• Thordros [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      4 months ago

      It's because they do everything the best in Texas. So they have their own electrical grid, with blackjack and surge pricing.

    • ElHexo
      ·
      edit-2
      3 months ago

      deleted by creator

      • TankieTanuki [he/him]
        ·
        4 months ago

        costs ~3x more

        Infrastructure* is always worth it IMO.


        *Excluding car infrastructure

        • redtea@lemmygrad.ml
          ·
          4 months ago

          Fr. How much must the economy lose to such frequent power outages. I suppose if you're getting paid to reconstruct, it's not 'loss'.

          • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmygrad.ml
            ·
            4 months ago

            When you have privatized gains and socialised costs as usual is at least partially true for necessities, they don't give a shit because everything major happens and they know the government won't just let mass of people without it and will have to help or at least give money.

        • thisismyrealname [he/him]
          ·
          4 months ago

          buried AC transmission lines also suffer from capacitive losses to earth which would significantly reduce grid efficiency on the distances being covered in the US. we do have buried lines within cities but outside of them it doesn't really make sense

        • ElHexo
          ·
          edit-2
          3 months ago

          deleted by creator

    • Smeagolicious [they/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      Not just TX. I ask myself that every time a mild storm blows through and knocks out power for a few thousand in my area.

    • Chronicon [comrade/them]
      ·
      4 months ago

      high cost and lack of population density. I don't think that's really the worst part about TX's grid though.

      • WalrusDragonOnABike [they/them]@lemmy.today
        ·
        4 months ago

        But its almost entirely just the Houston Metro without power at this point, not the rural areas. Density isn't great, but it should be enough to justify given how frequent major storms are in the area and how costly all the shutdowns and repairs are.

        • Chronicon [comrade/them]
          ·
          4 months ago

          yeah, I don't really have the expertise to know. I thought flooding was an issue for buried lines? but I guess houston is no new orleans...

          The good thing about above ground lines is they're comparatively really easy to work on and repair. But that doesn't help if like 100s or thousands of them are knocked out in one swoop I guess

            • Chronicon [comrade/them]
              ·
              edit-2
              4 months ago

              It also might be way different if the main issue is HV transmission lines vs local service lines.

              • WalrusDragonOnABike [they/them]@lemmy.today
                ·
                4 months ago

                With the May power outages (I think about 800-900k) it was a mixture: one area did have damage to the main HV lines from a tornado, which is why they took so long to get power to that region I think. But most people its just the local service lines that were the issue. I haven't heard anything about damage to main HV lines this time, but I haven't done an exhaustive search either.