America ‘Dangerously Close’ to ‘Rolling Blackouts & Grid Failure’ Like ‘We Just Saw in Spain,’ Trump’s Interior Secretary Warns

Slay News ^ | May 8, 2025 | Frank Bergman

[Governor Dinwiddie]

But hey, there's Democrat cognitive disonance. They had to tear down hydroelectric dams because "the fish".

[mass55th]

Hell, I was stranded at a Super 8 hotel during a snow and ice storm in Lancaster, Pa. in January 2000, and experienced rolling blackouts due to the persistent below zero weather the whole Northeast was experiencing. It had started with freezing rain outside of Richmond, Virginia the day before I got to Lancaster. My old VW wouldn’t start after my first night in Lancaster, but it didn’t matter because Route 81 was completely closed, so I had no where to go but sit in my hotel room for two extra days.

[Texas resident]

Texas got hit with a hard freeze in 2021. A lot of us lost power because of reliance on renewables. At the peak of the outage, nearly 10 million people were in the dark, lacking warmth and the ability to cook food. The freeze also caused water pipes to burst and boil water advisories were issued most of the State. Wind and solar don’t work when the temps are in the single digits, cloudy skies and no wind.

[sauropod]

Bkmk

[GMMC0987]

Easy fix. We just all start driving electric cars.

[Paladin2]

SO?

Just fix it dude.

[VanShuyten]

There was another thread on this a couple of days ago. There was a map showing which electric districts were most vulnerable. One of them was the district that runs from Manitoba to Louisiana. I did a little reading about it, and found that they have shut down 3 GW over the last year and expect much higher prices and maybe even rolling blackouts, depending on the weather.

They’ve got lots of wind farms there, though.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

"[In Texas] Wind and solar don't work when the temps are in the single digits, cloudy skies and no wind."

The Germans actually have a word for this: Dunkelflaute — "dark doldrums". Green Energy
doesn't work when this happens. These weather systems really slam Germany because hard because
they have no plan B. They bulldozed all their nuclear and coal plants. You can't depend on fickle mother nature.

Gaia is an unfaithful wife.

[Inyo-Mono]

Because I just don’t know, why does AI require so much electricity? Isn’t just on a computer?

[Oscar in Batangas]

It seems that the farting unicorn herd is still on back-order... Or did someone in Biden’s administration divert the funds to a going-out-of-power office party?

[dayglored]

> why does AI require so much electricity? Isn’t just on a computer?

Yes and no. Yes, AI is done with computers. But the computers in question are extremely power-hungry. The reason for that is a combination of the number of operations per second (which is in the trillions) and the type of chips required to do those operations (typically GPU, graphics processing units) and other AI-specific chips. They are by nature very power hungry.

While it's possible to do a small amount of slow, easy AI on a normal computer, the stuff you think of as AI on the internet is thousands of times faster and hungrier.

[Georgia Girl 2]

I’m glad we’ve got that generator sitting in the garage.

[SaxxonWoods]

“Parts” of our country. OK, I feel better now.

[DannyTN]

Plan to Strengthen and Stabilize the American Power Grid

🔴 Top Priorities (National Security & Energy Reliability)

• Harden the Grid Against EMPs and Solar Flares
  - Install Faraday shielding, surge arresters, and grounding systems.
  - Protect substations, transformers, and communication relays from electromagnetic attacks.
• Build New Nuclear Power Plants, Especially SMRs
  - Provide dependable base-load energy for AI, manufacturing, and urban growth.
  - Support Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and streamline permitting.
  - Strengthen the domestic nuclear supply chain.
• Remove Grid Infrastructure from Public Internet Exposure
  - Use isolated, dedicated SCADA networks (air-gapped systems).
  - Prevent foreign cyberattacks on grid control equipment.
• Replace All Foreign-Made Electrical Grid Components
  - Eliminate Chinese transformers, inverters, and control hardware.
  - Mandate U.S.-made grid components under the Defense Production Act.
• Prevent Cascading Blackouts via Islanding and Grid Segmentation
  - Automatically isolate faults to prevent widespread outages.
  - Build in regional self-sufficiency and fault recovery mechanisms.
• Build Grid-Scale Battery Backup and Energy Resilience Centers
  - Use battery farms near industrial hubs and military bases.
  - Ensure emergency continuity during peak load or system failure.
• Install Backup Generators or Batteries for Fuel & Water Infrastructure
  - Ensure gas stations, pipelines, and diesel distribution can operate during outages.
  - Mandate backup power for public water utilities and sewage systems to prevent collapse of basic services.

