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0 pointsaydyn4mo ago0 comments

> Each 9 of reliability for infrastructure is EXTREMELY expensive. And grid has a lot of 9s.

Correction: should have a lot of 9s.

But in a lot of places in the U.S., even rich states, it doesn't because a combination of regulatory capture, profiteering and straight corruption.

I can see why solar and batteries are so attractive because at least its your prerogative when the power goes out.

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babypuncher4mo ago

My concern is that it deflates any impetus to actually solve the problems of regulatory capture, profiteering, and other corruption.

Not everybody can afford the up front costs of installing solar + battery storage, plus replacement when the PV cells and batteries inevitably reach EoL. These people will be left behind on a decaying grid nobody with political capital wants to fix or at the mercy of landlords.

I really don't like this attitude we have in America where we realize "thing is broken" and advocate throwing it away instead of trying to fix it.

aydynOP4mo ago

> I really don't like this attitude we have in America where we realize "thing is broken" and advocate throwing it away instead of trying to fix it.

Because people are too busy playing Team Politics instead of solving issues that everyone can get behind.

Fixing the power grid is one of those things that everyone could get behind, and yeah I agree, it disproportionately affects the economically disadvantaged.

Iulioh4mo ago

Have you heard how companies makes money on the US grid?

Oh boy.

They are incentivized to BULID but not to maintain or upgrade because that grants them guarantee rate of return.

It was enlightening to see what caused the big blackout during a big snowfall in texas a few years ago

afiori4mo ago

It is funny to me how fractally perverse systems gets when a centralised authority refuses to directly solve a problem but rather decide have it solved by third party uncooperative players by creating an endless stream of byzantine rules to force the solution to be a twisted copy of what the centralised authority could have done by itself.

Of course there are failure modes in any approach but "oh no! Herding cats is hard. Who could have imagined!" is funny to me

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