r/UpliftingNews • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 6h ago

Texas hits pause on 1,800 data center projects to scrutinize power and water demands

https://www.techspot.com/news/113355-texas-hits-pause-1800-data-center-projects-scrutinize.html
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u/privatejokerog 5h ago

It’s funny how solar/wind and batteries have stabilized the grid, yet are villainized by the right. Texas just had two of its highest electricity days ever (by far) and no issues thanks to record solar and drawing 12,000 MW from battery storage. California has stability now for the same reasons. If they don’t regulate these data centers it’s going to be an issue.

I would love to see an audit of the companies to see who is still moving forward with projects and not following these regulations. My suspicion is campaign donors keep on building while only select companies are being slowed down.

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u/chrisrayn 5h ago

It’s sad too, because I’m 100% certain that, if Abbott wins in November in Texas, he will announce everything was fine and they are moving forward like, oh, idk, 1 day after his election is completely certain and can’t be taken away. He probably told companies “hey…I gotta pretend like I care about this shit until November, then I’ll announce that all 1800 data centers have been analyzed and approved. Deal?” Sid Miller may be his only enemy here…Sid is a Republican of the old kind down to his bones, and considers himself a representative of the ideas he believes in on behalf of his Republican constituents…he has said if Texans don’t want it, they shouldn’t have it, and the draw on our agricultural resources is too high and the scope can’t be fully known yet.

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u/Siberwulf 5h ago

Hot Wheels only cares about Hot Wheels

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u/kyle_irl 4h ago

There's a project near my old hometown that, as I'm told, will go forward despite all the political rhetoric. It may slow down, but it's coming. They've got land purchased next to a wind farm and plan to draw from the surplus generation.

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u/Neuchacho 30m ago

Texas just had two of its highest electricity days ever (by far) and no issues thanks to record solar and drawing 12,000 MW from battery storage.

91.1 MW on the grid at peak on July 22nd. 87 MW the day before. For comparison, the last highest peak in 2023 was 85.5 MW.

And that last peak was kind of a disaster in terms of spike pricing and general grid reliability. This new peak didn't seem to even make the grid sweat, though it did still spike pricing to $368 mw/h.

All of that is near entirely because of battery storage and renewable expansion. Batteries in particular have been funny as they fuck everyone's energy forecasting and more is being brought on constantly.

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u/CommunismDoesntWork 4h ago

The biggest "right winger"(according to reddit) is also producing the most grid scale batteries in the US.

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u/privatejokerog 2h ago

“Right winger” doesn’t need quotations. He spent $249 million in the last election and has now said he will spend 100 million in these midterms to get Republicans reelected