Some Datacenters Divert Power from Homes. Will It Drive Homeowners to Solar and Batteries? (electrek.co)
- Reference: 0183247027
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/26/05/17/0125222/some-datacenters-divert-power-from-homes-will-it-drive-homeowners-to-solar-and-batteries
- Source link: https://electrek.co/2026/05/13/data-centers-grid-strain-driving-residential-solar-battery-demand/
> A Nevada utility just told 49,000 Lake Tahoe residents that it's redirecting 75% of their electricity supply to data centers, and they have less than a year to find a new power source. It's one of the starkest examples yet of the AI boom's impact on everyday Americans... NV Energy needs the capacity for data centers being built by Google, Apple, and Microsoft around the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center east of Reno, [2]according to Fortune ... Data centers drove half of all US electricity demand growth last year....
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> That dynamic — small residential customers losing out to massive industrial electricity buyers — is exactly what's driving the broader shift to distributed solar and storage. When the grid becomes unreliable or unaffordable because of data center demand, the homeowners who have solar panels and a battery in the garage are the ones with options.
"The shift is measurable," they argue:
> Third-party ownership models (leases and power purchase agreements), which still qualify for the [U.S.] commercial investment tax credit through 2027, are projected to grow 25% in 2026 and capture up to 69% of residential installations, up from roughly 45% in 2025. Homeowners aren't waiting for incentives to come back — they're finding new ways to get solar on their roofs... [A] battery that can store cheap solar energy and deploy it during peak hours is increasingly essential. California utility customers alone are adding roughly 8,000 new home batteries per month — about 100 MW of new storage capacity. Municipal programs are accelerating the trend. Ann Arbor, Michigan, recently [3]became the first US city to directly deploy solar and battery systems on 150 homes through its city-owned utility. Vermont's Green Mountain Power is offering home batteries at little to no upfront cost. These programs signal that utilities themselves recognize the value of distributed energy.
[1] https://electrek.co/2026/05/13/data-centers-grid-strain-driving-residential-solar-battery-demand/
[2] https://fortune.com/2026/05/12/lake-tahoe-data-center-49000-residents-power-source/
[3] https://electrek.co/2026/04/28/us-city-is-putting-solar-batteries-on-150-homes-to-cut-bills/
Are you serious? (Score:1)
> That dynamic â" small residential customers losing out to massive industrial electricity buyers â" is exactly what's driving the broader shift to distributed solar and storage.
What?
You are acting like this is a common occurrence happening all across the country - it isn't. This article is the first such case , and since it takes effect in one year, it isn't "...driving the broader shift to distributed solar and storage". Tax incentives, rising utility prices, and concerns about the environment are what has been driving folks to invest in alternative energy sources like residential solar panels.
Re: (Score:2)
90% of these data centers will not even be built. the ai stuff is just a investor bubble that gonna pop
Reverting to third-world status (Score:2)
Amazing. So residential electricity consumers in the USA are finding out what it's like to live in a third-world country without proper electricity infrastructure. Thanks, AI bros!
Re: (Score:2)
Arguably worse. It's certainly not like a lot of the third world is as it is because of virtuous and competent leadership; but going from lousy to lousy is frankly mid-tier when it comes to incompetence and corruption. Starting with all the advantages of a functional society and leaving it a husk is a whole other level. Same deal in public health. Any idiot; and most competent and hardworking people, can do a bad job with what they don't have; but can they destroy a world class research base or reintroduce
Greed and infrastructure do not mix (Score:3)
Seriously, in developed nations doing something like this is illegal. This is a 3rd world move.
Universal Service Taxes (Score:2)
Presumably the residential customers in the Lake Tahoe have paid a Universal Service electricity fee or tax for decades.
And, there are particular laws in place for electricity companies to not cut off electricity to persons handicapped or elderly as long as they sign up for that status with the utility company.
Re: Universal Service Taxes (Score:2)
Yeah I thought that you were basically "guaranteed" electrical service if you were connected. There are places in the middle of nowhere who have electricity that would never have been installed if the utilities were not forced to. I wonder what convoluted regulations made this possible.
Re: Universal Service Taxes (Score:2)
Wonder if the fact that these are cross border connections makes a difference.
This is how revolutions start (Score:3)
Just imagine some power company executive saying "let them eat dirt" and you'll know where I'm going with this.
This is what happens when the rights of average citizens are slowly eroded to the point where those in power lose sight of just how dangerous the disenfranchised can be. Propaganda and gaslighting only go so far. At some point the great unwashed get desperate and/or angry enough to band together and attempt to overthrow their oppressors.
The tech bros think they're OK this time around because they control the ubiquitous surveillance apparatus, and because elite propaganda efforts over the last many decades have been so successful. And they may be right - an 'Elysium'-type hellscape may be just around the corner.
But personally, I'm rooting for Madame la Guillotine and her army of torches and pitchforks. The heads of Zuck, Leon, and Bozos on pikes would fill my heart with hope for human civilization. And I say that without a trace of irony.
Re: This is how revolutions start (Score:2)
The people who incessantly repeat "there is no place for political violence in America" seem to forget that the country's fight for independence began with acts of political violence.
Builders and buyers wake up! (Score:2)
People need to wake up to the fact that you should never build or buy real estate without understanding where your electricity and water come from. I feel no sympathy for anyone who paid $2M for a cabin in Tahoe and can't manage to get electricity. Figure it out. There's plenty of land for solar. You have the funds to buy batteries. Stop your whining and live somewhere sustainable.
Re: (Score:2)
Exactly how much research is the average person suppose to do on these subjects? And how far in advance should they be able to predict things?
> I feel no sympathy for anyone who paid $2M for a cabin in Tahoe and can't manage to get electricity.
What about people that paid $350k for a place years ago? Is there sympathy for them?
Here's a good come back for the power company. (Score:1)
Great! We will be diverting 75% of your companies money and 75% of all your people's salaries to pay for the Nevada residents you are removing their power from to pay for them switching to an alternative power source. Have a nice day!
It might drive molotov cocktail production. (Score:2)
Do they want people to burn down datacenters? Because this is how you get people to burn down datacenters.
Re: (Score:2)
The builders of the datacenters aren't setting themselves up to build infrastructure and power, they are setting themselves up to leech from public infrastructure.
Re: (Score:2)
They don't live in Tahoe. They buy property as an investment.
Re: Tahoe (Score:2)
Tahoe is in California.
Re: (Score:2)
> This happens wherever these people move to (and take their ridiculous lifestyle with them).
I think you meant "salaries" there. The issue isn't how "tech bros" live, it's that they are making four times what most people in these areas are, so they don't have an issue paying much higher prices and then the locals get priced out. It's the free-market at work, the issue being the large disparity in standard-of-living between the two places. You would have no issue with this if you were a property owner in the area looking to sell.