It's cold in Texas.... but that shouldn't mean we have to give up electricity or running water

. I have seen some of the photos of icicles on ceiling fans and toilet bowls. Texas needs to implement real changes to avoid a repeat performance. Based on a previous post, Texans in El Paso dodged a bullet by proactively contracting with the western grid.
 

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In Texas, you have to choose your utilities providers because the theory goes, it you have competition, prices will drop. But because they have to try to undercut their competitors, they have to cut corners to keep operating costs down -- thus, they didn't upgrade their facilities to be able to handle cold weather, even though it was inevitable that there would be failures.

And competition hasn't resulted in lower prices. Texas ranks 8th in the nation for cents per kW-h, beat out by states on multi-state grids.
https://www.electricrate.com/electricity-rates-by-state/
 

Chet said:
Just one of the benefits of going GREEN. :sick:
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Based on what I've read most of the disruptions were because

1. Utilities do not store enough natural gas because it costs more to do that
2. The feed from the natural gas (not green energy) froze preventing it from getting to the power generation facilities.

The article I read also said that some of the green wind powered energy did continue to work and provided energy to some people.
 
Bonnie said:
We get cold temperatures and know about sleet and icy conditions. But no one alive was around for the last time this happened .... 1899

https://www.khou.com/article/syndic...-ice/285-a0dee94d-96fb-4dfa-908c-c2f4626649c1
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No need to go that far back. How about 2011? I think a lot of Texans experiencing this misery were alive in 2011.

"In 2011, Texas faced a very similar storm that froze natural gas wells and affected coal plants and wind turbines, leading to power outages across the state. A decade later, Texas power generators have still not made all the investments necessary to prevent plants from tripping offline during extreme cold, experts said."

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/17/texas-power-grid-failures/

Texas was warned a decade ago.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...a-decade-ago-its-grid-was-unprepared-for-cold
 
Oh, they will be doing plenty of finger pointing and name calling for a long time after this is all over...
They even shamed Ted Cruz into coming back from his Cancun vacation yesterday ....:ROFLMAO:

I'm doing my part ... I'll just sit and continue to make heavy-duty afghans for everyone I know ... lol. I'm working on one right now.
 
CarolfromTX said:
Let’s get real. This is a once in a lifetime event. it would be unrealistically expensive to prepare for all possible contingencies. Texas is not Alaska.
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I heard on the radio this morning that a similar event in Texas occurred about 10 years ago and an enquiry made recommendations after that for dealing with the same thing in the future. The future has arrived but the recommendations were not followed. I also heard that electricity from renewables in Texas is about 20%. Some coal (gas?) generators also failed and there were problems with a nuclear powered plant.

The point was made that Texas is an energy island, not connected to any other national grids.

I may have some of the details wrong but the point being made was that lack of foresight and planning for an event like this is a big part of the problem.

Edit - reading all of the posts I realise now that my response was premature but the news had reached Australia where we also have problems caused by strong winds and bush fires. Damage to the grid can be a very serious matter.
 
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Wind generation accounted for nearly 23% of power generation for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas
HOWS THAT WORKING OUT? FROZEN TURBINES..
The worst part over and above that, is who is held accountable for all of this? What changes will actually come of this disaster?
No one, that's who. Nothing, that's what. Lawsuits? Against whom, from whom? Regulatory bodies, nope they don't have any teeth anymore and ignore flagrant problems. Individuals? Hahahahaha.
Class-action? Sure! It'll take 5 years of BS proceedings, there will be a multi-billion dollar settlement with no guilt admitted by the offending party, and you'll get a random $3.14 check in the mail as you are considered "an injured party in this lawsuit.", that you knew nothing about.

Reminds me a lot as to what happened with Target. Remember that fiasco? :(
 
I read in the NYTimes or WPost today that 1/3 of the lost energy was a result of losing wind generated power and 2/3 was from coal and natural gas electricity generation plants that weren't able to operate.

The article also pointed out that there are windmills in New York that continue to operate throughout the winter there which tends to be much worse than the conditions they're having in TX right now. It's just that they didn't pay to have the systems needed to operate them in cold weather installed because it generally isn't needed there. So if one pays more for their windmills they are able to operate in colder weather.
 
squatting dog said:
Wind generation accounted for nearly 23% of power generation for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas
HOWS THAT WORKING OUT? FROZEN TURBINES..
The worst part over and above that, is who is held accountable for all of this? What changes will actually come of this disaster?
No one, that's who. Nothing, that's what. Lawsuits? Against whom, from whom? Regulatory bodies, nope they don't have any teeth anymore and ignore flagrant problems. Individuals? Hahahahaha.
Class-action? Sure! It'll take 5 years of BS proceedings, there will be a multi-billion dollar settlement with no guilt admitted by the offending party, and you'll get a random $3.14 check in the mail as you are considered "an injured party in this lawsuit.", that you knew nothing about.

Reminds me a lot as to what happened with Target. Remember that fiasco? :(
Click to expand...

As I pointed out in the post I made about the same time you posted yours if the windmill owners and operators had paid for systems so the windmills could have operated in cold weather they could have continued generating power.
 
squatting dog said:
Wind generation accounted for nearly 23% of power generation for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas
HOWS THAT WORKING OUT? FROZEN TURBINES..
The worst part over and above that, is who is held accountable for all of this? What changes will actually come of this disaster?
No one, that's who. Nothing, that's what. Lawsuits? Against whom, from whom? Regulatory bodies, nope they don't have any teeth anymore and ignore flagrant problems. Individuals? Hahahahaha.
Class-action? Sure! It'll take 5 years of BS proceedings, there will be a multi-billion dollar settlement with no guilt admitted by the offending party, and you'll get a random $3.14 check in the mail as you are considered "an injured party in this lawsuit.", that you knew nothing about.

Reminds me a lot as to what happened with Target. Remember that fiasco? :(
Click to expand...
While it's true that wind power generates some 25% of the state's power, turbine failure accounted for less than 13% of the outages, and that's because they weren't equipped with heaters like are standard in turbines used where the winters are more harsh.
https://www.statesman.com/story/new...ural-gas-renewable-green-new-deal/6780546002/
 
Chet said:
Just one of the benefits of going GREEN. :sick:
Click to expand...

I just read a NYTimes article https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/02/19/climate/texas-storm-power-generation-charts.html about the power generation up to and after the energy crisis and the most interesting thing to me was that the generation of solar power increased to double, triple or possibly quadruple the level it had been before the storm started.

So Texas officials and Texans should be thankful for green power because solar was the only type of power to achieve a level of power generation equal to or greater than normal power generation.
 
Another interesting bit of info from the NYTimes article.

"High gas prices further disrupted generation, as operators who could not turn a profit took their plants offline."

So rather than taking a loss on power generation some operators chose to take their plants offline and put people's lives at risk.
 
Everybody is blaming everybody for the lack of cold weather engineering in Texas. One pol said it was that solar power failed to deliver, and that's why everything went wrong. Sounds good. That excuse might have been OK at 3PM,, but it doesn't hold water a 11PM. There is just so much about this failure that smells. It definitely was playing with people's lives in some sordid game.
 
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A lot of BS here. the reason for the disaster is ERCOT refused to upgrade to meet such weather conditions so get off the green vs. coal debate. Come election time pigs will fly.
 

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