←back to thread

Europe is locking itself in to US LNG

(davekeating.substack.com)
151 points hunglee2 | 2 comments | 16 Sep 25 13:56 UTC | HN request time: 0.433s | source
Show context
probablypower ◴[16 Sep 25 14:53 UTC] No.45263135[source]▶
There are a lot of posts here pushing batteries.

Batteries are an expensive solution that doesn't scale well at the grid level. It is useful for grid stability (fast frequency response) but simply a non-starter when you're dealing with national grids.

Batteries are an added cost to the system, without producing more electricity, and as a result prices will go up.

A far cheaper source of flexibility is Demand Side Response. Particularly data centres that are willing to be market actors. Compute can happen anywhere, so it should happen where the wind blows and the sun shines. It is cheaper to transmit bits than Megawatts.

replies(7): >>45263416 #>>45263663 #>>45264160 #>>45265286 #>>45266127 #>>45268373 #>>45272671 #
1. nitwit005 ◴[16 Sep 25 18:40 UTC] No.45266127[source]▶
A huge portion of compute is triggered on request, so there isn't that much ability to time shift it. A build was just kicked off because I merged some code. In theory, that could happen overnight. In reality, changing the delay from 20 minutes to 12 hours would be unworkable.
replies(1): >>45266309 #
2. OptionOfT ◴[16 Sep 25 18:54 UTC] No.45266309[source]▶
On the other hand, when I commit code at 4PM on the West Coast it can be handled on a server in a place where there is low electricity cost.