- - - Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly said the revised forecast for power needs in Georgia showed power use in the state increasing 17 times. New demand, not total demand, is projected to increase 17 times. The article also misspelled the name of the agency that advocates for Maryland ratepayers. It is the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel. The article has been corrected.Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Was
  • _different_username@lemmy.world
    21·
    8 months ago

    It can be challenging to pick it out, but, if you read the article, the problem is “Transmission Capacity”. This does not mean that energy supply is the problem, rather, that the power grid has a finite, limiting ability to transmit the power generated in one place to another place, far away.

    It would be nice if this were not the case, as the construction of remote gigawatt-scale power plants would, as you suggest, solve this problem. However, adding more supply won’t change the transmission capacity of the grid serving the utility, especially if the power generation is tens or hundreds of miles away from the demand centers.

    One way to relieve the inevitable shortages is to upgrade the power lines and grid infrastructure. The core problems with this are that 1) it’s expensive and 2) there’s no good way to recoup the costs, as there would be with a plant. Accordingly, few people are eager to dump billions dollars into new grid infrastructure.

    An alternative way is to provide power is to accelerate residential solar arrays. Residential PV generates large amounts of excess power that can be metered back into the grid immediately adjacent to neighbors who may not have solar power, but might need power for things like air conditioning during hot days. Crucially, the power for these consumers is being generated immediately adjacent to them, without encumbering the “transmission capacity” of the grid that the distant thermal plant needs to get their energy to the consumer.

    Also, residential PV is purchased, installed, and insured by a private home owner at their own expense. Liability for loss or damage to the residential PV array is held by the homeowner, not the utility. As a result, the residential PV array is allowing the utility to sell more power to their customers without requiring that same utility to pay for an upgraded grid.

    Residential PV should be viewed as a godsend for the thermal plants generating power that their grids can’t transmit.