PJM grid operator is on the path to give fossil fuels a big loving kiss

[jaagu]

PJM Proposal That Could Move Fossil Fuel Projects to the Front of the Interconnection Queue

PJM Interconnection, the grid operator for the District of Columbia and portions of 13 states across the mid-Atlantic, South and Midwest, has drawn the ire of the clean energy industry over its proposal to prioritize large nuclear and gas projects over renewable energy projects that have waited for years to connect to the region’s electric grid. The Reliability Resource Initiative (RRI) is PJM’s proposed plan to expedite the construction of new electricity generation projects in its service are…

[DrBob2]

It’s definitely a thing…

Meta's biggest-ever datacenter won't be nuclear powered

GE Vernova to Power City-Sized Data Centers With Gas as AI Demand Soars

DB2

[jaagu]

@DrBob2

DB2

Yes natural gas is cheaper than nuclear and coal. But it is temporary. PJM could get lots of cheap renewable energy that is cheaper than natural gas. PJM has a dinosaur brain.

[DrBob2]

@jaagu

PJM could get lots of cheap renewable energy that is cheaper than natural gas.

What the data center people want and need is constant, baseload-type power. Hooking a data center up to a next door huge solar farm isn’t going to do it. You could then add a barn full of batteries, but they would only be good for, say, four hours. So then you need a second barn-full. And so forth. Can you spell expensive?

DB2

[jaagu]

@DrBob2

What the data center people want and need is constant, baseload-type power. Hooking a data center up to a next door huge solar farm isn’t going to do it. You could then add a barn full of batteries, but they would only be good for, say, four hours. So then you need a second barn-full.

PJM needs to diversify and get off of expensive coal and natural gas. It is not at all about data centers needing power 24/7. It is about political stupidity for only picking fossil fuels for the grid.