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Datadog dashboard for the Texas power grid

p.datadoghq.com

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Re: Datadog dashboard for the Texas power grid

#71

Post by tatoalo »

imrehg wrote: post #5

I was looking at the source code linked from dashboard, and surprised a bit that it's a gist, rather than a repository. Is it just to facilitate discussions on the code? Otherwise it feels a bit ad hoc that way, wouldn't consider a gist with this many files more ergonomic compared to a repository. Also, trying to follow to the data source of the Ercot website https://www.ercot.com/ I get blocked with things like this…

Yeah, from my EU IP address I could not visit the site, with US-provided IP from my VPN I could. I don’t understand why they would geofence it honestly but that’s how it is.

Re: Datadog dashboard for the Texas power grid

#72

Post by Aloha »

rtpg wrote: post #68
chasd00 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does it take to setup a decent size solar farm? There’s a lot of cheap, flat, easy to develop land in far west Texas (Brewster county).

One thing I wonder about is how far can you be from population centers in practice? I remember hearing that you want to be close or else you lose a lot to transmission but that might not be at all true

Long distance synchronous AC transmission or HVDC transmission is pretty efficient - enough to overcome the inherent land pricing differential.

Re: Datadog dashboard for the Texas power grid

#73

Post by soganess »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #44
rossdavidh wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tariffs are a thing, but there is absolutely no shortage of demand right now, and hasn't been for a while.

What makes you say there is no shortage of demand? If demand is elastic then lower price would mean more demand. I know that’s just econ101 which is often misleading, but what makes you say otherwise?

I only ever took econ 101, so forgive me if I'm missing a subtle point...

Isn't saying that there exists a *shortage* of demand the same as saying that there is available supply but no one is willing to buy at the current price? Thus, by definition, there cannot be a shortage of demand if all units are being purchased at the current price?

Re: Datadog dashboard for the Texas power grid

#74

Post by Aloha »

hk1337 wrote: post #37
dpierce9 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Texas interconnect is not federally regulated. There is also no such thing as a federal operator. There are three interconnects in the US, east, west and Texas. The other interconnects are not run by one central authority (let alone a federal agency). Each one has a mixture of authorities. The eastern interconnect, for instance, is run by several interstate operators (MISO, PJM and ISONE), intrastate orgs (NYISO)…

ERCOT actually falls under Public Utility Commission. Natural Gas actually falls under the Railroad Commission which was one the issues during Uri, ERCOT had no authority to get natural gas flowing to power plants. One of the issues, not the issue.

Nor frankly could we have meaningfully imported Power, our shortfall was greater then the entire generation capacity of California.

Re: Datadog dashboard for the Texas power grid

#75

Post by dx034 »

tatoalo wrote: post #71
imrehg wrote: post #5

I was looking at the source code linked from dashboard, and surprised a bit that it's a gist, rather than a repository. Is it just to facilitate discussions on the code? Otherwise it feels a bit ad hoc that way, wouldn't consider a gist with this many files more ergonomic compared to a repository. Also, trying to follow to the data source of the Ercot website https://www.ercot.com/ I get blocked with things like this…

Yeah, from my EU IP address I could not visit the site, with US-provided IP from my VPN I could. I don’t understand why they would geofence it honestly but that’s how it is.

They probably got DDoS like usage patterns from badly behaved scrapers around the world. Geo fencing is the easiest solution while still keeping data public domestically.

It's easy to blame them, but if you provide any data on the web, the load you get from scrapers is insane.

Re: Datadog dashboard for the Texas power grid

#76

Post by dx034 »

TameAntelope wrote: post #2

Odd to present temperature in Celsius for a US state, but otherwise very cool! I wish it were easier to see the moments when demand and capacity were at their closest, as those are the "interesting" moments.

Apart from the already mentioned fact that it was made in Europe, using Celsius makes sense for scientific dashboards. And here, data is pulled from airport weather reports, which always report in Celsius.

Re: Datadog dashboard for the Texas power grid

#77

Post by dx034 »

newaccount2021 wrote: post #6

HN is obsessed with the TX power grid....why?

It's one of the larger ones in the world (same GW as the largest European countries), there's a lot of data available and it's the only one that recently collapsed. I cannot remember a similar collapse due to a mismatch of demand and supply in any other network that size, especially one where we get all the data for.

I believe the CA power grid gets similar attention here whenever there's any news. A post for a dashboard would've probably attracted as many upvotes.

Re: Datadog dashboard for the Texas power grid

#78

Post by dx034 »

a-user-you-like wrote: post #43
zbrozek wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We had capacity blackouts in 2020. https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2020/08/18/...

Yeah, I was part of those. Sometimes living in CA feels third-world, and due to completely preventable maintenance items.

As a European, it always baffled me that power outages are such a common phenomenon in the US. I've heard stories about rolling blackouts due to heat/cold from people in all areas in the US. Whereas in Europe, I cannot remember a single instance rolling blackouts were used because of a gap in supply.

Sure, Europeans pay more for electricity, but maybe that spare capacity and inter-connectivity is worth it.

Re: Datadog dashboard for the Texas power grid

#79

Post by dx034 »

Chilko wrote: post #45
dvasdekis wrote: post #14

The surprising inference from me, as an energy layman, is that solar output coincides with periods of peak demand. Obviously this is seasonally adjusted, but in an era when the Saudis have solar contracts being supplied for $10USD/MWh [0], the potential profits for a solar provider at periods of peak demand seem more than sufficient to encourage investment, especially with interest rates still at a historic low for b…

I found this really interesting as well as here in New Zealand that relationship is inverted - we don't typically have residential air conditioning yet use a lot of electric heating so our peak demand is in the mornings and evenings, and most intense in the winter. This makes the business case for solar a lot trickier here as the periods of max generation (daytime during the summer) coincides with low demand and subs…

Wind should work better than. Especially offshore. Tends to be much more expensive than solar in a sunny place like Texas, but also much more reliable/stable.

In the end, you'll always need a mix of supply. Or simply better insulation and efficient heat pumps rather than wasting electricity on heating at above freezing.

Re: Datadog dashboard for the Texas power grid

#80

Post by baq »

dx034 wrote: post #78
a-user-you-like wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I was part of those. Sometimes living in CA feels third-world, and due to completely preventable maintenance items.

As a European, it always baffled me that power outages are such a common phenomenon in the US. I've heard stories about rolling blackouts due to heat/cold from people in all areas in the US. Whereas in Europe, I cannot remember a single instance rolling blackouts were used because of a gap in supply. Sure, Europeans pay more for electricity, but maybe that spare capacity and inter-connectivity is worth it.

don't worry, the grid in EU isn't issue-free by any standard and solar and electric cars will do it no good at all.
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