Re:Data centers need power – lower income, rural residents p...
by AnthonyMouse on Friday November 13, 2026 @01:09PM
(#50487392)
> They need to pay to keep those peaker plants operational, even if they're not being used.
But they are being used, every night. And then you can also use them during the day on the minority of days when it's cloudy.
> It might not be enough to keep homeowners from installing solar panels in those kinds of environments, but it's definitely enough to keep large-scale power generation facilities from building there.
You could easily confuse that with a population density map of the US. The main tell is that the dots are on the outskirts of the major cities rather than in them.
> It's still just way too expensive, for not nearly enough ROI to make it happen.
It kind of is happening. Nearly 100% of net new generation capacity in the US is renewables, with some new natural gas barely offsetting the gradual of coal to net to zero.
But they are being used, every night. And then you can also use them during the day on the minority of days when it's cloudy.
> It might not be enough to keep homeowners from installing solar panels in those kinds of environments, but it's definitely enough to keep large-scale power generation facilities from building there.
Nope:
https://cleanview.co/power-projects/operating/solar-farms/us
You could easily confuse that with a population density map of the US. The main tell is that the dots are on the outskirts of the major cities rather than in them.
> It's still just way too expensive, for not nearly enough ROI to make it happen.
It kind of is happening. Nearly 100% of net new generation capacity in the US is renewables, with some new natural gas barely offsetting the gradual of coal to net to zero.