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WaitForItTheMongols t1_ix1ss6k wrote

Reply to comment by PLS-Surveyor-US in Eversource seeks 43% rate hike for electric customers in Mass this winter by madnu

Not a reasonable long-term investment with renewables growing as fast as they are. By the time we don't need gas at all anymore, the gas lines wouldn't have paid for themselves.

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TheSausageKing t1_ix1y18n wrote

They’re not growing quickly in MA. Our grid is still ~80% fossil fuels and will be majority gas for the next 10 years at least and likely 20 or more.

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StarbeamII t1_ix1zveg wrote

It's actually a lot lower than that. In 2021, 46% of the electricity New England used from natural gas, 0.5% from coal, and 0.2% from oil. Another 5% came from burning wood and trash (which counts as "renewable" apparently), and another 4% of electricity was imported from New York and New Brunswick (which have mostly fossil fuel generation). So about 55.7% tops.

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SynbiosVyse t1_ix5hcz1 wrote

That's new england. Look it shows 23% nuclear, this is not applicable to each new england state individually.

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StarbeamII t1_ix5li1k wrote

New England is all part of one electric grid, and shares a single grid operator and power market (ISO New England). You can look at individual states' power generation, but a lot of power gets exported between New England states so it doesn't paint an accurate picture (e.g. Vermont's in-state generation is almost 100% renewable (including biomass), but it imports 75% of its power so it ends up being very inaccurate).

Massachusetts also imports about 75% of its electricity from surrounding areas, so looking at just in-state generation doesn't paint an accurate picture either.

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WaitForItTheMongols t1_ix1z9r5 wrote

Luckily it's... a grid. And therefore power can be transported over wires from elsewhere.

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PLS-Surveyor-US t1_ix39902 wrote

you lose some in transmission. Otherwise, we could have one huge geothermal plant in wyoming to cover the whole country.

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PLS-Surveyor-US t1_ix39gn7 wrote

Your heat and electric is higher because of the lack of supply. The governor (future) fought the supply lines from being built. We have to import it to have it. Solar is weaker in the winter and wind is sporadic. You still need backups to these.

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