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Breaking down a record-setting day on the Texas grid

blog.gridstatus.io

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Re: Breaking down a record-setting day on the Texas grid

#61

Post by miguelazo »

bdcravens wrote: post #33
hmcdona1 wrote: post #2

If I'm reading this right, my thermostat's "rush hours" seem to be scheduled for gross load peak. They then seem to usually end (and kick my AC back to a desired temp causing a ton of usage) right around net load peak...which this is now reporting is when energy prices go through the roof. So basically the "rush hour" program has likely been costing me more money than if I just ignored them to begin with up to this p…

After giving my electricity provider access to my EV for optimal charging pretty much killed the 12v battery (they were pinging it hundreds of times an hour, meaning it never went to sleep), I'm never going to give them access to anything.

Which utility was this? That reeks of gross incompetence.

Re: Breaking down a record-setting day on the Texas grid

#62

Post by Salgat »

Quindecillion wrote: post #50
baldeagle wrote: post #36

What I want to know is how much we spent kicking crypto miners off the grid for a couple hours.

They provide a legitimate demand response service i.e. when the grid is generating excess energy that there's no other demand for, Bitcoin miners buy what no one else wants/needs. Buyers of first and last resort.

Texas has a lot of gas plants (51%) that we want to idle when possible. Just because it's cheaper power doesn't mean we should be generating it when the only customer is cryptocoins.

Re: Breaking down a record-setting day on the Texas grid

#63

Post by miguelazo »

MBCook wrote: post #11

So the day peaked at 85 GW of load, and they got down to only 130 MW of spare capacity. Just 0.15% from running out. And they never asked for conservation? Is it normal to go that close to the edge without trying to cut load?

If they ask their customers to conserve, they can’t rant about California “running out of electricity because EVs” anymore.

Re: Breaking down a record-setting day on the Texas grid

#64

Post by unethical_ban »

asciimov wrote: post #25
MBCook wrote: post #11

So the day peaked at 85 GW of load, and they got down to only 130 MW of spare capacity. Just 0.15% from running out. And they never asked for conservation? Is it normal to go that close to the edge without trying to cut load?

Here in San Antonio (CPS is our sole provider) we get emails asking us to reduce our use during peak hours on high demand days like today. Not sure how well it works, but they send out another email letting us know how we did compared to similarly sized houses in my area. If demand goes over the edge, they will start doing rolling black outs.

"A message from CPS Energy"

I haven't paid much attention to them. Perhaps they should put a threat level code in the subject line.

Green = Go about your day

Yellow = Don't use your big appliances or hot water as much

Orange = Yellow, plus turn the thermostat to 80 and keep the doors closed

Red = Bitcoin mines offline. All buildings shut down ancillary consumption. A/C in common spaces set to 85. Prepare to roll blackouts.

Re: Breaking down a record-setting day on the Texas grid

#65

Post by thesis »

Texas has these free electricity nights. Anyone know of a battery system that can fill the batteries at night (from the grid) and use them during the day? And then recharge at night again. Due to location solar isn’t an option but still interested in batteries due to free nights.

Re: Breaking down a record-setting day on the Texas grid

#66

Post by bboygravity »

thesis wrote: post #65

Texas has these free electricity nights. Anyone know of a battery system that can fill the batteries at night (from the grid) and use them during the day? And then recharge at night again. Due to location solar isn’t an option but still interested in batteries due to free nights.

Tesla power wall?

No batteries I know of will make economical sense though. Batteries are expensive, wear down and/or require maintenance. After x years / cycles your batteries will be dead and will need to be replaced.

Storing your "free" energy in a battery will end up costing more than just buying the energy when you need it.

Expensive energy storage is a big part of the reason why "green" energy countries like Germany have some of the highest energy prices in the world. And also some of the highest CO2 emissions per kWh in the EU (they need coal and gas powered plants as backups for when there's no wind and solar, because batteries don't make economical sense).

Re: Breaking down a record-setting day on the Texas grid

#67

Post by bdcravens »

miguelazo wrote: post #61
bdcravens wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After giving my electricity provider access to my EV for optimal charging pretty much killed the 12v battery (they were pinging it hundreds of times an hour, meaning it never went to sleep), I'm never going to give them access to anything.

Which utility was this? That reeks of gross incompetence.

Reliant, in Houston

You can setup the integration in the app, but disconnecting requires you to send an email with absolutely zero acknowledgment that it's not going straight into /dev/null

Re: Breaking down a record-setting day on the Texas grid

#68

Post by xwolfi »

Quindecillion wrote: post #50
baldeagle wrote: post #36

What I want to know is how much we spent kicking crypto miners off the grid for a couple hours.

They provide a legitimate demand response service i.e. when the grid is generating excess energy that there's no other demand for, Bitcoin miners buy what no one else wants/needs. Buyers of first and last resort.

Thank God Texas generates power from unlimited resources. In my place, the more we generate and consume, the less we have left for the future. In Texas, the plants have to generate as much as possible for some reason !

Re: Breaking down a record-setting day on the Texas grid

#69

Post by te_chris »

thesis wrote: post #65

Texas has these free electricity nights. Anyone know of a battery system that can fill the batteries at night (from the grid) and use them during the day? And then recharge at night again. Due to location solar isn’t an option but still interested in batteries due to free nights.

There’s loads. Search for home battery storage. You don’t need Tesla.

Re: Breaking down a record-setting day on the Texas grid

#70

Post by zdragnar »

dylan604 wrote: post #46
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, this summer is objectively one of the best we've had in a long time, at least in Austin. The fact that we've only had a few days above 105 is a blessing. I mean, it's Texas - it's always blazing hot at the end of August, and that's to be expected. What's really changed over the past 25-50 years is that the plus 100 days have been starting earlier and earlier, and we've been having more of them. Thankfully, that w…

Again, that is far from the definition of "great". I would say fortunate to not have those string of triple digits, but man, it's not great at all. 100°+ is still miserable, but it's amazing how different 98° feels from 105°. I get Texas hyperbole, but even my feet are firmly planted in reality to not accept "great" in this meaning. Bless your heart! ;-)

I think I prefer 100+ degree heat to -40. Where I live we often get both in the same year (though we didn't hit 100 this particular summer).

At least with the heat, you aren't worrying that your plumbing might freeze and burst a pipe in your walls if the power goes out.

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