Archive for the 'Infrastructure' Category
National-Security Concerns Threaten Undersea Data Link Backed by Google, Facebook
August 28th, 2019The U.S. killed Pacific Fibre back in 2012 due to Chinese involvement. Via: Wall Street Journal: U.S. officials are seeking to block an undersea cable backed by Google, Facebook Inc. and a Chinese partner, in a national-security review that could rewrite the rules of internet connectivity between the U.S. and China, according to people involved […]
Power Restored After Tens of Millions Hit by Indonesia Power Blackout
August 4th, 2019Via: AFP: Power was mostly restored in Jakarta and Indonesia’s heavily populated Java island after a widespread electricity outage Sunday that the state utility PLN blamed on disruptions at several power plants. Tens of millions of people were affected by the blackout which plunged buildings in the sprawling capital — home to about 30 million […]
California Farmers Are Planting Solar Panels as Water Supplies Dry Up
August 2nd, 2019In Blade Runner 2049, the California Central Valley looks like this: (In case you’re wondering, the solar concentrators in the opening scene of the film were inspired by the idiotic Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, which is based on concentrated solar thermal energy.) Nestled in among the heliostat fields are protein farms: They grow some variety […]
Tesla Announces Megapack: Utility-Scale Energy Storage
July 29th, 2019Big guns. Via: Tesla: Less than two years ago, Tesla built and installed the world’s largest lithium-ion battery in Hornsdale, South Australia, using Tesla Powerpack batteries. Since then, the facility saved nearly $40 million in its first year alone and helped to stabilize and balance the region’s unreliable grid. Battery storage is transforming the global […]
Computer Failure Cripples Several New York City Subway Lines
July 20th, 2019Via: CBS: About a third of New York City’s subway lines were suspended for more than an hour during Friday’s hot evening commute, and the head of the city’s Transit Authority acknowledged that the agency “did not know exactly where our trains were.” A computer system failure that resulted in the snafu stranded some passengers […]
Lockheed: Practical Fusion Power Still 20 Years Away
July 20th, 2019— “$21 Trillion Dollars Is Missing from the U.S. Government” Via: The Drive: Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works is building a new, more capable test reactor as it continues to move ahead with its ambitious Compact Fusion Reactor program, or CFR. Despite slower than expected progress, the company remains confident the project can produce practical results, […]
Diablo Canyon Nightmare Scenario: The Quake to Make Los Angeles a Radioactive Dead Zone
July 13th, 2019Cryptogon always supplies you with the most pleasant reading for the weekend. Via: CommonDreams: Nothing significant has been done to improve safety at two coastal reactors upwind of ten million people that are surrounded by earthquake faults in a tsunami zone like the one where the four Fukushima reactors have already exploded. Had Friday’s 7.1 […]
New York: Massive Power Outage In Midtown, Times Square, Other Sections Of Manhattan, Thousands Affected
July 13th, 2019CBS New York Livestream — Update: ConEd Restoring Power, No Cause of Outage Given — Via: CBSNY: A large power outage has struck Midtown, Times Square, Hell’s Kitchen, and other parts of Upper Manhattan. CBS2 began to hear reports that that all restaurants had gone dark in Hell’s Kitchen around 7 p.m. Saturday evening. There […]
Giant Batteries and Cheap Solar Power Are Shoving Fossil Fuels Off the Grid
July 12th, 2019If the electricity from solar plus storage is, “Cheaper than any power generated with fossil fuel,” why aren’t these systems shooting up like weeds? The availability of batteries is the bottleneck. We’ve heard about Tesla’s rumored 1GWh energy storage system and things like the 800MWh system below. This is a drop in the bucket, in […]
General Electric to Scrap California Power Plant 20 Years Early
June 26th, 2019Via: Reuters: General Electric Co said on Friday it plans to demolish a large power plant it owns in California this year after only one-third of its useful life because the plant is no longer economically viable in a state where wind and solar supply a growing share of inexpensive electricity. Related: GE Bet on […]
