Hacker News

4123 readers

3 users here now

This community serves to share top posts on Hacker News with the wider fediverse.

Rules

0. Keep it legal

Keep it civil and SFW
Keep it safe for members of marginalised groups

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

haxor@derp.foo

Texas power plants have no responsibility to provide electricity in emergencies (www.kut.org)

submitted 11 months ago by haxor@derp.foo to c/hackernews@derp.foo

12 comments fedilink hide all child comments

There is a discussion on Hacker News, but feel free to comment here as well.

top 12 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 18 points 11 months ago (1 children)

hahaha "we're going to secede" hilarious

texas' grid sucks

[–] SinningStromgald@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago

texas~~' grid~~ sucks

FTFY

[–] WashedOver@lemmy.ca 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I wonder if they can go after those that implemented the changes for privatization?

It seems like these types of systems would be better to be under state control for the best interests of the citizens over the focus on profits for the few. I see a big difference between the two here that it seems like many Americans may not see this at all.

If anything this should have motivated many for changes to the system but I guess that's left for the courts to resolve through the threat of legal action.

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 5 points 11 months ago

It was never about helping residents.

It was always about making more money.

[+] random65837@lemmy.world -28 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Comical that people think when storms or physical damage happens that a power co can magically still provide power. When your infrastructure is damaged, power goes byebye, period the end, being regulated or grid connected makes zero difference once that happens. Just a talking point for people that don't understand power distribution and want more government control over everything. My state deregulated power a very long time ago, and it's saved us a ton of money and gives us choices we wouldnt have before. It in no way changes reliability during storm damage.

[–] Tremble@sh.itjust.works 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Wow. You can’t be as dumb as you sound. I hope not at least

[+] random65837@lemmy.world -17 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Oh no? Feel free to actually dispute what I said then, how long have you worked in the power industry other than not a day in your life.

Please elaborate on how a powerco can provide power during a storm when the infrastructure is destroyed. You've clearly figured out the missing key nobody else has in the history of power delivery has.

Do you even understand the difference between regulated and deregulated power? Clearly you don't, but I'd love to hear your ridiculous version of what you think that means.

[–] Tremble@sh.itjust.works 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Why don’t we just call you the fucking energizer bunny. You’re talking in circles.

The company chose not to prepare their infrastructure for cold weather. And they still haven’t done so even after the 2021 disaster.

You don’t have to be an electrical engineer to see that the reason this happened is corporate greed, literally putting profits over people’s lives.

[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

The goal is to prevent destruction and focus on replacements. Just accepting that shit is broken is dumb as fuck and shows literally no initiative or idea how things work.

Snow breaking the lines? Reinforce them with sturdier gauges. Poles getting downed? Guy wires, better poles, move the wires underground.

There are literally dozens of solutions that you have no fucken idea could be implemented. How long have you worked in power? Are you a lineman? Cause you must be the worst, dumbest mother fucker to work with power and not kill yourself.

[–] Duranie 2 points 11 months ago

Fwiw (I live in Illinois) over the years our system was updated with materials and redundancies to counter loss of service during storms. There's been a number of times over the last few years that a bad storm hits and does damage that previously would have created a loss of power, but you can watch the power flicker for a few seconds while the system tests alternate routes that are able to continue to provide service to the most residents. There was a time that power outages were expected a few times a year during bad storms, but I can't recall the last time we had a weather related outage of more than a few minutes.

Obviously local to the damage there nothing to do but wait for the infrastructure to be repaired, but that happens far faster when there's redundancies supplying the majority and fewer repairs that need to be addressed.