vessie
Has No Life - Lives on TB
In Crookston, Mn. the booze of choice amongst the Norwegians was Aquavit.
That stuff is strong enough to make your socks roll up and down and for the women to grow sideburns. Lol! V
BRKG Rolling power outages underway in TX...
- Thread starter auxman
- Start date
- Status
That stuff is strong enough to make your socks roll up and down and for the women to grow sideburns. Lol! V
vessie
Has No Life - Lives on TB
My sister who lives in Saginballz (Saginaw) Tx. said that when the water is back on, she's going to wait a bit till after all the neighbors flush their lines, because of the boil order, there was some nasty crap in the water lines, so most people won't know to flush their lines out first.
She will wait a day or two. V
She will wait a day or two. V
Countrymouse
Country exile in the city
That's part of it---what I saw wasn't a You Tube video (this is a compilation) but a series of Twitter clips (iow, it was a Twitter page where the person had put up one video after another of horrific leaks and cave-ins). Some of the ones in the You Tube compilation were from those tweets, but I also remember one where it looked like just WAVES of water coming out the double sliding doors on the 3rd or 4th floor of a high-rise white apartment building.
I'm sure it was posted either on this thread or another one about the whole mess but just can't find it now.
Thanks for this, Sid!
thompson
Certa Bonum Certamen
A local church here in Bryan/College Station had major damage. Below is a link to the article and below that is a Facespy video of the damage.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/2FUCBYYEENF53DQA3UOZHHVX4A.BMP)
Bryan church damaged after winter storm
North Bryan New Birth Baptist Church cleans up after winter storms damaged the church.
www.kbtx.com
2:40 run time
View: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=430491301560282
mzkitty
I give up.
mzkitty
I give up.
This is crazy. Look at all those wires.
Full article:
www.nytimes.com
Full article:
His Lights Stayed on During Texas’ Storm. Now He Owes $16,752. (Published 2021)
After a public outcry from people like Scott Willoughby, whose exorbitant electric bill is soon due, Gov. Greg Abbott said lawmakers should ensure Texans “do not get stuck with skyrocketing energy bills” caused by the storm.
today at wally world just east of Dallas
locusts?
zombie apocalipse?
no pause between snowpocaplise and another cold front
no milk in sight and no eggs
what is about milk, bread and eggs
omletts shield from zombies?
french toast going out of style?
</sarc> for the humorless
photo if they will attach rats too large ok got one pic
locusts?
zombie apocalipse?
no pause between snowpocaplise and another cold front
no milk in sight and no eggs
what is about milk, bread and eggs
omletts shield from zombies?
french toast going out of style?
</sarc> for the humorless
photo if they will attach rats too large ok got one pic
Last edited:
Actually, they probably lost power. When that happened, they had to toss all their refrigerated and frozen food. A truck will bring more in a day or two.
night driver
ESFP adrift in INTJ sea
or 3 or 4...
Texican
Live Free & Die Free.... God Freedom Country....
Texas
Customers Tracked: 12,529,748
State Outages: 19,461
Last Updated: 2/21/2021, 8:09:47 PM
Those without power continue to decrease.
Was warmer today and the water in the rabbit/goat barn is working again.
No more water leaks at our home.
Feels more like normal winter weather.
May God help all of those that are suffering from this storm.
Texican....
Customers Tracked: 12,529,748
State Outages: 19,461
Last Updated: 2/21/2021, 8:09:47 PM
Those without power continue to decrease.
Was warmer today and the water in the rabbit/goat barn is working again.
No more water leaks at our home.
Feels more like normal winter weather.
May God help all of those that are suffering from this storm.
Texican....
Seeker22
Has No Life - Lives on TB
DH said when he drove to town, there were many electric poles broken off. He got video. It got cold enough in South Texas to do to those poles what sometimes happens in big timber in deep Winter- they freeze and shatter. Electric Co. Was out setting new poles, but left the old ones standing next to the new. I can only try to imagine how it is North of us.
Texican
Live Free & Die Free.... God Freedom Country....
Texas
County Name: Lipscomb
County Tracked: 4,164
County Out: 0
Customers Tracked: 12,497,410
State Outages: 5,243
Last Updated: 2/24/2021, 6:05:49 PM
As of 6 pm on 2/24/21, there are still over 5,000 customers out of power.
Sad.
Texican....
County Name: Lipscomb
County Tracked: 4,164
County Out: 0
Customers Tracked: 12,497,410
State Outages: 5,243
Last Updated: 2/24/2021, 6:05:49 PM
As of 6 pm on 2/24/21, there are still over 5,000 customers out of power.
Sad.
Texican....
DryCreek
Veteran Member
OK, so like I have been tryin' to "mansplain" to y'all, here is the lowdown on all of the MSM fearmongering:
Microsoft Word - Winter Storm Price Explainer-FINFIN.docx (texas.gov)
This pretty much sums up what I've been trying to convey.
