11mo ago

Connections confirmed between ‘grassroots’ Ohio solar opposition and dark-money natural gas group

Connections confirmed between ‘grassroots’ Ohio solar opposition and dark-money natural gas group • Ohio Capital Journal

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Dark money should be illegal. Pass a law to invalidate the train wreck that was citizens united.
- Dark money should be illegal.
  Black markets should also be illegal
  Pass a law
  We already have ample legislation to prosecute dark money donors. But the AG isn't going to prosecute the guy that bankrolled his campaign. The judges who ran with dark money won't rule against them. And the prisons, which are increasingly privatized ventures, don't want these guys as residents.
  
  And even the mere suggestion of the only solution we've been left with will get you banned.
This seems odd to me, as solar power generation often increases the need for power generation that can be quickly brought on- and off- line to fill in the gaps outside of daylight hours, on cloudy days, etc. Natural Gas plants are some of the fastest-reacting available in this regard, so installation of grid-scale solar projects often come along with natural gas plants as well.
- The problem is that it's cheaper to do solar plus utility-scale batteries than to burn stuff
- Gas power operates as a cartel to set energy prices during periods of shortage. Plants will collude to withhold energy until a sufficiently high auction rate for energy is reached.
  Solar plants can't efficiently hold back their power in order to participate in the price gouging. All they can do is coast on the wave of high prices that nat gas producers create. This reduces instances of price spikes (particularly since peak usage happens in the afternoon, when solar power also peaks) which hurts gas cartels disproportionately.
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