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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

#241

Post by atian »

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 in North Texas (Oncor) and my place just got hit by the rolling blackout 3 minutes ago (1:44am). See http://www.ercot.com/content/cdr/main/currentDayForecastSyst... for dramatic shedding of load.

Edit 1:54am - First blackout lasted exactly 10 minutes. They got this down to a tee.

Edit 2:37am CT - Second blackout started.

Edit 3:00am - Second blackout ended.

Edit 3:17am - Third blackout started.

Re: Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid

#242

Post by gonzo »

WookieRushing wrote: post #220
ranieuwe wrote: post #211

And Ercot [1] "has declared an EEA 1. Energy conservation is needed. There are no rotating outages at this time. 00:17:45 150221" [1] https://twitter.com/ERCOT_ISO/status/1361197991659503618

It’s now EEA 2

It took 15 minutes to go from 2 to 3

Re: Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid

#243

Post by bobsmooth »

rayiner wrote: post #191
evan_ wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was an incandescent bulb phase out over several years that was supposed to end in 2020, but Trump blocked it because he claimed that LED bulbs were too expensive and made him look orange.[0] You pretty much can’t buy them anymore at stores except for specialty bulbs like oven lamps, but that might vary state-to-state. 0: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/20/climate/trump-light-bulb-...

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

When's the last time you used an LED bulb? The CRI has greatly improved since they first came out.

Re: Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid

#244

Post by ffk »

ashkankiani wrote: post #219
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.

Stockpiling incadescent bulbs instead of spending time doing research to find LED bulbs with a better light spectrum?

LEDs tend to give off a good range over the visible light spectrum. Incandescents tend to bias towards the higher end of the spectrum (towards red).

Agreed that some research can also help find a good light. There are plenty of "full spectrum" light solutions out there which may work for the original poster.

Compare Incandescents (A) vs LED (D) at https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Emission-spectra-of-diff...

Re: Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid

#245

Post by ericbarrett »

oasisbob wrote: post #177
phonebanshee wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people around here (Pacific Northwest) do propane. No one wants to store large quantities of gasoline on their property.

Yup, especially when those tanks of propane work for hot water and cooking too. There's a lot of crossover with RVs, industrial, and even marine when you use propane. The cabin I'm writing this from has a battery bank and a standby generator salvaged from a touring bus.

Propane is quite expensive compared to natural gas, though, especially from a fixed-line utility. Except maybe this weekend!

Re: Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid

#246

Post by seanmcdirmid »

pkaye wrote: post #194
jay_kyburz wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you still have incandescent bulbs in the US? Its really hard to find them here in Australia. I thought they were banned but I just read that they are not, but have been phased out.

Its pretty much LED bulbs and fixtures in the US. I think Trump administration reversed the original law but there are a few state laws that are even stricter. The manufacturers have all moved onto LEDs so no going back.

It would have been an executive order the Trump administration reversed, he wouldn’t have had the authority to reverse a congressional passed law.

Re: Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid

#247

Post by JimNasby »

Scoundreller wrote: post #239
Rapzid wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The grid has basically zero capability to change the voltage; frequency is all that matters. Frequency is so low that in the past hour any power line time base has fallen over 5.5 seconds behind. That’s a massive drop in frequency.

Re: Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid

#248

Post by [deleted] »

supernova87a wrote: post #83

Problem is that: 1) People's use of energy is relatively insensitive to price, or they don't know the price, or few people care about the price when it comes time to need it 2) When you need the energy, it's too late to make the equipment/house more efficient, and when you don't need it, people don't think it's important to make it more efficient 3) Mandating that people upgrade their equipment is unpopular, they vot…

[deleted]

Re: Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid

#249

Post by Scoundreller »

JimNasby wrote: post #247
Scoundreller wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The grid has basically zero capability to change the voltage; frequency is all that matters. Frequency is so low that in the past hour any power line time base has fallen over 5.5 seconds behind. That’s a massive drop in frequency.

It's a tool where I am. The grid operator does tests for 3% and 5% reductions:

https://www.ieso.ca/Corporate-IESO/Media/News-Releases/2019/...

Would be very effective with the space-heater (or oven?) driven demand right now in Texas. Not effective for A/C-driven demand (motors will draw more current).

Re: Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid

#250

Post by brobdingnagians »

supernova87a wrote: post #83

Problem is that: 1) People's use of energy is relatively insensitive to price, or they don't know the price, or few people care about the price when it comes time to need it 2) When you need the energy, it's too late to make the equipment/house more efficient, and when you don't need it, people don't think it's important to make it more efficient 3) Mandating that people upgrade their equipment is unpopular, they vot…

My parents live in Dallas and rarely use the heating because of cost; instead they wear scarves and mittens inside. They are running it now, because it is the coldest they've ever seen. When your alternative is to freeze to death, you pay. Finding fault with people because of that is insensitive and lacking in empathy. They know the cost, they also know what the temperature outside is.

Resilience is an important principle in engineering, we know that from software, but it is even more important in infrastructure. People rely on this for staying alive. It is important to have a diverse set of electrical generators. Atomic energy and coal are very resilient. As someone else pointed out, a lot of green infrastructure is prone to failure in extreme events. The wind turbines froze. When the sun isn't shining the solar doesn't work, and it is coldest at night. It is great to have green infrastructure _with_ other types. This stuff is way to important to play politics with.

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