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After sitting in the dark with no electricity, hvac, internet for 2 days it helped me realize, even more, how the people who are over Emergency Planning/Prep Department must spend more time playing with their ding-a-lings instead of planning or preparing for things the citizens may need in the event of certain situations. It only got cold and the whole state wasn't equipped to provide the basic necessities for it's citizens. Maybe I just had too much time on my hands.....
What you're not seeing rerported by the mefia is that the 25% of the generated power is coming from so called "GREEN ENERGY " that energy source FAILED because it isn't reliable as conventional power generation.
Do a little research into this cluster fucking and you'll find out that yes the gumment sucks at everything buy so does green energy...
Find a sweet and sexy provider who will cook u something warm and you can make a over night or multiple hr arrangement. Just a thought.
Failures in natural gas, coal and nuclear energy systems were responsible for nearly twice as many outages as frozen wind turbines and solar panels, the ERCOT said in a press conference Tuesday. Failures to winterize gas gathering points, power plants play a bigger role. So called “green energy” failures are conservatives favorite hobby horse and a red herring.Quote:
Originally Posted by bb1961
It's not quite twice as many but I do totally agree about your "green energy" statement & using it as a red herring. Totally. :thumb:Quote:
Originally Posted by htownhunter
Of the 43,000MW (43Gigawatts) about 26500MW (26.5Gigawatts) was thermal and the other 17,000MW (17Gigawatts) was wind and solar power.
Thermal power are traditional elements like coal, steam, nuclear combustion... used to convert "heat" (usually in the form of steam ultimately) into electricity by spinning turbines that move a conductive coil wire inside magnetic field to produce current. So, yes, it was a lot of thermal loss but not really twice, it's closer to 1:1 or just a bit over.
Almost out of the woods people. Very soon! By Sat this is a memory for sure... if not before then. Sat at the latest. Energy production is already coming back up too. :twothumbs:
I'm going to look into it! Maybe we need to stay with what works instead of this "green trash".Quote:
Originally Posted by bb1961
Topic is not hobby related.
Moved to the proper forum.
That is totally flawed.Quote:
Originally Posted by bb1961
First, if 25% is green why did the entire grid come within minutes of failing? Because the 75% fossil fuel generation was not able to handle the weather either!
Second, when it comes to snow, you have to disregard solar from the supply because of the very nature of how it works.
Third, the regulators did not require wind providers to build/maintain turbines for this type of weather...the extra cost cut into profits so the government caved and you have useless turbines. I know, as I have financed wind projects here.
Fourth, Texas state government didn't want to answer to Fed regulations when FDR created the Federal Power Act in 1935 as part of his New Deal. Being fiercely independent Texas designed its own grid, and thus came ERCOT, which is overseen by PUCT. So the USA has 3 grids, Eastern US, Western US, and Texas. But that prevents sharing of power, which is what you get when other states suffer weather issues. Which is why the panhandle and eastern Texas fared better; they aren't connected to the Texas grid. In fact, members of state government have stated Texans would rather freeze a few days than answer to Washington! You can't have it both ways...
Feel free to make this a political debate, but it is not an issue of fossil fuels versus green energy; it is an issue of maximizing corporate profits at the risk to citizens and valuing independence over safety.
What would have been the impact of forcing wind projects to be winter-ready? It would have cost a certain amount of money per turbine per year. Who pays for that? Initially, the power company, but then they ask for those costs to be included in their next rate case. The PUCT approves the rate case, and the cost shows up in everyone's bill. That scenario applies to ALL power projects, fossil or green. So you have saved a few hundred bucks over the last decade or two, but now you complain!
^ Basically all on point. +1 :thumb: Especially the larger 3rd or 4th paragraph about TX inability to share power for various reasons. Totally. Yep. All big problems. Absolutely. :/
PS Oh and the lack of winterization to wind turbines too. +1.
When you finance these multi-billion dollar companies and projects you need to understand how they work and where the risks are. Coal, gas, wind, onshore, offshore, refining, midstream, nuclear...financed them all. Currently financing E&P. Money is not fossil versus green or red or blue...it is finding the best risk-adjusted return. Period.
