California invests in battery energy storage, leaving rolling blackouts behind

California vs. Texas, regulation, and reliability

• Thread contrasts California’s permitting/regulatory hurdles with Texas’s looser regime and faster build‑out of generation and storage.
• Some argue Texas’ under‑regulation caused severe 2021 winter failures; others say that’s “culture war” framing and point instead to rapid demand growth, lack of winterization enforcement, and gas system deregulation.
• There’s disagreement over ERCOT’s performance: one side says it’s doing “okay” under pressure; critics say proper winterization at build time is cheap and was simply not required.

Heat waves, demand, and the “duck curve”

• Several comments stress the article’s claim of “no Flex Alerts since 2022” needs weather context: earlier years had record, multi‑day regional heat waves with wildfire smoke.
• Data shared: 2022 set peak demand records; 2024 surpassed the Western Interconnection peak while CAISO demand remains roughly flat due to efficiency and rooftop solar.
• The duck curve remains the key technical issue: solar lowers midday demand, but evenings stay hot. Grid‑scale batteries charging at noon and discharging at sunset are described as now materially smoothing this.

Distributed solar, rooftop economics, and regional quirks

• California has ~20 GW of small‑scale solar, heavily affecting grid‑visible demand; Texas is said to have far less rooftop solar due to low prices, weak incentives, and hail concerns.
• Some note modern AC units and appliance turnover visibly reduce consumption; others point out location‑dependent economics (e.g., Europe vs US, Dallas vs Netherlands).

Battery chemistries, safety, and fires

• Moss Landing’s large lithium‑ion fire is cited as a serious event; around half the batteries were damaged. Some foresee future preference for safer chemistries (LFP, sodium‑ion, flow, thermal).
• Others argue any high‑density storage (dams, boilers, nuclear, BESS) has inherent risk; Moss Landing’s fire led mainly to asset loss, with monitoring showing limited environmental impact so far, though locals remain worried.
• Firefighting of big battery systems often means controlled burn‑out rather than direct suppression, raising concerns about toxic emissions.

China, sodium‑ion, and “dumping” debates

• China is noted as leading in both battery deployment and renewables while also adding large coal capacity; commenters argue over whether overall emissions have peaked.
• Sodium‑ion is seen as promising for grid storage and already piloted in China; US activity is mostly early‑stage. Several say LFP is currently cheaper, so sodium‑ion’s role is “future, not present.”
• A long subthread debates whether Chinese battery pricing is genuine cost advantage or anti‑competitive dumping; there is no consensus.

Nuclear, hydro, and international comparisons

• France’s mostly‑nuclear grid is contrasted with California’s mix: much lower carbon intensity and cheaper retail rates, but dependent on aging reactors and complex market rules (ARENH).
• Others counter that new Western nuclear builds (EPRs, Hinkley C, etc.) are massively over budget and late, making nuclear a poor new‑build option relative to solar+wind+storage.
• Hydro (e.g., Quebec) is praised as “best of all” but limited by geography and ecological impacts; major dam failures and reservoir methane are cited.

PG&E, pricing, and blackout experience

• Many Californian commenters say reliability headlines ring hollow while PG&E outages persist, now often from wildfire‑prevention shutoffs rather than supply shortages.
• Anger focuses on very high rates (e.g., ~$0.60/kWh tiers), perceived misaligned incentives (capex‑driven returns, weak maintenance enforcement), and political capture of regulators.
• Municipal utilities with far lower prices (e.g., Santa Clara) are cited as evidence PG&E is inefficient; others argue those cities “free‑ride” on infrastructure and wildfire liability borne by IOU ratepayers.

Units, capacity, and media framing

• Multiple people complain the article and CAISO emphasize storage power (MW) without clearly giving energy capacity (MWh), which is essential to understand duration.
• Industry insiders respond that grid operators primarily care about instantaneous power for balancing; duration is typically a standard 4–6 hours in CA.
• Broader frustration surfaces about media misuse of watts vs watt‑hours and oversimplified “100% clean” claims that gloss over manufacturing and fire risks.

Optimism vs skepticism on “blackouts behind”

• Some point to data: statewide peaks now exceed 2020 blackout levels, yet batteries covered several gigawatts during 2024 heat waves—evidence the new system works.
• Others argue it’s premature to declare victory until storage is tested against another multi‑state, prolonged extreme event and until PSPS fire shutoffs are eliminated.
• There’s general agreement that solar+storage has rapidly improved CA’s grid resilience; disagreement centers on how much risk remains and whether costs and governance are acceptable.