yup, and it's the AMPS that count... add up the loads of what you need most and make sure the the generator and can supply them mine makes 20amps and runs on diesel so i can tap my fueloil tank if i have too
Posted on 02/16/2021 10:18:42 AM PST by EyesOfTX
Hey, some of you probably thought I was dead. Well, sorry, Democrats, no such luck. Didn’t have another heart event, didn’t contract the ‘rona, the website isn’t down again. So yay on all of that.
What did happen, though, is we have no power at our home. Haven’t had any since 6:00 a.m. Monday, and it now looks like we won’t have any again until Friday at the earliest. In case you hadn’t heard, the entire state of Texas looks an awful lot like Alaska right now. Ok, well, West Texas looks more like South Dakota, but you get the picture. We’re covered up in snow and ice, the low temperature where I live near Fort Worth was -1 Fahrenheit this morning, we haven’t seen a temperature at my house above freezing since last Wednesday, and won’t see one until Friday. Again, that’s if we’re lucky.
PauseUnmute Fullscreen VDO.AI Guess what? Texas does not do a good job of preparing for this kind of weather event. Which makes sense given that we don’t see this kind of stuff but about once a decade. However, we do see it. The last time we had a similar event was exactly a decade ago, in fact, on February 2-3, 2011.
So, while it is understandable, I suppose, that the folks at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) admit that they simply do not have contingency plans for this kind of severe winter event, I can’t help wondering why not? After all, the rolling blackouts they implemented 10 years ago during that ice event caused a public uproar that resulted in a series of hearings and rulemakings that were supposed to help ensure the grid’s resiliency was fortified to withstand exactly this sort of weather.
Yet, here we are again, and no one at ERCOT or the state’s main infrastructure provider – ONCOR – appears capable of providing a coherent answer why. Frankly, I’m beginning to wonder if we shouldn’t just force ERCOT to take the “R” – for Reliability – out of its name to make it more properly descriptive of what it is the agency actually does. Or rename it “ERSCOT”, with the S standing for “semi-“.
Texans have in recent years made a sport out of making fun of California for its having faded into near-3rd world status where its power grid is concerned. Trust me, that’s a tone of fun. Rolling blackouts and brownouts have become a way of life for Californians as the Democrat policymakers there force their grid to rely far too much on intermittent energy sources like wind and solar at the expense of reliable baseload generation, which must be provided by fossil fuels like natural gas and coal, or by nuclear plants.
Unfortunately, and with little public fanfare, the Republican-led Texas government has also allowed wind power to take a steadily-growing role in the state’s power generation mix over the past decade. Last year, in fact, wind surpassed coal in terms of the percentage of electricity provided to the ERCOT-managed grid, delivering 23% of the total mix, coming in second only to natural gas power plants.
That’s all great so long as you’re willing to pay the price, much of which becomes hidden from ratepayers by ERCOT and the state’s electricity providers, so everybody can pretend to be happy about “going green.” It’s also not so great when well over half the turbines in the state freeze up in near-zero temperatures and 3-12 inches of snowfall.
In the wake of the 2011 event, which was caused mainly by coal-fired plants tripping offline as they froze up and ERCOT’s rolling blackouts including several very large natural gas compressor stations, which caused several natural gas power plants to also go offline, reforms were mandated to prevent ERCOT from denying electricity to those compressor stations. We do not yet know if those reforms worked or not, but several of the state’s natural gas pipeline companies have been experiencing deliverability issues over the last couple of days, so ERCOT’s silence on the matter does make you wonder.
Texas policymakers simply must act in the wake of this event to ensure that the state’s power grid is resilient enough to withstand this kind of severe winter weather event. It is an incredibly dangerous situation when more than 3 million Texans are without power as temperatures remain below freezing for a full week. Texas might look like Alaska and South Dakota right now, but Texans are simply not prepared to deal with this kind of weather for even a couple of days, much less for a week or more.
Californians have been conditioned by their Democrat policymakers to accept this sort of rolling blackout situation as their “new normal” so they can all virtue signal about how “green” they all are. Texans, on the other hand, would rather be warm and safe in their homes than waste time virtue signaling about the environment. Again, trust me on this: Ain’t nobody in Texas ready to happily accept this crap as a “new normal” in their lives.
The state’s policymakers had better take advantage of this disastrous situation to act to really improve the resiliency of the state’s power grid, or there will be hell to pay in next year’s elections.
This situation is simply not acceptable, even if it only happens once a decade. Enough is enough.
I’ll post more when I can.
That is all.
We are fortunate that our power has not even blinked, once, during this statewide storm.
We have a generator, but it hasn’t had to kick in....yet.
We’re expecting more freezing rain, tonight, so hoping all keeps holding on.
Hope y’all do okay, up there.
It is a once (or twice) a century deep freeze. I am not sure that the power being out for a few days during a freak event is particularly indicative of anything. Whining about it does not seem very Texan.
Homicidal party strikes again.
You are very lucky to have natural gas where you live. Generators are very easy to convert to Natural Gas or propane and they last longer using those fuels. They also cost about a third as much to run. Ours primary generator is approximately 30 years and still going strong. I check the oil level once a day, but other than that we have had it running 24/7 for up to two weeks at a time.
It came from Costco and has and a Briggs IC engine which meant it is suppose to be “industrial” quality and is more rebuildable. I never expected it to go so long without any major engine work. The only thing I have had to do is repair the rope starting mechanism a few times over the years.
Texas was founded without electricity and, most insanely, without air conditioning. Imagine trying that today. You’d need spatulas to peel the Californians in Austin off of the ground.
Yeah. I'll admit it fooled me.
Say what you will, but Texans are still objectively better than you, and our worst politician is at least as bad as yours.
And what state are you from?
Sorry, wrong person.
And what state do you call home?
This too shall pass. Right now, there is adventure around every corner.
We had this in the cable business. We called them suck outs.
I seriously doubt that. Those connections are for lethal voltages that could start fires if come loose. Not just a cable signal voltage.
BTW, the compression RG6 connections I placed to a satellite dish never came loose. Although I no longer use the dish, the connectors are still tight having gone through many cld winters (below zero temps). I've seen installations where the techs didn't bother to swage the connectors or used twist ons. Some of those come loose by looking at them the wrong way.
Great rant! Same for Michigan and our power plants. Some dufus types in the neighboring county want to put in a field of solar panels.
Stupid: 1) Snow 2) Michigan has one of the cloudiest regions in the planet.
“By the way, HEB is closed. Now that I have never seen”
What about Waffle House? I’ve heard that you can tell that a disaster is really, really bad if Waffle House closes.
Power Goes Out As Former Energy Secretary Rick Perry Starts to Discuss Need for Energy Diversity
Earlier article on Vistra.
I am in Missouri ... do NOT be blowing hot air when you have NO supply. Harry Truman a Democrat president looks saintly compared to the Texan devil LBJ ... AND 17 states North of the windmill/solar Texans are rotating 'black outs' to send electricity your way... They should have NEVER allowed 'Dallas', and JR Ewing to float our airwaves. I personally, have been well acquainted with the Texas hot air since the early 70's.
yup, and it's the AMPS that count... add up the loads of what you need most and make sure the the generator and can supply them mine makes 20amps and runs on diesel so i can tap my fueloil tank if i have too
I am in Missouri, the 'show me' state ... presently the boob tube has a scrolling 'warning' of 30 to 90 minute electrical shut down ... so that 'energy' can be shared... now WHO needs electricity due to NON-functioning ICED windmills????
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