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Largest U.S. Grid May Cut Power to Data Centers to Prevent Blackouts (www.gadgetreview.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 70 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Nah, won't happen. They'll cut power to homes to prevent the datacenter blackout.

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  • [–] 42 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    The data center probably won't black out. They'll be setup with redundant backup power. The issue is that the emission regulations for that backup power is much more lenient than prime power so it is pretty terrible for the surrounding communities. Some companies are greener than others and try to go above and beyond on those regulations.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 weeks ago* (2 children)

    Whoever bids highest. Families paying for grandpa's ventilator vs mark zuckerberg.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    I don't know how it is in US but in Sweden there is a priority list when there is a risk of blackout. Hospitals is one of the highest priorities, if not the highest. Regular families is one of the lowest, it is expected that everyone should be prepared for losing power for a couple of hours. However, some big companies that uses lots of power have a deal with the grid owner that they can be disconnected/reduced power first when there is a risk of blackouts.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    same in the US - hospitals first, private homes last. the commenter above you is talking about a ventilator at home

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  • [–] 3 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

    I'm in California where the grid gets stressed out during the summer. Ocassionally, on high demand days, the power company woud perform rolling blackouts to keep up with demand.

    Lived close to a large hospital for a while. Our section of the grid never saw those blackouts.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 weeks ago*

    If you own your home, I know that seems to be shrinkingly rare in this state, a solar setup and battery backup/ grid controller is well worth it. Mine will pay for itself with the power I've sold to SDG&E, not to mention all the power I use, in another year or so. I installed my system in mid 2019, and we don't even know when there's a blackout/brownout until I text the ISP as to why the Internet is out. I should really get a meshnet node....

    My primary forms of transportation are my E-bike and the trolley. If I can't get there that way, or need additional cargo capacity, I have a Chevy Bolt, so I'm actually using a fail amount of electricity above and beyond the normal appliances.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 weeks ago

    Lived close to a large hospital for a while. Our section of the grid never saw those blackouts.

    Same except it we are right under a cell tower. It must be somewhere very high on the priority list - probably for emergency services. We are always the first to get power back after a storm too.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 weeks ago

    We had a vent for a bit in our house. Called pg&e and then our block (just 20 houses) got coded the same as the hospital in outages. I can't remember what kind of supporting documents we had to send in. We lost power last in rolling blackouts. They let us keep that for a good... year after dad died? So someone else on the street must have been on a vent too.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago

    It sounded on him like it is a bidding over who will lose the electricity last. But the priority was decided a long time ago, when it was fewer billionaires and they didn't had that many billions. For now, it not normal people vs billionaires.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 weeks ago

    In the US, when I was looking for a house, I favored any that were on the same grid as the local hospital. It ensured that after a hurricane or whatever, I would get power restored quickly.

    Just 1more perk

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