🟠 Secondary Priorities (Grid Modernization and Redundancy)

• Modernize the Transmission Network
  - Replace aging infrastructure with hardened, high-capacity lines.
  - Build out HVDC corridors to improve long-distance energy flow.
• Deploy Microgrids for Critical Infrastructure
  - Establish self-sufficient power nodes for defense, healthcare, and emergency response.
  - Focus on reliability and isolation over green energy incentives.
• Strengthen Cybersecurity in All Grid-Connected Systems
  - Audit firmware, ban risky suppliers, and enable real-time threat detection.
  - Require domestic firmware and onshore chip validation.
• Limit Solar Mandates and Reduce Dependence on Intermittent Power
  - Maintain focus on stable, dispatchable energy sources (nuclear, hydro, gas).
  - Use solar primarily for remote or off-grid applications.

🟡 Supporting Actions (Strategic Capacity & Long-Term Strength)

• Rebuild U.S. Electrical and Energy Manufacturing
  - Incentivize transformer, switchgear, and semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S.
  - Eliminate foreign reliance in all grid-critical components.
• Invest in Advanced Storage and Non-Intermittent Tech
  - Explore long-duration batteries, hydrogen storage, and thermal reserves.
  - Expand geothermal where geological conditions permit.
• Train a Skilled Energy Infrastructure Workforce
  - Launch national programs for lineworkers, nuclear technicians, and cyber engineers.
  - Fund trade schools and utility internships for the next generation.
• Plan Ahead for AI and Electrification Demand
  - Expand base-load capacity for data centers, manufacturing reshoring, and electric transport.
  - Build hardened corridors connecting industrial growth zones.

[sasquatch]

Had ‘they’ dredged the built up sediments before removing the dams, they wouldn’t have killed the Klamath.

[Fresh Wind]

The EV mandate will fix this problem. /s

[Openurmind]

“Speaking to David Freeberg on “The All-In Podcast,” Burgum admitted that the artificial intelligence (AI) “arms race” with China keeps him “awake at night” due to the amount of electricity that the technology requires.”

It is a very serious concern. AI or A/C? Which would you rather have? Because we are not going to be able to have both.

[Openurmind]

“While it’s possible to do a small amount of slow, easy AI on a normal computer, the stuff you think of as AI on the internet is thousands of times faster and hungrier.”

This is going to be just as bad as the mandated EV issue was going to be. The load was going to be unsustainable. We would have to trade human comfort to feed the EVs. Now we have just dodged the bullet on that problem and have traded that problem for another one just as bad.

Humanity will be forced to choose between AI or A/C comfort. We will not be able to feed both at the same time. But I suppose it will not matter because by the time humanity gets to that point AI will have reduced our general intelligence level to that of a lower Primate anyhow.

It looks like once again in man’s history Monasteries will be needed to preserve what was left of human intelligence, knowledge, and history for future generations down the road. We are once again entering a period where the elite will control all of the data and knowledge to rule over the serfs.

People will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think. ~ Aldous Huxley

[odawg]

“One of them was the district that runs from Manitoba to Louisiana.”

The grid map on Wikipedia does not reflect that. It does show the entire American West is connected with British Colombia and Alberta, which suprised me.