Everyone wants to support the local economy and disregard climate changes until it bites them. Millions suffer because Texas doesn't want connection points to the other grids. Which works just fine until it doesn't. Not claiming Texas was wrong in 1935...but the world and the weather are very different now, so maybe the thinking needs to evolve...just a bit.
Blame Texas for opening up the electric energy with deregulation back in 2001. Back then Houston Lighting and Power owned their own power plants and they were responsible for their area only. When deregulation hit, HL and P sold all their power plants and NRG (Reliant) bought a bunch of them. So instead of HL and P (Center Point) having all the power plants, wires, and meters, they now just have the wires and meters. A vast majority of the blackouts were done by someone on a computer picking and choosing what substation and circuit had power. I did read where STP (nuclear plant near Bay City) had one of it's two plants down. Once that one got back online, the city of Austin, Corpus Christi, San Antonio, and the greater Houston area were delivered many more Mw's
I dealt with Center Point and ERCOT on a daily basis and I can safely say that the people from ERCOT didn't think their shit stank. Well I guess this cluster fuck we just went through proves that we need another company to handle the flow of electricity in most of Texas. The best thing we can do is get more nuclear plants and go back to pre-deregulation days where each utility has their own area and is responsible for everything from power plants to meters. One thing mentioned before deregulation, when they were really trying to sell it, is that the electricity would be too cheap to meter. I still laugh at that.
Fortunately I never had that much contact with them, but everyone outside ERCOT says the same thing.Quote:
Originally Posted by DEAR _JOHN
Pretty damning research project done in 2011 about them: tcaptx/downloads/THE-STORY-OF-ERCOT.pdf for any nerds interested in learning more about how this mess came about due to governmental inertia. You may have to cut & paste the URL...link function doesn't seem to be working.
Another great link for any nerdy types that want to read the warning report federal agencies and ERCOT did after the large 2011 blackout events that went on for 4-5 days. All due to the same thing yet nothing was done about.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben Rhimene
Federal Agencies & ERCOT Report on 2011 Winterization Events Feb 1-5 Leading to Blackouts
This report went unheeded. Heads will roll for this unquestionably. Like.... BIG. We are going to see unprecedented change to the PUC concept in TX as a result.
These issues were all known well in advance too; a full decade. Same damn thing. Sheesh. It was also suspected that we'd experience such events as far back as over a week ago, but ERCOT didn't do anything to prepare people or even notify customers! :rolleyes:
PUCs simply can't be deregulated in free markets. The infrastructure and services are simply too vital to daily life. The concept of monopolization avoidance and using free market practices doesn't entirely make sense in the context of criticalital services such as those provided by PUCs.
Pretty much agree across the board dude. +1 :thumb:Quote:
Originally Posted by DEAR _JOHN
In the much earlier days of my career, back around 2000 to 2002, I was working with energy coops & giants like Reliant and TXU as a lead coder/developer & program manager/director, basically building a new software platform for calculating KwH consumption as well changes that were coming with the new deregulation act. Big mess. I did a lot consulting in many industries.
TX has also always harbored some sick morbid desire to remain isolated from the rest of the country. WTH? :noidea:
What a fuck story right? Nation's leading energy behemoth, equal in power generation to the entirety of the UK, or as a single entity & market we'd be ~10th largest in the world (TX alone), taken to its knees in a matter of days??? By weather that most people up north would shrug off as a "kinda chilly week"!?! :rolleyes: Fuckin embarrassing. And pitiful. Sheesh. Smh. :sad:
LOL...as a kid I Trick or Treated in worse weather. I was driving Monday morning and the muscle memory kicked in...almost a joke. Except it wasn't. Because of bad info and bad preparation. I don't expect Houston to have plows, or salt/sand trucks. Not a worthwhile use of capital. But where were the warnings about Carbon Monoxide poisoning from not cracking windows in cars and homes? Where were the warnibgs about hypothermia? Some 11 year old is dead because he played in the snow too long wearing just a hoodie?Quote:
Originally Posted by mathguy
I am all for small government, but I am certainly sick of lazy and stupid government...