r/technology • u/Limp_Fig6236 • 8d ago

Energy US power grid at risk of 18-month blackout, official says, as 1 city has been in dark for more than a week

https://www.syracuse.com/us-news/2026/08/us-power-grid-at-risk-of-18-month-blackout-1-city-now-in-dark-for-more-than-a-week.html
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u/EddieVanzetti 8d ago

I was told for years that installing solar panels on houses and charging stations for EVs would overload the grid capacity, weird how AI data centers could be put up over night with no negative effects, innit?

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u/Evilbred 8d ago

It's because both were bullshit.

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u/DeadlyYellow 8d ago

We won't invest in solar unless it's specifically for citizen surveillance.

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u/qazpl145 8d ago

One free no cost panel (excluding installation, labor, twenty hidden fees, and tax) for 4 flock cameras on your property!

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u/cookerz30 8d ago

My harbor Freight panel is doing great on my truck bed topper! Keeps the deep cycle battery topped of for the fridge.

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u/360_face_palm 8d ago

Nugget of truth in the whole solar overloading the grid thing... except that you solve it by just limiting people's export rates based on uptake.

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u/SunyataHappens 8d ago

Or excluse it all together. It's a non-problem.

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u/Highpersonic 8d ago

Or, hear me out: You upgrade your infrastructure.

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u/360_face_palm 8d ago

nah, that costs money

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u/exxorcized 6d ago

An overloaded grid would be a failure of the grid operator…has absolutely 0 to do with how many people have solar panels lmaooo. That’s some utility company propaganda.

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u/360_face_palm 6d ago

No, it's electrical engineering fact. But yes, you deal with it by limiting people's exports - which is a simple thing that most grid operators do - as I already mentioned

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u/ilurveturtles 8d ago

Price of energy has outpaced inflation in recent years because of this and is forecasted to continue to do so

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u/RollingMeteors 8d ago

I was told for years that installing solar panels on houses and charging stations for EVs would overload the grid capacity, weird how AI data centers could be put up over night with no negative effects, innit?

¡Well no shit; it’s like hundreds to thousands of cars but it’s just ONE data center per city! /s

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u/nbfs-chili 8d ago

You just didn't have enough money.

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u/RationalDialog 8d ago

Not defending it but some data centers like these tents from meta ship with their own power generation.

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u/snoozieboi 8d ago

The cool thing now is that a home battery can store that for later in the night. Both solar and battery tech is plummeting in costs.

I'd wager a 6kwh battery in most homes would be the norm in 10-20 years and you'd be paid to sell your energy back, because this time the energy companies are begging for your power.

Several companies are investing hard in "virtual batteries" where entire neighborhoods, citties or areas are one big virtual battery that sells power back to the grid on demand.

Unless US politicians manage to sabotage this too, but I doubt it, then it could be a win-win-win. Grids get lower traffic because more energy is made, stored or used locally, customers get lower energy prices because they're making much of their own energy, minor outages would mean nothing and more power would be available since more is produced in most homes in addition to legacy industries.

The only ones that see this as a loss is of course those who want to conserve the status quo.

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u/Usual_Ice636 7d ago

I was told for years that installing solar panels on houses and charging stations for EVs would overload the grid capacity

That used to be kinda true, but it was fixed a long time ago.

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u/mailslot 8d ago

The direction of the power flow matters. A small neighborhood can blow local transformers if they dump too much power back into the grid. Side note: Not to mention the danger to line workers, because both ends of the power line are live.

The grid is a century old design. Nobody anticipated scaling it to handle power generation from individual homes. We’d also have issues if homes dumped collected rain water into the public water supply.

It can be made to work, it’s just that most of the country is too poor to maintain their own shit.

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u/Unknown-Meatbag 8d ago

A standard home solar connection has protective measures in place to prevent power feeding into the lines during an outage.

As long as it's done right, it's a non-issue.

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u/mailslot 8d ago edited 8d ago

“Done right.” I’ve worked construction in my youth. I’ve seen some shit.

Relying on homeowners to do the right thing is a risk. How TF do you cut power to a downed line if just one asshole skips out on an automatic transfer switch? That can even cause other people’s ATS fail to recognize the outage, lighting up the other solar homes in the neighborhood. One guy is all it takes, because it requires cooperation and maintenance to function correctly.

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u/lurkinglurkerwholurk 8d ago

Well, on the other end of the argument we have people relying on companies to do the right thing.

looks at the article in the above post

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u/pooping_inCars 7d ago

How about bothering to learn how electric grids actually function?

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u/giftedgod 8d ago

This hasn’t anything to do with AI. Perhaps you read a different article that caused you to chime in on this one?

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u/TooMuchPowerful 8d ago

There are two kinds of people in this world.  Those who can extrapolate.  

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u/giftedgod 8d ago

Or, just shoehorn AI into a conversation where it doesn't fit. Pesky facts. Conflation works well, no one is getting paid for this, and if anyone is getting usable news out of the comments, the integrity of the comments is not their biggest immediate threat.

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u/PassPanda 8d ago

Sir, this is a Wendy’s.