Good news, everyone! The Three Mile Island power plant, site of the worst nuclear disaster in US history, is being restarted to power AI for Microsoft! [Press release; Washington Post, archive; Blo…
But the economics just completely fuck it. TMI unit 1 shut down cos it couldn’t compete economically and only an IRA tax break makes it even plausible.
This is really a problem with deregulated energy markets. Since deregulation we’ve had huge boom/bust cycles in energy that has caused any major long-term capital investment to be a waste. Instead we get more and more fracking and more and more “simple/cheap” methane plants.
This also affects other major capital-intensive green energy projects like offshore wind.
The fact that methane can be fracked out of the ground by wildcatters and pumped through small generating facilities makes it the best fuel for a speculation-driven market.
This is really a problem with deregulated energy markets. Since deregulation we’ve had huge boom/bust cycles in energy that has caused any major long-term capital investment to be a waste. Instead we get more and more fracking and more and more “simple/cheap” methane plants.
This also affects other major capital-intensive green energy projects like offshore wind.
The fact that methane can be fracked out of the ground by wildcatters and pumped through small generating facilities makes it the best fuel for a speculation-driven market.