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What went wrong with the Texas power grid?

houstonchronicle.com

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Re: What went wrong with the Texas power grid?

#921

Post by ashtonkem »

dathinab wrote: post #638
nrmitchi wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> just a result of certain design/engineering choices I think this is the point. Things are engineered for the environment which they are expected to operate, and to be optimized for those environments[0]. I would not expect a wind turbine that operates (and is designed to operate) in Antartica to not fail (potentially catestrophically) when operating in 100 degree Texas heat, [0] One could (and should) argue that th…

> [0] One could [...] climate change [...] As far as I can tell weather like this happens once in a while even without climate change, something like once in ~25 years or so (just guessing the number). Given the serve effects it can have infrastructure should always be build to still be operational. But if you are a company and there are no regulations you might be very tempted to ignore something which normally happ…

You’re really close! A lot of cities in Texas got really cold in 1989, so about 32 years.

There was also a freeze in 2011 that didn’t break records, but broke the energy grid.

Re: What went wrong with the Texas power grid?

#922

Post by ghaff »

bklyn11201 wrote: post #920
vidarh wrote: post #865

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jøtul [1], one of the the largest manufacturers of fireplaces in Norway has been around since 1853, manufacturing mostly cast iron fireplaces. The considerations are different, though. Cast iron is great if you want to radiate as much heat as possible as fast as possible or need to heat a small area (e.g. single room per heater). There's a reason small cast-iron Jøtul fireplaces used to be the stereotypical heater fo…

Sterotypical for the United States also! While brands like Vermont Castings have become quite common (founded 1975 after Middle East oil embargo), we often see old Jøtul in New York cabins, hunting lodges, etc.

Jøtuls are fairly readily available in the US as well. When I wanted to put a small woodstove in a new sunroom a few years back, the local woodstove dealer recommended the small Jøtul over the equivalent Vermont Castings because they said it drew better.

Re: What went wrong with the Texas power grid?

#924

Post by dr-detroit »

tacon wrote: post #798
roenxi wrote: post #782

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is annoying when this sort of event happens and everyone starts deciding what they believe to be truth within 48 hours of the outage. It makes more sense to be talking about the 2011 outages in terms of what went wrong than the 2021 ones - because we have actual information on 2011 instead of "things went wrong!" now. I want to thank you personally for injecting a PDF into the discussion, but also positively asser…

Since the Texas Legislature is in its once every two year session right now, and four million Texans are pissed off, it will be fun to see if new laws result this cycle.

Austin should secede

Re: What went wrong with the Texas power grid?

#925

Post by btbuildem »

Jcampuzano2 wrote: post #286
svnpenn wrote: post #20

Dallas suburb here (Las Colinas). No power since Monday 6am. I had to get room at holiday inn. I actually got the room yesterday, but the hotel lost power after an hour, so I had to go back home and sleep in 5 degree apartment. Don't believe anything you read about "rolling outages". It's only rolling, if you define that as "out until it's not freezing anymore".

Houston right now, haven't had power, nor water since yesterday. My room is sitting at 20ish degrees and has been all day. I've quite literally been snug under a load of blankets with my wife all day just to stay warm. My office back in Dallas which is not normally open offered to let people stay the night since they happen to be on the same grid as a hospital and I seriously considered trying to make it there today

20F / -6C indoors? Canadian here, mind blown a little. Are homes in Texas not insulated? They must be, you have really hot summers and run AC all the time..

Hope your power came back already. If not / or for another time: candles are great for heating a single room. Small, safe, but they make a difference.

Re: What went wrong with the Texas power grid?

#926

Post by [deleted] »

mmaurizi wrote: post #829
bstar77 wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, having a distributed grid is what makes you more resilient. If every house had solar panels this would likely be a non-issue.

Solar panels don't generate that much power during the day, and even less when they are covered in snow.

[deleted]

Re: What went wrong with the Texas power grid?

#928

Post by btbuildem »

pomian wrote: post #663
austincheney wrote: post #512

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was out for 17 hours from yesterday to mid afternoon today. Slept through the 0deg weather without power and yet still kept the house at 43deg internally without a heat source. Here is our simi-successful attempt to survive. * boarded up all the windows and doors with sheets, curtains, and heavy drop clothes * limit going outside to fewest essential trips * close all bedrooms and abandon them. All pets and occupant…

As a Canadian, a few more tips: keep kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors open. To keep water pipes from freezing. They are trouble if they freeze, expand, crack, and then when thaw - start leaking. (Empty toilets if risk of freezing.)(add glycol if you have it, in bowl.) Also can trickle water from the taps - moving water sure but freeze so fast as still water. Blankets, in doorways, hallways, Windows - keep warmth in…

"Keep your taps running" is the one practical bit of advice here.

Re: What went wrong with the Texas power grid?

#929

Post by salawat »

ineedasername wrote: post #901
salawat wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You realize ERCOT doesn't specify how rolling outages are implemented, right? That's up to the generating utility/transmission network. Ift you're not getting what you think you should, point your frustration where it belongs at least.

The ERCOT website say they "manage the flow of electric power to more than 26 million Texas customers -- representing about 90 percent of the state’s electric load. As the independent system operator for the region, ERCOT schedules power on an electric grid that connects more than 46,500 miles of transmission lines" This makes it seem like they would have at least some influence on the rolling outages, no?

You'd think, but nope.

If you hit the About section and watch their videos, you learn of ERCOT's role as a market facilitator and administrative body. They don't actually own any of the infrastructure, they are just a mediating influence through which granular activities are coordinated. They have the highest level view of activity as a whole on the grid, but there is no centralized control room or intimacy with utilities systems that allows ERCOT any semblance of fine grained control beyond being a message dispatcher and info propagter. Powerful and influential? Yes. Top down driver of day to day operations? No.

If anyone is interested in more about the Midnight Connection scandal, I highly recommend

https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/4...

Re: What went wrong with the Texas power grid?

#930

Post by modriano »

roenxi wrote: post #782
gregw2 wrote: post #117

What went wrong is that the Texas legislature which owns Texas-specific grid process to avoid interference from the Feds didn't figure out how to also ensure Texas generator companies got compensated for weatherizing (and ensuring it was done). How many of the 24+6 recommendations from the NERC/FERC review of last time this happened in Texas (hint:2011) were taken up by the legislature or those at ERCOT they delegate…

It is annoying when this sort of event happens and everyone starts deciding what they believe to be truth within 48 hours of the outage. It makes more sense to be talking about the 2011 outages in terms of what went wrong than the 2021 ones - because we have actual information on 2011 instead of "things went wrong!" now. I want to thank you personally for injecting a PDF into the discussion, but also positively asser…

Well, looking at the breakdown of electricity generation by energy source [0], it looks like energy generation fell by about 30% around the start of 2/15, with most of the losses being from coal and natural gas. And as Texas's grid is isolated from the the other eastern and western grids, they can't make up the difference. And reports indicate that it's because instrumentation in coal and natural gas plants has frozen, shutting them down.

It kind of feels like the problems are evident, and waiting for time to lull people back into complacency on the issue seems like it will just set up the next such disaster.

[0] https://twitter.com/MikeZaccardi/status/1362038182234251267?...

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