Posted on 02/02/2011 5:54:36 AM PST by BuckeyeTexan
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has ordered utilities to begin rotating outages to compensate for a generation shortage due high usage in extreme weather. Rotating outages are controlled, temporary interruptions of service designed to ease the load on the electric grid. To see recent reports on the grid load, click here.
The outages last anywhere from 10-45 minutes and the locations and durations are determined by the local utilities.
Critical need customers such as hospitals and nursing homes are generally not included It is not known at this time how long the need for rotating outages will last.
Consumers and businesses are urged to reduce their electricity use to the lowest level possible, including these steps:
I posted this on the Texas board but thought I’d share here too. Did a quick search about the rolling blackouts. Folks, we are surrounded by idiots. I saw several tweets asking why they chose today to try to save energy when it’s so cold out. Seriously?
You know if the nuclear power plant hadn’t been stealing left and right back in the 80’s and we had some honest people; we might have had the plants. It was the biggest scam ever down there than.
Seriously? We are famous for blondes in Texas, lol. Checking in to see how other FReepers are doing. I’ve had three rolling blackouts near Waco since 6:30 this morning. Not too bad, they only keep it off for 15 minutes. The bad news is the pipes on one side of my house are frozen and I took all reasonable precautions. Sigh.....On the bright side I do still have water in the kitchen and spare bath.
Re: building windmills like crazy
... and they should have built nuclear, coal and natural gas plants instead ...
See http://windpowerfacts.info/
There is a cost and reliability reason why Spain and other countries are dialing-back their enviro dreams.
Yup, that was a cold snap we had back then. Actually, it was not in 85, but rather a few years later. 85 was when we got snowed in during a visit to Corpus Christi.
I talked to the wife at home about 30 minutes ago. She said our power flickers off for a few seconds and comes back on again. We are on a dual feed line, so when one part switches off, the automatic switch senses the outage and turns on the other line.
Power at most of our work is off, but we still have power at our building. We are on another feed than most of our campus.
Down 3 times already in Pearland since early this a.m. - total of about 2 hours. Office at home so is real problem. Laptop and cell phone going on the charger the minute the lights come on.
Sadly, I am serious. Here’s one that was just tweeted.
“Rolling blackouts in Texas....take away my heat and I’m gonna be P.O.ed! You can’t do that on the coldest day ever!”
The per megawatt price on the spot market has jumped from $50 to $2000, due to all the cold weather. Just a heads up so no one has a heart attack when they see the electric bill covering this time frame.
Everytime I check this thread to see the same, the power seems to go off.
I am burning rubbing alcohol in a gel fuel fireplace, and have my gas oven (big no no, yeah, )on to try to keep it above 53 degrees in my house. I am losing that battle. The downside of pier and beam from the late 40's, I guess.
I've closed off some rooms, but may need to close off more.
“Reminds me of the tale of the King traveling through “his” lands and stopping at a hovel to warm himself..”
That would be from the movie BECKET. King Henry is wet from a storm. He stops at a hovel demanding fire and warmth.
Becket: You will find no fire here sire.
Henry: And why is that?
Becket: Each hovel is allowed two measures of wood a year. One stick more and they are hanged.
Henry: My edict?
Becket: Your edict sire.
Thanks for the reference.
***A couple of power plants went off line earlier. That is why the grid is overloaded.****
Coal plants? When I worked at a coal fired plant we dreaded winter storms. The rain-ice-snow freezes the coal into chunks which clogged the feeders causing a loss of the units.
We spent many a night years ago fighting to keep the unit on line, when the President of Electrical Production called the control room and told us HE was watching us on remote monitoring equipment. Talk about pressure!
These units need coal curshers before the coal goes through the feeders, but there is no guarantee this will help.
a coal plant near here has crushers and has no problems in winter except when the cooling towers start freezing up.
We, for example, have an electric heat-pump. It's not made for really cold weather. (below 30 degrees) It's more for the high temps of summer.
We’ve only had one 30-minute outage here Northeast of Fort Worth.
Also, if the power goes off for our neighborhood well, the pipes might start freezing.
You need to open all vents to keep your whole house as warm as it can be to avoid freezing pipes.
I have now had 4. I can’t wash, cook or clean and I also have an oxygen machine. I can’t continue to do this roll out thingy.
You can’t get directly in contact with any of these idiots and I doubt seriously this is protecting anyone. In fact I believe it is a pointed sabotage of Texas.
Goodness. Please be careful. See the tricks I mentioned up-thread about heated rocks and Icy Hot.
-Tex
Apparently there are 2 power grids in TX that are frozen solid; so I don’t know if this is going to continue to happen. I talked to Dan Patricks office. They were nice; but I don’t think really cared. They should prepare for these things.
Sorry you’re having such a time. If people will conserve just a bit it might not be necessary tonight or tomorrow. I shut down and unplugged a bunch of stuff, turned the heat down to 50 degrees, heated some bricks, and put on thermals just for you and bgill. :)
The chemical they sprayed on the highways up here doesn’t work below 8 degrees. So they’re having to go back over the roads with sand and salt, especially the bridges. The highways are in pretty good shape but the side roads are still frozen over with three inches of ice.
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