The only entities buying power at spot pricing are retail electrical providers that didn't project power usage well enough - and hadn't protected their positions with any hedging. The other group would be power generating companies that lost production capacity and had to purchase replacement power.
Almost all Texans have electric service at a contracted-fixed price. Those that chose (poorly) to use an adjustable rate provider, well, they rolled the dice and lost.
Electricity Prices during the 2021 Winter Storm
Effect of high wholesale prices on residential customers
Because most residential electricity customers are on fixed-price contracts with their power providers, they are not exposed to changes in their rates due to scarcity-driven changes in the wholesale price of electricity.
Residential electricity prices in Texas are set in one of three ways:
1) Outside the ERCOT region, regulated utilities charge fixed rates that are approved by the Public Utility Commission;
2) Municipally-owned utility and electric cooperative rates are also fixed and are approved by their respective city councils or governing boards;
3) In areas with retail competition, customers have a contract with a retail electric provider that they have chosen.
There is not a mechanism where a retail electric provider can go back and change the price agreed to in the contract.
What are Retail Electric Providers? Retail electric providers operate in the parts of Texas that are deregulated and open to customer choice. These providers buy power on the wholesale market and sell it to customers. Customers can choose from many retail electric providers, and each provider might have multiple plans to suit different customer preferences. Retail Electric Providers purchase power in a number of different ways. They may have longterm contracts with power generators. They may also buy power in the real time market that works like a stock or commodities exchange with sellers and buyers of electricity agreeing on a price. Retail electric providers use sophisticated financial hedging to manage the risk of changes in the wholesale power market. Wholesale Market Prices and the Offer Price Cap The wholesale price of electricity is set in a market where sellers of electricity (power generators) and buyers of electricity (retail electric companies) agree to a price based on supply and demand. Wholesale electricity can be bought in long term contracts between buyers and sellers. If a power generator cannot generate enough of its own electricity to fulfill the contract, that power generator will have to buy power in the real-time market to make up the difference. The real-time market is another way that electricity is bought and sold. There is an offer cap placed on the wholesale market price. The maximum wholesale market price for electricity is reserved for extreme scarcity conditions to encourage any and all generation able to come online. These peak prices are paid by wholesale buyers that have failed to purchase power in advance to hedge risk exposure for their customers. They are also paid by generators who do not generate power that they have committed to provide. This acts as a penalty for generators who fail to show up when needed.
PUC Winter Weather Pricing Order on February 15, 2021 In an emergency open meeting on Monday, February 15, the Commission convened to correct a problem in the midst of unprecedented strain on the ERCOT grid. ERCOT informed the Commission that a computer glitch was preventing that maximum price from being applied. Because this penalty was not being applied, the power dispatch system was actually taking megawatts off of the grid. The Commission ordered ERCOT to correct that problem manually. The individual residential consumer is not exposed to wholesale market prices, unless they are among the very few seen recently in the news with extremely high electricity bills having chosen a contract that is indexed to those prices. PUC Taking Actions to Protect Texas Electricity Customers In an emergency open meeting on February 21, 2021, the Commission issued a series of orders intended to protect Texas electricity customers while the PUC works with the Governor, the Legislature and ERCOT on solutions for the financial aftershocks of the winter storm grid event. In the meeting deliberations, the Commission strongly urged retail electric providers to delay invoicing for residential and small commercial electricity customers, including invoices with estimated meter reads.
In their order, the Commissioners ordered:
• An immediate suspension of disconnections for non-payment until further notice, including ordering utilities not to process disconnections.
• Continuation of the COVID-19 measure under which REPs are required to offer deferred payment plans to customers when requested.
[NOTE: The orders are applicable to customers of investor owned-utilities (IOUs) across the state that fall under the PUC’s jurisdiction (namely Oncor, AEP, CenterPoint and TNMP). They do not apply to municipally-owned utilities or electric cooperatives that reside outside the PUC’s jurisdiction in this area, but they don’t preclude them from taking similar steps.)
Microsoft Word - Winter Storm Price Explainer-FINFIN.docx (texas.gov)
This pretty much sums up what I've been trying to convey.
The only entities buying power at spot pricing are retail electrical providers that didn't project power usage well enough - and hadn't protected their positions with any hedging. The other group would be power generating companies that lost production capacity and had to purchase replacement power.
Almost all Texans have electric service at a contracted-fixed price. Those that chose (poorly) to use an adjustable rate provider, well, they rolled the dice and lost.
Electricity Prices during the 2021 Winter Storm
Effect of high wholesale prices on residential customers
Because most residential electricity customers are on fixed-price contracts with their power providers, they are not exposed to changes in their rates due to scarcity-driven changes in the wholesale price of electricity.
