Blackouts in Texas as Big Freeze Upends Energy Markets

[Ban Hammer 13,487]

31 minutes ago, Bug&Bug said:

Do I really need to explain this?

 

On the engineering side: you might have noticed the network was not winter proof, and did not have enough capacity, redundancy or integrity. It needs serious end-to-end infrastructure improvements to be able to cope with weather events that are becoming more and more common due to climate change.

 

On the market side: well I have this crazy view that a system where the MWh can go up to 9000 and sold on that price to customers that are having outages is rubbish. 

 

I dont know, it might be me been crazy but what happened last week doesnt scream good electrical network to me.

obviously you do, as you indicate you have so many answers.
on the engineering side - that's maintenance (as an IT guy, calling a group of wind turbines a network makes me wince) , not engineering.  additionally,  part of why this became an issue is when was the last time texas had temperatures like this?
hint - a long time ago....
how much extra capacity (%) does texas have and how does that compare to other states?  i ask this as you indicated they don't have enough capacity, so by your claiming they don't then they must be lower than other states.

don't these wind turbines require somewhere around 80 gallons of oil?  that's a lot of oil to change seasonally for a once every 20-30 year freeze doesn't seem very cost effective.
regarding electrical network - i suspect there will be more base load electrical plants built in the near future.......

[Crtcl Rice Theory 2,432]

38 minutes ago, Ban Hammer said:

obviously you do, as you indicate you have so many answers.
on the engineering side - that's maintenance (as an IT guy, calling a group of wind turbines a network makes me wince) , not engineering.  additionally,  part of why this became an issue is when was the last time texas had temperatures like this?
hint - a long time ago....
how much extra capacity (%) does texas have and how does that compare to other states?  i ask this as you indicated they don't have enough capacity, so by your claiming they don't then they must be lower than other states.

don't these wind turbines require somewhere around 80 gallons of oil?  that's a lot of oil to change seasonally for a once every 20-30 year freeze doesn't seem very cost effective.
regarding electrical network - i suspect there will be more base load electrical plants built in the near future.......

I would hope all of the components that generate energy form a network...and I hope they communicate via an IT network. No one needs a dumbgrid. 

[Ban Hammer 13,487]

57 minutes ago, CanAm1980 said:

 No one needs a dumbgrid. 

have you been to washington dc lately?

[Bug&Bug 147]

8 hours ago, Ban Hammer said:

obviously you do, as you indicate you have so many answers.
on the engineering side - that's maintenance (as an IT guy, calling a group of wind turbines a network makes me wince) , not engineering.  additionally,  part of why this became an issue is when was the last time texas had temperatures like this?
hint - a long time ago....
how much extra capacity (%) does texas have and how does that compare to other states?  i ask this as you indicated they don't have enough capacity, so by your claiming they don't then they must be lower than other states.

don't these wind turbines require somewhere around 80 gallons of oil?  that's a lot of oil to change seasonally for a once every 20-30 year freeze doesn't seem very cost effective.
regarding electrical network - i suspect there will be more base load electrical plants built in the near future.......

Group of wind turbines? What are you talking about? Do you know what a power network is? 

 

Anyways you are right that this was an unusual event. I dont know how unusual it was considered in the design risk profile, I would be interested to know. If its every 20-30y they most absolutely blew it. If its a 1/10000y event then its understandable. They are going to need to update it though because severe weather events are getting more frequent. And its not only a maintenance thing, its an engineering thing from design to maintenance to operation.

 

What others states do is irrelevant. The Texas network needs to be designed to the Texas conditions. It needs more emergency capacity and more integrity than other states since its more independent, but it will need less of other things. It obviously had not enough spare capacity and integrity for the event last week, wich goes back to what was the risk profile of this event.

 

And yet, the whole cost thing is insane. People getting bankrupted when struggling to keep their pipes from bursting is just plain horrid. You maybe could treat the whole thing as an unfortunate freak event beyond any reasonable design conditions,  but the pricing thing pushes it into absolute horrid territory.

 

(Again, I dont know why you keep talking about the wind turbines when this applies to all of the generation and distribution infrastructure of Texas.)

[B_J 2,752]

18 hours ago, spookyturtle said:

Now it’s time to start working on it so it doesn’t happen again. Live and learn. 

That's crazy talk.  Its not important to fix the problem, we just need to know who to blame.

 

I blame Antifa.

[Chauncey 138]

Yeah I had no power for two days. It was an awful experience

[Prizm123 1,086]

15 hours ago, Bug&Bug said:

What others states do is irrelevant. The Texas network needs to be designed to the Texas conditions. It needs more emergency capacity and more integrity than other states since its more independent, but it will need less of other things.

 

(Again, I dont know why you keep talking about the wind turbines when this applies to all of the generation and distribution infrastructure of Texas.)

the grid isnt as stable during non catastrophic weather as some would have you think. this city gets regular power outages during thunderstorms. the infrastructure seems to be slapped together with duct tape and "thoughts and prayers"

the last outage i had during a storm last year lasted about 4 hours. the time before that 8. not sure why it does this seemingly every time there is a storm, but its annoying. hopefully i wont have the same issues with the new place we just moved into.

[TBoneTX 45,918]

Innovative ideas that perhaps all of us will eventually need, almost anywhere we live.

Quote

How To Survive For Three Days With No Water Or Power On $200

by Mike Papa - February 23, 2021

 

[...] Every storm, and the periods afterward, have taught me something new to apply to my preparations for the next one.  I've found that simple is better, something is going to happen that you did not plan for, and you or your friend group must solve your problems instead of waiting for someone else to do it for you.  [...]

 

Continues here:   https://thefederalist.com/2021/02/23/how-to-survive-for-three-days-with-no-water-or-power-on-200/  

 

Edited February 24, 2021 by TBoneTX