General North Texas is getting lake effect snow.

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Hauler said:
So they don't require generators to be winterized?
This isn't a wind/solar/coal/gas issue.
This is an ERCOT procedural issue.

So many lawsuits.
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Correct. I read about this yesterday.
So in the 1980s We had a similar freeze like this one. Following that there was a postmortem analysis done and basically they said exactly that. The grid needed to be winterized and updated to handle cold even if it was rare and that it might happen more often due to climate change.

These were recommendations and no laws were changed.

In 2011 we had pretty good cold snap here. Not on this scale but there were power problems. most of the same stations that failed in 2011 were ones that failed in 1989.


Here we are again.
30 years we've known about this and will not invest because it only happens every so often. But now areas of the state are rapidly gaining dense populations that weren't there before. Even 10-15 years ago.

With that growth the cost of this is spread out over a lot more people and the penalties for not doing it hit a lot more people.

Beyond that of course we all pay for this anyways through home insurance and the human cost and the penalties against the homeowners themselves that get hurt from frozen pipes and floods.
 
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www.kvue.com

ERCOT to change Texas energy prices to meet high demand amid winter storm

A Public Utility Commission order stated that ERCOT should correct any past prices to reflect the current shortage of energy.
www.kvue.com www.kvue.com

I mean okay....but I don't think even doubling the price of electricity results in a significant change of behavior when it's threat of harm or death.

These are prices and bills that will be paid in a month and no one really cares how much when you can see your breath inside your house.
 
Hauler

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Splinty said:
www.kvue.com

ERCOT to change Texas energy prices to meet high demand amid winter storm

A Public Utility Commission order stated that ERCOT should correct any past prices to reflect the current shortage of energy.
www.kvue.com www.kvue.com

I mean okay....but I don't think even doubling the price of electricity results in a significant change of behavior when it's threat of harm or death.

These are prices and bills that will be paid in a month and no one really cares how much when you can see your breath inside your house.
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From that article:
The demand has exceeded the supply that the state has to offer.
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The supply is low because of their own negligence.

It's not a perfect comparison because not every Texas home has AC, but I'm assuming the AC power demand on consecutive 110 degree days is somewhat close to the power demand they are seeing now.

The fault doesn't lie with people's demand.
The fault lies with ERCOT's failure to protect supply by properly preparing their equipment for extended cold snaps.

Gouging customers in hope that it will curb use is misguided.
 
ThatOneDude

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Just have my neighbor half my remaining firewood, fucker better turn his music down now.
 
MMAPlaywright

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Just got word that my workplace is shut down tomorrow. A pipe burst and flooded a few floors. We may not be back this week.

Finally some good news!
 
MMAPlaywright

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‘We have seen nothing like this’: ERCOT CEO says agency still can't predict when Texas power outages will end
 
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he extreme weather pointed out several weak areas in power plant operations. Inoperative or inadequate heat tracing systems and inadequate insulation on instrumentation sensing lines seemed to be the most common technical equipment problem encountered during the freeze.”

Heat tracing typically involves wrapping energized wires around pipes to warm them.

The companies reported a range of responses to the crippling event, from a total re-evaluation of weatherization protocols, to simply increasing insulation on affected equipment.

“Whether the corrective actions being implemented by the utilities are sufficient to prevent future freeze-related power plant failures, only direct experience with another deep freeze will ascertain,” the 1990 analysis concluded.
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www.statesman.com

La Leche League meets Tuesday

La Leche League is a nonprofit international organization offering information, education and support for breastfeeding and parenting. Meetings are free. Pregnant and nursing mothers are encouraged t…
www.statesman.com

Starting on Dec. 21, according to the 1990 report, as demand for electricity continued to rise and companies used up their reserve power, ERCOT ordered utilities “to shed load to preserve the entire electric system” — in other words, interrupt customer service with rolling blackouts.

The freeze of 2011 unfolded in much the same way. Early on the morning of February 1, as temperatures fell and a cold wind blew, the state’s power generators started failing.

As more dropped off the grid, ERCOT, which is responsible for managing 85 percent of the state’s electricity, ordered companies to fire up their reserve units. When many of those stuttered, too, ERCOT ordered rolling blackouts to prevent a shutdown of the grid.

ERCOT initially said a few dozen generating units had failed, then reported in late March that 152 of the system’s 550 units statewide had gone down between Feb. 1 and Feb. 4.

ERCOT executives stress that the system worked as it was intended: The grid never shut down. Most of those customers affected by outages were inconvenienced for only hours.

Yet the incident generated wide fallout.

On Feb. 15, lawmakers summoned power company executives to the Capitol to explain how a few hours of cold temperatures could have brought the state’s electrical system so close to collapse.

Power company executives passed around a gauge and explained that many of the power plant shutdowns could be traced to simple equipment failures because of a lack of adequate insulation and winterization. They promised fixes to prevent a repeat incident.
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Magness said about 45,000 megawatts of electricity was offline Tuesday morning. ERCOT said that figure was 34,000 megawatts Monday.
For context, one megawatt of electricity can power about 500 homes a year. ERCOT said the outages are from 70 to 80 power plants in Texas are currently offline. Statewide, there are about 680 power plants in the state.
ERCOT cannot get power from the country’s eastern power grid on Tuesday, Magness said, because it is in the middle of its own storm outages. Mexico can only provide 450 megawatts of electricity and ERCOT is not connected to the country’s western power grid.
 
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