I have no money in XOM, dearie. Besides which, oil is a very minor player in electricity production.
However, even that is irrelevant. I’m not the one issuing the warnings. It is the grid operators.
DB2
Money needs to go into the grid. The Federal government has begun to put in the money. The country will prosper a great deal. I get a few people would scream bloody murder if we spend money and utilities profit. I wish their education was better.
The standard of living is rising in America regardless of those who want to save money.
BTW if you owned XOM in the last year when did you sell? Did I help? LOL
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As mentioned before, I’ve never owned XOM. I did have some MRO calls back at the beginning of 2022 before Russia invaded Ukraine. They did well.
DB2
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I own XOM and enjoy collecting the 9% dividend. And it has tripled. Holding for now. No hurry to collect capital gains. Slowing economy should give buying opportunity. But have plenty. No plans to add more.
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A New Surge in Power Use Is Threatening U.S. Climate Goals
https://archive.ph/MyW1j
Something unusual is happening in America. Demand for electricity, which has stayed largely flat for two decades, has begun to surge. Over the past year, electric utilities have nearly doubled their forecasts of how much additional power they’ll need by 2028 as they confront an unexpected explosion in the number of data centers, an abrupt resurgence in manufacturing driven by new federal laws, and millions of electric vehicles being plugged in.
Many power companies were already struggling to keep the lights on, especially during extreme weather, and say the strain on grids will only increase…
To meet spiking demand, utilities in states like Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia are proposing to build dozens of power plants over the next 15 years that would burn natural gas. In Kansas, one utility has postponed the retirement of a coal plant to help power a giant electric-car battery factory…
The stakes are high. If more power isn’t brought online relatively soon, large portions of the country could risk blackouts…
DB2
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Building natural gas and solar power plants is fast and only takes 2-3 years. All of these states have plenty of solar power potential to meet demand. Texas is building solar power plants faster than California. And now Texas is considering the following to improve their power needs:
Improve Texas’ Power Capacity by Joining Regional Grid and Agreeing to Federal Oversight
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Where will all these NG plants get their gas? Will new pipelines use eminent domain? Will it take years to get permits?
I’m for wind and solar (and geothermal where practical) but they continue to say grid connection are difficult. The transmission line across Missouri has been held up for years by eminent domain issues.
They say eminent domain is for public projects but most transmission lines are owned by corporations, not the public.
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Oh eminent domain is often used for privately owned projects. It’s the “public good”, not necessarily the government.
Boston cleaned out a lot of low rent and shabby buildings to put up the Prudential Center, and across the river Cambridge did the same thing in East Cambridge and gave a bunch of land to MIT for redevelopment. Lots of urban renewal goes to private developers.
Pipelines are likewise for the public good. Typically these sorts of things are tried with private negotiations, but if that doesn’t succeed then eminent domain may be pursued to complete those sections which can’t be finalized any other way. (The developers don’t always win, tho.)
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Creating multi-use infrastructure corridors criss crossing the country could make a lot of sense: conduits for fluids (water, oil, gases), railways, power transmission lines, and even roadways. Right of ways and trees have a big thing in common: the best time to do them was “long ago” and the next best time is right now. Requires forethougt. Hah.
d fb
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I hear you. But in Missouri its a hot issue. The problem is the hold out. The last person to sign up can demand exorbitant compensation. Companies like eminent domain because they can go to court and pay a fair priced decided by a judge.
But land owners complain they have no input with eminent domain. They can put their power lines or whatever at your front door and you have no right to object or negotiate.
Pennsylvania, Texas and Florida are major sources for natural gas for these NG plants. The article said they will need the NG plants over the next 15 years.
That’s how it works. I had an uncle who owned a dairy farm in North Dakota. The state needed to run a highway across his land, took it, and bisected the farm. He was paid for the land, but it devalued the rest of the property because it made it much harder to get the cows and equipment back and forth.
But then which is worse: inconvenience for him, or no highway for everybody else?
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Sorry if I missed it in the thread, but I didn’t see any mention of AI and how it gobbles up power.
It does indeed. That could push things even more.
“Over the past year, electric utilities have nearly doubled their forecasts of how much additional power they’ll need by 2028 as they confront an unexpected explosion in the number of data centers, an abrupt resurgence in manufacturing driven by new federal laws, and millions of electric vehicles being plugged in.”
DB2
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Since the beginning of the digital age, most of the world’s internet data has flowed through massive data centers in Northern Virginia. The area is known as “Data Center Alley” because it’s home to the world’s largest concentration of data centers. Some call the area ‘spy country’ because of the number of data centers used by the Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies.
Given the exponential proliferation of smartphones, streaming services, smart devices, and now generative artificial intelligence, the power demanded by data centers in Northern Virginia will need nuclear reactors worth of power, if not much more, according to utility Dominion Energy.
On Thursday, Chief Executive Officer Bob Blue told investors on a company earnings call that “economic growth, electrification, and accelerating data center expansion” is boosting power demand across the area.
DB2
Long VRT
“Vertiv Holdings Co, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and services critical digital infrastructure technologies and life cycle services for data centers, communication networks, and commercial and industrial environments in the Americas, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.”
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Remember the “total information awareness” program. headed by none other than John Poindexter, of “Iran-Contra” notoriety. Congressional outrage at every phone conversation, and every e-mail in the country being sifted by the system, caused the funding to be yanked. But, backstairs chatter says the outrage only forced the program into the DIA black box budget, where it’s so secret that Congress is not informed about it.
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