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Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid

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Re: Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid

#231

Post by ChrisIsTaken »

adrianN wrote: post #209
jcranmer wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem here is the high tomorrow in Dallas is supposed to be about 10°F. The typical winter high for Dallas is a bit below 60°F. This means that the demand for heating is about 4-6× what it normally would be for winter.

Energy loss is strongly supralinear in the temperature gradient, so it's probably a lot more than that.

Energy loss through an insulator is exactly linear to temperature.

The problem is that people who would have otherwise tolerated 50F temperatures without heating by putting on a sweater are pulling their old oil column heater out of the storage.

Re: Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid

#232

Post by Scoundreller »

Rapzid wrote: post #226
Scoundreller wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

edit: Took 15 minutes to go from Level 2 to 3. "Energy conservation is critical. Rotating outages are underway to reduce demand on the electric system. We urge Texans to put safety first during this time. Traffic lights and other infrastructure may be temporarily without power. 01:25:40 150221" https://nitter.42l.fr/ERCOT_ISO/status/1361215084010352644#m (old stuff): They just went into Level 2: https://twitter.com/E…

Manufacturing.

Just went to Level 3:

> has declared an EEA 3. Energy conservation is critical. Rotating outages are underway to reduce demand on the electric system. We urge Texans to put safety first during this time. Traffic lights and other infrastructure may be temporarily without power. 01:25:40 150221

https://nitter.42l.fr/ERCOT_ISO

Re: Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid

#233

Post by akvadrako »

ricw wrote: post #202
rayiner wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Typical LED bulbs have shit spectrum coverage, and have terrible flicker when used with dimmers. I’ve been stockpiling incandescents.

Maybe try dimmable LED bulbs? They work perfectly fine here. I find LEDs look much better, particularly if you have chandelier type lights.

Dimmable led bulbs come in multiple varients and don't work with all style of dimmers. Quality matters too.

The best bet is switching to Hue or other smart bulbs that manage their own dimming. It's generally cheaper too unless you have a dozen bulbs on one dimmer.

Re: Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid

#234

Post by rocqua »

martinald wrote: post #30
cameronh90 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Preface: I know very little about power grids, but had a couple thoughts. In the UK, there is a system of load shedding that is tied to the grid frequency. My understanding is that some industrial users agree terms where they get cheaper rates but if the demand outstrips supply, they are first to be cut. This load shedding is implemented by components that monitor the grid frequency, and if it drops below a fixed val…

No, not really. As far as I'm aware HVDC links are more efficient than AC links (even with AC/DC/AC conversion).

AC transmission has worse power loss per unit distance. But has very little 'base' cost.

HVDC has better marginal loss , but you pay a loss up front for conversion

Re: Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid

#235

Post by gonzo »

bombcar wrote: post #42
cameronh90 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Preface: I know very little about power grids, but had a couple thoughts. In the UK, there is a system of load shedding that is tied to the grid frequency. My understanding is that some industrial users agree terms where they get cheaper rates but if the demand outstrips supply, they are first to be cut. This load shedding is implemented by components that monitor the grid frequency, and if it drops below a fixed val…

Load shedding exists in the USA - however industrial customers who can shut off probably already have given the rise in spot prices. I know the Datacenter we were in years ago would be asked to go to generators during CA power crisis.

Zayo just sent notice that they’re cutting over to generators in the Texas area

Re: Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid

#236

Post by nyokodo »

Daho0n wrote: post #197
Rapzid wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to add some numbers; we(Texas) have over 31,000MW of installed wind energy capacity. No other state comes close. Probably a lot of things people find shocking about Texas when compared to its reputation lol.

Texas is the state with the most wind energy in the US? 42,933km2 Denmark has 6GW wind energy capacity and 695,662km2 Texas has 31GW. That doesn't sound very impressive.

Texas has 5X the population of Denmark and 5X the wind energy generation. That doesn’t sound like a great justification for your smug comment. Also, that is current generation as the rate of increase of wind and solar appears to far outstrip Denmark on a per capita basis. If the WSJ is reliable, Texas is supposed to add an additional ~17GW of solar by 2023, reaching 21GW![1] If they reach that it’d beat Denmark’s 2030 goal by 23% and 7 years on a per capita basis.[2]

1. https://www.wsj.com/articles/solar-power-booms-in-texas-1160...

2. https://um.dk/en/news/newsdisplaypage/?newsid=25147b44-3dce-...

Re: Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid

#237

Post by Rapzid »

Scoundreller wrote: post #228

Now at level 3: Situation Critical: "has declared an EEA 3. Energy conservation is critical. Rotating outages are underway to reduce demand on the electric system. We urge Texans to put safety first during this time. Traffic lights and other infrastructure may be temporarily without power. 01:25:40 150221" https://twitter.com/ERCOT_ISO "Rotating outages primarily affect residential neighborhoods and small businesses…

I'm curious how they coordinate between the transmissions providers as to what gets cut off when and by whom.

Re: Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid

#239

Post by Scoundreller »

Rapzid wrote: post #237
Scoundreller wrote: post #228

Now at level 3: Situation Critical: "has declared an EEA 3. Energy conservation is critical. Rotating outages are underway to reduce demand on the electric system. We urge Texans to put safety first during this time. Traffic lights and other infrastructure may be temporarily without power. 01:25:40 150221" https://twitter.com/ERCOT_ISO "Rotating outages primarily affect residential neighborhoods and small businesses…

I'm curious how they coordinate between the transmissions providers as to what gets cut off when and by whom.

The second link says:

"each utility is required to lower the demand on its system based on its percentage of the historic ERCOT peak demand.

"each utility is responsible for determining how to implement the required demand reduction, most utilities use rotating outages for this purpose."

There's about 25 different utilities, so who knows what each does.

I'm surprised voltage reduction isn't used. It's very effective at reducing resistive loads (ie: heaters and incandescent lights).

Re: Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid

#240

Post by heurist »

brundolf wrote: post #222
txlpo78 wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Central Texas has been getting a lot of freezing rain this weekend, as opposed to outright snow or sleet. I know this has caused a lot of power line and tree damage (because it causes water to cling to trees and freeze into ice, whereas snow doesn’t accumulate as much on trees). I would imagine freezing rain would have similar effects on wind turbines.

Austin TX here, it's the most bizarre thing I've seen. All trees, all objects, have a thin (couple mms) shell of clear ice. Evenly distributed all the way around, and then icicles on the bottom. It all appeared that first day (Thursday?) when we first had freezing temperatures and there was moderate rain at the same time. All of the trees are sagging, several branches have fallen just within the view of my house.

Walking around my yard this evening and the green vegetation that froze over crunched like potato chips. I'm from the Midwest so familiar with the cold, but I had never experienced that sensation before.
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