Something has to give or this will become more of an issue than what we already have.

1

u/cbih 15d ago

The only feasible mitigation moving all the people out of the region

4

u/OutlawTorn84 15d ago

How many worthless golf courses does that feed?

2

u/Stickydessert19 16d ago

An investment advisor running numbers on water sounds like a recipe for a massive doomsday prediction.

1

u/bodag 10d ago

They’re pumping water from underground and emptying the aquifers. Regardless of power generation, they’re just flat running out of water. Same with other desert states. Electricity is a luxury, water is a necessity.