Comment by bob1029
16 hours ago
> Why is it so much easier to build the pipelines than to bring in electric lines?
It's not necessarily easier to do one or the other. It's about which one is faster.
16 hours ago
> Why is it so much easier to build the pipelines than to bring in electric lines?
It's not necessarily easier to do one or the other. It's about which one is faster.
In Texas the electric grid is regulated by ERCOT and gas pipelines are regulated (by accident of history) by the Texas Railroad Commission. ERCOT has a big network of producers who put energy into the grid, local companies like CenterPoint Energy who distribute it to customer sites, then retail electric companies sell the power and pay a line usage fee to the line owner (which tends to be a fixed monthly cost to the customer, listed separately on the bill from other fees or usage bills). The TRC deals with companies that own their own pipelines and bill the end customer directly.
A lot of the natural gas in the US is in Texas, and a lot of it is flared while pumping out crude. Putting data centers on turbines near the extraction fields out in the Permian Basin makes sense for power. You can build short pipelines or hook into the ones already there.