Posted on 02/18/2021 8:47:37 AM PST by austinrepub
The story of how Texas was brought to its knees by crippling cold weather leaving millions without power is a complex one, yet entirely predictable and avoidable.
The details matter, so it is important to know the long story, but let’s start with the short version: For years, Texas’ grid operator (ERCOT) has overestimated the ability to maintain a reliable grid without a sufficient supply buffer, known as a “reserve margin.” That margin is the difference between demand for electricity and what the grid can produce. When demand exceeds production, you get blackouts. That buffer has been shrinking because reliable sources of energy have been retired, few reliable plants have been constructed, and the grid is depending more and more on weather-dependent renewable energy that repeatedly fails to perform when we need it most.
When wind and solar production predictably dropped as the winter storm hit, the buffer collapsed. ERCOT needed to execute a series of balancing measures that would have protected the grid. But it did not act soon enough, which caused many more gas and some coal power plants in the system to “trip.” (Think of it as a circuit breaker that triggers to prevent a fire or other emergency at your house when there is a system imbalance.) Other weather-related issues caused problems too but ERCOT’s failure to act sooner was a major factor.
(Excerpt) Read more at texaspolicy.com ...
Is it true that polar bears have been spotted in Austin?
This is true and accurate. Completely. They're idiots and were unprepared.
The very idea that "Texas, Energy Capitol of the WORLD" was brought to its knees in four days of cold weather because TX Republicans were somehow tricked into adding wind power generators to their power grid is absurd.
Texas Democrats will make plenty of political hay with this. Pretty soon Texas could be politically bluer than most Texans' lips and fingertips are right about now.
Read post 20. It’s a bigger problem - you have to look over the last 20 years to see it.
Ignorant people making ignorant policy decisions, and this is the result.
That graph I posted tends to tell that story. Huge capital investment in windmills that did little when the going got tough.
Apparently they had a similar, though less catastrophic, event in 2011. What were they doing for the last decade? Oh yeah, virtue signaling about all their wind farms.
Look long and hard at the graph I posted. Was wind pulling its weight?
Ditto on the gas pipelines FP ...... we were failing with low pressures in the panhandle during this wakeup notice from mother nature. I keep 12 cords of oak and hickory secured for my woodstove for warmth, bed tanks on my diesel trucks for fuel shortages and a swimming pool for summer heatwaves. I’m aware of the western , eastern and TEXAS power grids but as all things man made our TEXAS grid infrastructure is eroding due to lack of maintenance over time . There will be more dangerous events due to polidiots and presstitutes personal profit agendas and fly by night BS ideas... .
Plan accordingly to provide for you and yours “alone” .... without for short or long durations if you can .....
Just how I live and learn . My opinion only. Stay Safe !
I don’t disagree. From a very simple perspective, it seems anyone wanting to accommodate “green energy” has basically build 100% of back-up in other sources. That’s effectively doubling (or more) energy investment costs.
But it seems that for whatever technical reason, Texas’ gas and nuclear plants also were not equipped to deal with historical cold weather.
Yes it does, but few know how much baseload we shut down. 95,000MW is enough to power the entire MISO footprint. That’s a huge part of the story.
https://www.misoenergy.org/markets-and-operations/real-time—market-data/real-time-displays/
“Texas’ gas and nuclear plants also were not equipped to deal with historical cold weather.”
A pressure transmitter can fail at any time. Unless it froze, did it freeze?
Read post 20. It’s not that simple.
Green energy subsidies did not cause the calamity Texas is facing presently.
This was caused by what I’d regard as ongoing criminal negligence by the Texas state power grid operator ERCOT.
Are you seriously telling us that Texas’ independent non-Federally regulated power grid was brought to its knees because the Republicans who oversee ERCOT were somehow tricked by hippies into taking subsidies to add a piddly amount of wind farms?
Read post 32.
I am not an expert in nuclear power generation or gas pipelines
But given that besides gas for electric grid, 40% of Texas oil production capacity has been knocked out, its clear something about their engineering and operating assumptions is wrong.
FINALLY! Someone has stated the obvious that has been hidden in plain sight!
Investment was diverted to the subsidy where it made more MONEY! It was further facilitated by the consumer buying into the windmills to save the erf.
NO, it started by installing wind turbines without de-icing packages like those in the northern states have. THEN it was exacerbated by political over-reliance on wind.
Because Texas never gets cold weather, they said.
Only one of four nuclear reactors went off line, leaving 75%. 50% of one plant went off line, and the second reactor stepped up a bit more than normal. That one reactor provides 1,280 megawatts, which the other three effectively match, each, from what I’ve gathered.
Of you turn on your gas stove, does it work? Many hot water heaters are gas only. Still work in an outage
Wrong. The freezing up and shutdowns occurred because of overload trips when wind capacity dropped dramatically. If 15 - 20% of capacity had not been lost, no overloads and trips.
Reliable sources of energy have been retired AKA stupidly replaced with unreliable green energy.
Sums it all up
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.