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What went wrong with the Texas power grid?

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Re: What went wrong with the Texas power grid?

#901

Post by ineedasername »

salawat wrote: post #398
jimbob45 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Austin here, staying at a colleague’s place who’s in an over-55 community on the hospital grid (unlikely to be taken down). Agreed that they’re misusing “rolling outages”. We got an hour of power a day for the last two days and don’t foresee getting even an hour today. I don’t know who they think they’re fooling because everyone here knows exactly that these outages aren’t rolling and is out for ERCOT blood.

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?

Re: What went wrong with the Texas power grid?

#902

Post by ineedasername »

maxnoe wrote: post #811
pault wrote: post #444

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, there were sub zero temperatures in Dallas last night.

How badly are your homes insulated that you get internal=external temperature in mere hours???

It's been going on for a lot more than just a few hours.

Re: What went wrong with the Texas power grid?

#903

Post by khrbrt »

helen___keller wrote: post #891
cactus2093 wrote: post #887

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, it’s very easy to selectively forget what you ended up being wrong about and remember what you got right (or close enough to pretend it was right). I was wearing an n95 mask in the grocery store starting March 1st last year, there was no reason at that point to think it wouldn’t help and I still can’t comprehend why someone like Fauci who said in no uncertain terms not to wear a mask, it won’t help never faced a…

> I still can’t comprehend why someone like Fauci who said in no uncertain terms not to wear a mask, it won’t help never faced any repercussions May I ask what exactly you were hoping for here?

Being fired or resigning in disgrace.

If my bad advice cost thousands of lives, I would at least retire from public life.

Re: What went wrong with the Texas power grid?

#904

Post by myko »

myko wrote: post #465
da_big_ghey wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had power out for over a day and am fine. I would not pay any more money to avoid this once every thirty years, or even once a decade, for a few days. Mostly because paying the cost to prepare for one of these is reasonable, but preparing for all of them would be very expensive and I will trade cheap power for the occasional inconvenience.

People are dying because of this.

This is not hyperbole:

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/salvadorhernandez/death....

Folks are dying as a direct result of these infrastructure failures.

Re: What went wrong with the Texas power grid?

#905

Post by ineedasername »

listless wrote: post #621
lghh wrote: post #585

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They died, you fucking ghoul. People rely on things now to live that people would have just died without 150 years ago. They had warmer clothes 150 years ago. They had houses with fireplaces and blankets and coats. We can't deal with this because we are not set up to function when this happens any more. People didn't have the same pets 150 years ago we have now. Reptiles or birds? Dead. I just can't imaging the callo…

More people need to watch “Naked and Afraid” to learn what the human body is capable of withstanding.

A "reality" TV show that selects for people capable of handling the show through rigorous medical examinations is not going to provide an accurate picture on what the average person can handle.

Re: What went wrong with the Texas power grid?

#906

Post by ineedasername »

txlpo78 wrote: post #115
magnawave wrote: post #18

The result was "an electrical island in the United States," Bill Magness, CEO of ERCOT, said. "That independence has been jealously guarded, I think both by policy makers and the industry." https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2021/02/16/texas-power-... Maybe it’s time to rethink that. HaI has an interesting take on something similar: Japan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo88zA5nq4Q Running your own grid seems cool…

This current problems wouldn’t be fixed if Texas wasn’t on its own grid. The Texas grid does have connections to the other grids, and even right now is importing power from both the East and West interconnections. The problem is that this is a truly regional event and not just isolated to Texas. The entire central US is struggling right now. The SPP (which manages electricity for Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arkansas, and oth…

A few limited connections are not sufficient to fully take advantage of all areas of the country where there may be extra capacity. It wouldn't solve the problem, but would have helped. Oklahoma for example has been able to stop rolling blackouts. Texas is still deep in this.

Re: What went wrong with the Texas power grid?

#907

Post by hcurtiss »

ScottBurson wrote: post #809
paraselene_ wrote: post #780

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you know, instead of having a whole fireplace, just get a kerosene heater? Enough to heat a whole room in case of power&gas outages, last long enough through the night on one fill, and kerosene can be had at a gas station.

But used indoors, it consumes oxygen, and can produce carbon monoxide. Leaving it on while you sleep is dangerous.

There are many kerosene heaters safe for indoor use.

Re: What went wrong with the Texas power grid?

#908

Post by Hiopl »

da_big_ghey wrote: post #478
dminvs wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey great. My blue-lipped toddler is very happy for you. Hour 42.

I get that cold isn't fun, but if that's something you're worried about, why not get a small generator or back-up heater ahead of time? We had a close call with this back in 2011. Unless you're really saying that you want to socialize the cost of keeping your toddler warm. All that aside, I hope y'all stay warm. I know many cities are opening warming facilities, so maybe check if there's one near you.

> socialize the cost of keeping your toddler warm

This seems like one of the whole points for having a society. Ensuring basic necessities like this are covered at a marginal cost. But I guess the neoliberal capitalist haven of America thinks it's "socialism", and thus evil.

Re: What went wrong with the Texas power grid?

#909

Post by softawre »

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…

Appreciate your wisdom on this.

Re: What went wrong with the Texas power grid?

#910

Post by ehvatum »

IOT_Apprentice wrote: post #900
shireboy wrote: post #869

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree and have been feeling this more lately. You know this is already being politicized. Armchair investigators are suddenly becoming power grid experts. The complex reality of balancing a huge diverse power grid is becoming an “easy” problem - if only the evil other side had done what my media source and politician said they should! It’s tricky - I also have a problem waiting months for a slow inefficient governm…

This country politicizes everything, rather than dealing with it, because you have some people who have financial interests that make money off the existing situation. For many, it is part of a belief system, rather than dealing with it from policy and engineering perspectives. We don't deal with school shooting massacres here right after they occur. We don't deal with them after they happen. What stopped school shoo…

The right to protest should be important to you, regardless of your political persuasion. 2020 saw a very great many more violent protests, including the construction of autonomous zones that rejected the authority of all elected United States government. To say that a person’s voice should not be heard because they are dangerous to your beliefs is itself the most dangerous thing.
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