Residential electricity prices in Texas are set in one of three ways:
1) Outside the ERCOT region, regulated utilities charge fixed rates that are approved by the Public Utility Commission;
2) Municipally-owned utility and electric cooperative rates are also fixed and are approved by their respective city councils or governing boards;
3) In areas with retail competition, customers have a contract with a retail electric provider that they have chosen.
There is not a mechanism where a retail electric provider can go back and change the price agreed to in the contract.
What are Retail Electric Providers? Retail electric providers operate in the parts of Texas that are deregulated and open to customer choice. These providers buy power on the wholesale market and sell it to customers. Customers can choose from many retail electric providers, and each provider might have multiple plans to suit different customer preferences. Retail Electric Providers purchase power in a number of different ways. They may have longterm contracts with power generators. They may also buy power in the real time market that works like a stock or commodities exchange with sellers and buyers of electricity agreeing on a price. Retail electric providers use sophisticated financial hedging to manage the risk of changes in the wholesale power market. Wholesale Market Prices and the Offer Price Cap The wholesale price of electricity is set in a market where sellers of electricity (power generators) and buyers of electricity (retail electric companies) agree to a price based on supply and demand. Wholesale electricity can be bought in long term contracts between buyers and sellers. If a power generator cannot generate enough of its own electricity to fulfill the contract, that power generator will have to buy power in the real-time market to make up the difference. The real-time market is another way that electricity is bought and sold. There is an offer cap placed on the wholesale market price. The maximum wholesale market price for electricity is reserved for extreme scarcity conditions to encourage any and all generation able to come online. These peak prices are paid by wholesale buyers that have failed to purchase power in advance to hedge risk exposure for their customers. They are also paid by generators who do not generate power that they have committed to provide. This acts as a penalty for generators who fail to show up when needed.
PUC Winter Weather Pricing Order on February 15, 2021 In an emergency open meeting on Monday, February 15, the Commission convened to correct a problem in the midst of unprecedented strain on the ERCOT grid. ERCOT informed the Commission that a computer glitch was preventing that maximum price from being applied. Because this penalty was not being applied, the power dispatch system was actually taking megawatts off of the grid. The Commission ordered ERCOT to correct that problem manually. The individual residential consumer is not exposed to wholesale market prices, unless they are among the very few seen recently in the news with extremely high electricity bills having chosen a contract that is indexed to those prices. PUC Taking Actions to Protect Texas Electricity Customers In an emergency open meeting on February 21, 2021, the Commission issued a series of orders intended to protect Texas electricity customers while the PUC works with the Governor, the Legislature and ERCOT on solutions for the financial aftershocks of the winter storm grid event. In the meeting deliberations, the Commission strongly urged retail electric providers to delay invoicing for residential and small commercial electricity customers, including invoices with estimated meter reads.
In their order, the Commissioners ordered:
• An immediate suspension of disconnections for non-payment until further notice, including ordering utilities not to process disconnections.
• Continuation of the COVID-19 measure under which REPs are required to offer deferred payment plans to customers when requested.
[NOTE: The orders are applicable to customers of investor owned-utilities (IOUs) across the state that fall under the PUC’s jurisdiction (namely Oncor, AEP, CenterPoint and TNMP). They do not apply to municipally-owned utilities or electric cooperatives that reside outside the PUC’s jurisdiction in this area, but they don’t preclude them from taking similar steps.)
Texican
Live Free & Die Free.... God Freedom Country....
Texas
Customers Tracked: 12,493,640
State Outages: 8,974
Last Updated: 2/24/2021, 9:48:27 PM
Texas
Customers Tracked: 12,497,410
State Outages: 5,243
Last Updated: 2/24/2021, 6:05:49 PM
In three hours and forty minutes, the number of customers out of power rose by 3,731 to 8,974.
The power outages in Texas are not over.
How long will it take to return power to all customers?
Texican....
Customers Tracked: 12,493,640
State Outages: 8,974
Last Updated: 2/24/2021, 9:48:27 PM
Texas
Customers Tracked: 12,497,410
State Outages: 5,243
Last Updated: 2/24/2021, 6:05:49 PM
In three hours and forty minutes, the number of customers out of power rose by 3,731 to 8,974.
The power outages in Texas are not over.
How long will it take to return power to all customers?
Texican....
There's probably a number that is standard for running outages.
Not that many, but some.
Bulk fuel company that services drilling rigs and trucking terminals said they are buying everything they can find and stockpiling for customers. Wanted to rent frac tanks from us for storage. They buying up what they can in west texas.
DryCreek
Veteran Member
So, now the dominoes start to tip and fall.
Today, Brazos Electric Co-Op filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Apparently they were hit with a $1.8 Billion dollar charge for bulk power. I wonder if they lost generation and were forced to buy on the spot market.
As an aside, they are the supplier to my REP - United Electric Co-operative Services.
