TexasCHLforum.com

Not sure I like this.

Hell froze over in Texas – the state will connect to the US grid for the first time via a fed grant

https://electrek.co/2024/10/03/hell-fro ... irst-time/

wheelgun1958 wrote: Fri Oct 04, 2024 10:47 pm Not sure I like this.

Hell froze over in Texas – the state will connect to the US grid for the first time via a fed grant

https://electrek.co/2024/10/03/hell-fro ... irst-time/

I'm sure I don't like it.

This is a huge mistake. All of the national grid's vulnerabilities, with no real benefits.

Bad idea.

On the plus side, we're getting this: Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued its Nuclear Energy eXperimental Testing Laboratory (NEXT Lab) a construction permit for the deployment of the Natura Resources MSR-1 system’s liquid-fueled advanced nuclear research reactor.

Small nuclear reactors may be coming to Texas, boosted by interest from Gov. Abbott

X-energy, which plans to build small nuclear reactors for Dow. The reactors will produce steam and electricity for the company’s complex just up the coast from Corpus Christi.

...new generation of reactors under development are designed to power everything from industrial facilities to oilfield water desalination to the electric grid

Also on the plus side Texas gets plenty of sun, so home solar/solar generators are one way of reducing your dependence on the grid.

I'd rather spend $1.5 billion on weatherizing Texas generation plants and natural gas infrastructure. I could care less about wind and solar.

OTOH, my brother in east Texas who is connected to the national grid never lost power in the past few years when we had hard, long freezes. I was without power for days at a time! Also, there are a LOT of AI companies putting large server farms in the state, and they'll need a LOT of power.