Weather issues - help your neighbors and fellow Texans
Save the power grid & help your neighbors. :thumb: Reduce or cutout usage of the following items:
-- Central Heater (no higher than 67-68 thermostat)
-- No washing or drying clothes with machines if at all possible!
--No space heaters (DO NOT USE)
--Do not use electric oven (IF POSSIBLE DO NOT USE)
--Keep doors closed and used a draft blocker or tape to keep hot air inside
--Keep fridges closed up except when necessary (fridges use huge amounts of wattage to start up but not just to sit there and run - only when they need to cool again)
--Hair dryer
--Microwave oven and toaster ovens sparingly as needed only
OPTIONAL READING - EDUCATIONAL - HOW THIS HAPPENED BEYOND JUST WIND FARMS
Some people have asked why if wind farms don't account for all the power loss (we've lost about 45Gigawatts total power production at peak) how did this happen?
You can read my comment (thread unfortunately got closed for entirely separate reason so I won't link it) which explains in basic terms how electricity production works. It's in the "I picked a bad time to visit Austin thread".
Why? Well, for one, even if it's not a wind farm, electric induction principles are all the same. Take a nuclear power plant for example.
How does a nuclear plant work? Same deal except the "nuclear" predecessor part of the equation. Neutrons collide into uranium atoms in a nuclear reactor causing fission of the atom. The fission process creates a LOT of energy which heats water & creates extremely high pressure steam that will spin turbines. The turbines, similar to my earlier explanation of "Faraday's Law" in the other thread will move a conductive coil rod inside a magnetic field to 'induce' an electric current which is deposited onto the power grid.
So, again, same deal: Turn a rod with a conductive coil wrapped around it inside a magnetic field = production of electrical current.
What is the problem then? I explained in the case of wind farms its b/c the mills can't spin due to freezing. In the case of nuclear plants there are other things that can go wrong. Nuclear plants also require massive cooling using flowing water. It's possible that broken mains, frozen lines, or other elements in the tower which are stuck/frozen essentially took the electricity generation offline at that facility.
The simple truth is we don't yet know *exactly* what caused some of the nuclear and coal facilities to go down. That is being investigated. It is something along these lines though. Generating electricity requires the movements of large turbines and coil rods in large magnetic fields. If you compromise the ability to move the turbine or coil, or compromise the ability to use free flowing water to cool a nuclear reactor (for example), or freeze the turbines, or various other elements, you can't product electricity at that facility.
One thing we can be certain of after this event, as well as the 2011 events, is that ERCOT has to consider an overhaul to the design of the grid that includes firm winterization of all electricity generating facilities.
