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A car at a charging station. Given troubles with the power grid, some Texans use Tesla Powerwalls. (Tesla)
Tesla seems to be making backup plans to manage anoter possible failure of the Texas power grid in the form of a Megapack project.
New filings with the city of Austin show Tesla’s renewable energy solution at Giga Texas would get added energy, according to the project application.
With project plans filed last week, it comes as Giga Texas prepares for Cyber Rodeo, its grand opening in early April.
Along with the thousands of households without power in the February 2021 storm, nearby, concerns over the grid’s reliability affected companies. Samsung shut down its Austin semiconductor plant for a month, causing a loss of more than $270 million. And this past February, Bitcoin mining companies halted major energy use as the state was hit with freezing temperatures.
The project is named “Giga Texas LCRA permanent switchyard & BESS,” which is short for battery energy storage system. The application covers a building area of 53 acres, though further details like the number of Megapacks aren’t referenced.
According to Electrek, drone flyovers in recent weeks show the automaker is building a solar array on the factory’s rooftop with solar panels that are expected to spell out Tesla.
At the start of the year, Tesla announced a Megapack project for an electric utility south of Houston in Angleton, Texas.
A completion timeline for the battery project at Giga Texas hasn’t been released.
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(Moriah Wilson/Instagram)
Austin police are investigating the killing of Moriah "Mo" Wilson after she was found with gunshot wounds inside an Austin home.
Wilson, a gravel and mountain bike racer, was visiting Austin from Colorado in preparation for the Gravel Locos race on Saturday taking place in Hico, a small town 2 hours from Austin.
On Wednesday, her roommate came home and found Wilson unresponsive with "a lot of blood near her,” police said. It is now being investigated as a suspicious death. No further information on the suspect or motive behind the killing are available at this time.
Wilson recently had become a full-time biker after winning a slew of races in the past year.
(Pexels)
Some of your favorite Instagram filters can’t be used in Texas anymore and Austinites are sounding off on social media.
Meta, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, announced on Wednesday that certain filters would no longer be available in Texas.
The change is a result of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit against Meta, alleging the company uses facial recognition technology that violates laws in Texas. A release from Meta says it stopped using facial recognition tech in November 2021 and denies Paxton’s allegations.
Some Austinites bemoaned the shift, saying some of their favorite filters were now unavailable.
This was my FAVORITE filter on @instagram and they done removed it cause I’m in Texas ! Like wowwwwww pic.twitter.com/uX60hdIC0Q
— Pinkyy Montana (@inkstar_pinkyy) May 11, 2022
i heard that instagram filters got banned in texas? what the actual fuck y’all better give me my favorite filter back
— lia 🤍 (@liatootrill) May 11, 2022
loved this stupid filter sm i hate texas pic.twitter.com/DXr9mmUc64
— birthday boy jeno 🎂 (@beabtox) May 12, 2022
But more often than not, locals joked about the ban.
Texas women seeing the filter ban on IG pic.twitter.com/yDMcP3Qtsr
— Christian (Anabolic) Flores (@christian_flo24) May 11, 2022
So, the state of Texas has banned filter use on IG? THE END IS NEAR. 😂
— THE FRANCHISE! Франшиза (@NYCFranchise718) May 12, 2022
And some in-between chose to show off some natural beauty.
I live in Texas, but no filter needed. 😉 pic.twitter.com/A6teRgYMKn
— bad and bruja (@starseedmami) May 11, 2022
filter, no filter..texas women still reign supreme.
— 🎍 (@_sixile) May 11, 2022
Finally, some are trying to cash in on the opportunity.
Texas IG users- if you want to filter your picture cashapp me $1.50 $ErvnYng
— Gemini (@ervn_y) May 11, 2022
Meta said it plans to create an opt-in system for both Texas and Illinois residents, who are facing the same issues.