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535

Ukraine is making its infrastructure harder for Russia to destroy by building clean energy sources (www.milwaukeeindependent.com)

submitted 2 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

53 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Attacks on two DTEK solar farms last spring is a good example. They destroyed many solar panels and some of the transformers, which step up voltage for long distances or step it down for use in homes. Replacing the transformers and swapping out destroyed panels allowed the farms, which generate 400 megawatts, to be back up in seven days.

Timchenko said an attack on a thermal generating station, which experienced a similar amount of damage, took three to four months to rebuild.

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[–] [email protected] 43 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

This is why renewable energy needs rebranding. National defense from distributed energy sources. Energy independence, no reliance on foreign oil. Disaster preparedness. Provide for your own family if you can power your own house.

New jobs by building up domestic manufacturing of solar panels, batteries and wind turbines. These days costs are coming down so you can lower electricity bills too.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Absolutely 100% Right now having solar panels on your house is 'branded' as some sort of green save the planet thing.

Putting enough panels that your house can go totally off-grid with a little cutback and usage, that's as independent as you get. Save money too.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

Anyone who is convinced by the benefits on the environment has been for a long time. It's just marketing towards the people who are already convinced.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

There is a troubling aspect, though - most of solar inverters aren't capable of operating as an island today. Cost-cutting and dumbing-down has occurred.

However, if a village has at least one household with a hybrid inverter capable of generating a frequency for others to follow - and some people who know what they're doing - some level of disaster preparedness is possible even with today's tech. (If the grid fails, one disconnects everyone behind the local substation from the big grid, brings online an inverter working in island mode, and syncs other inverters to it.)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Yeah but throw some batteries on that solar, which you really should do anyway, and you're good to go. IMHO the batteries are what really makes self-sufficiency possible. With a good size solar array and a good size battery, you can be not only a net exporter but more or less an always exporter, rarely if ever taking power from the grid.

Run on sunshine during the day and stored sunshine at night. Unfortunately a lot of places it's not legal to have a house with no grid connection, even if one isn't necessary.

[–] MCasq_qsaCJ_234 22 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Putin does not like renewable energy for this reason and allows decentralization.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

Oil is also about a fifth of Russia's entire economy, so the less it is needed the worse it is for Russia

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago (2 children)

you know what, how about people start selling renewable resources as a solution to energy independence

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago

They already do

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

For me it's the main selling point. =D

[–] [email protected] 2 points 20 hours ago

And why so many people are interested in going off-grid.

[–] [email protected] 153 points 2 days ago (6 children)

Decentralizing energy is the best defense. Solar panels belong on roofs and parking lots. Backup batteries belong in neighborhoods. That way when the power plant is down or the lines are cut off, there’s still local power available.

[–] [email protected] 66 points 2 days ago

Military justification for an expensive national energy project?
horny government contractor noises

[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

This. Read about Obama era PACE financing to achieve this goal.

Edit. Fuck republicans for nuking PACE funding.

[–] shortwavesurfer 32 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It's true, the more decentralized the energy infrastructure, the harder it is to remove or be damaged.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 days ago

Become an American patriot, secure our borders with decentralised power generation, on your roof, on your own terms!

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Exactly!! Though I don't understand why so many country's and civilians are opposed to clean decentralised power generation such as solar, wind, thermal.

The fact that you get to generate your own "free" power, and its less likely to fail in times of natural disaster.

Its essentially "freedom" & "sticking it to the man" in one clean package. Its not what the media or propaganda calls "the green agenda".

The fact that it also has applications in better national security is a win win.

Decentralised power generation makes you a american patriot! No a green hippy.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah but wind power plants are ugly here instead of even uglier somewhere else that's NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

In agree there are always those few in a community that feel the need to fight everything, even it may be in their best interest and the best interest of the community as a whole.

Anecdotally, I used to live in a rural suburban neighbourhood, the type where homes have large yards between them. There was a proposal to finally put in sidewalks along the residential streets in front of the homes, by narrowing the street a little. This would allows children to walk safely to the new school built, and allow people in the neighbourhood to go on walks, or walk their dogs safely.

Anyways, the amount of push back from some residents saying it will ruin the character of the neighbourhood, or that it would remove vital street parking, or shrink their driveways.

The neighbourhood street was about 4.5 cars wide.

In the end the sidewalks got put in after someone (that did not live in the area), ran over a residents dog along the street.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

it will ruin the character of the neighbourhood

"Boy, I sure love the sound and smell of cars! Imagine if people walked quietly instead, that would be awful - who would I yell at for speeding?"

after someone [...] ran over a residents dog along the street.

Why does it seem like safety measures only ever get approved after someone died?

(Visibility bias, probably - a death is just a lot more noticeable than a "would have died in an alternative timeline but didn't because..." - but that doesn't make such deaths any less tragic)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (2 children)

In fairness, my understanding is that there are a lot of complications with adding distributed power to existing grids. That doesn't mean it shouldn't happen, just that there are engineering and safety challenges when power is coming from "everywhere" vs centrally.

And of course, there's a lot of energy companies lobbying against clean power sources as well.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 23 hours ago

I hear that quite a bit of the power infrastructure in the US is well past its life expectancy with more coming due for replacement over time. If anything, a national energy plan should account for replacing, upgrading and modernizing a lot of the existing electrical infrastructure since its so critical to the foundation of our current society

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This, and the fact that solar and wind are intermittent so you always need a baseline provider, you can't do it with "green energy" alone.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Local and grid level storage can and should be included, but base-level nuclear is also good.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

Meanwhile, people are raising hell when grid battery installations are announced. So much so that the instructions are then cancelled.

So stupid

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Ignoring transmission losses, which could be improved as well, the whole USA could be solar powered by a very tiny fraction of the deserts it has.

But that'd be a huge target to attack if it was all in one spot.

Much better to decentralize it

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

Ok I know they're in the middle of a war and all but seriously how much did the guy who installed the solar panels in the thumbnail hate kids? Lol there looks like so much space to put those couple panels and they're just like hmmmmmm howabout right here on top of the seesaw lol.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 days ago (2 children)

The thumb looks like something one would see in Half-Life 2, I swear...

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 days ago

That tracks.

Civilian life in Half-Life 2 is basically trying to survive with whatever remains after a war.

Civilian life in Ukraine is trying to survive with whatever remains during a war.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 days ago (2 children)

isnt the name of one of the hl2 maps "little odessa"?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

HL2’s lead designer grew up in Bulgaria, so Sofia is the inspiration for City 17, and the coast is the Black Sea coast, incl. at/near Odessa.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago

Real life Little Odessa is in New York (there is a large community of Soviet / post-Soviet migrants there). The Half Life location is New Little Odessa though, so it sounds like it's not where real life Little Odessa is

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Europe should sell ukraine energy at discounted prices.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

Yeah but power lines can be sabotaged or bombed

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