Now, this will all roll downhill. If most of the QSE's or REP's claim bankruptcy, who pays the generators?
March 1, 2021
BURLESON—United Cooperative Services’ (United) wholesale power supplier, Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. (Brazos), today filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Brazos took this action to protect its 16 member cooperatives and their retail members from unaffordable electric bills as a result of astronomical wholesale electric market costs that occurred during the cold weather event Feb. 13-19.
Chapter 11 is a protective measure that will allow Brazos to maintain the stability and integrity of its entire electric cooperative system and allow the cooperative to continue to provide reliable power and transmission service to its member cooperatives—as it did prior to filing—while going through the bankruptcy process.
In a statement issued by Brazos, the organization “took this action because it determined that it cannot and will not foist this catastrophic financial event on its member cooperatives and their members.”
“Brazos Electric has been a strong, reliable, affordable generation and transmission cooperative for United for decades and we support their efforts to shield our members from the ERCOT market prices that hit $9,000/MWh during the February frigid weather event that required our members to endure four days of rotating outages,” said United CEO Cameron Smallwood. “While Brazos goes through the bankruptcy process, I want to assure our members that they will continue to receive reliable electric service.”
On Feb. 26, Smallwood had the opportunity to share before the Texas House of Representatives Committee on State Affairs and Energy Resources and Texas Senate Committee on Business and Commerce the cooperative members’ concerns regarding the ERCOT-mandated rotating outages.
Smallwood informed the committees that United is not a generation and transmission owner. United is a distribution cooperative that delivers electricity procured by Brazos Electric and there is concern about how much exposure Brazos and other power providers had to the high-priced wholesale power and how that will affect Texas consumers. Whereas lawmakers heard from other electricity providers during the two-day hearings that many of their customers experienced multi-day outages, Smallwood explained that United successfully executed its mandated rolling outages in 30 to 45-minute intervals.
Smallwood also alluded to the fact one of the biggest concerns that has been shared “very strongly with us, and obviously with the media,” were the well-documented instances where wholesale (electric) prices hit the ceiling and left market participants exposed——giving the appearance that price gouging was occurring at $9 per kWh when (United) charges $.084 per kWh. Smallwood relayed to the Senate Committee that members felt “the pricing was not fair and shouldn’t be passed on to the members.”
A major criticism of many Texas utilities was inadequate communications during the event. However, United was singled out and commended for leveraging a multi-pronged communications plan of social media, news media, website, email and texting.
United is a “bright spot in a very troubling and difficult couple of weeks we’ve had,” said Rep. Shelby Slawson (R-District 59). “I’m one of your members. We’ve heard a lot about the importance of communication with the public. I want to openly commend you and United Co-op for the way you handled that as a member [of the cooperative].”
United’s culture of communication is “something a lot of us could all learn from and is so important,” said Sen. Angela Paxton (R-District 8). “Teaching school, I had the opportunity to work with students on leadership…A lot of people think leadership is about having a title, but I always asked them to think of leadership as setting an example worth following and I think you’ve definitely set an example that’s worth following that we can all learn from,” she added.
Communications is “part of our DNA,” responded Smallwood. “Our understanding is that customers from other utilities were watching our social media and information because they were lacking information [from their providers],” he added.
Today, Brazos Electric Co-Op filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Apparently they were hit with a $1.8 Billion dollar charge for bulk power. I wonder if they lost generation and were forced to buy on the spot market.
As an aside, they are the supplier to my REP - United Electric Co-operative Services.
Now, this will all roll downhill. If most of the QSE's or REP's claim bankruptcy, who pays the generators?
March 1, 2021
United Issues Statement Regarding Brazos Electric Bankruptcy Filing
United Shares Member Concerns With Texas Senate and House Committees
United Shares Member Concerns With Texas Senate and House Committees
BURLESON—United Cooperative Services’ (United) wholesale power supplier, Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. (Brazos), today filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Brazos took this action to protect its 16 member cooperatives and their retail members from unaffordable electric bills as a result of astronomical wholesale electric market costs that occurred during the cold weather event Feb. 13-19.
Chapter 11 is a protective measure that will allow Brazos to maintain the stability and integrity of its entire electric cooperative system and allow the cooperative to continue to provide reliable power and transmission service to its member cooperatives—as it did prior to filing—while going through the bankruptcy process.
In a statement issued by Brazos, the organization “took this action because it determined that it cannot and will not foist this catastrophic financial event on its member cooperatives and their members.”
“Brazos Electric has been a strong, reliable, affordable generation and transmission cooperative for United for decades and we support their efforts to shield our members from the ERCOT market prices that hit $9,000/MWh during the February frigid weather event that required our members to endure four days of rotating outages,” said United CEO Cameron Smallwood. “While Brazos goes through the bankruptcy process, I want to assure our members that they will continue to receive reliable electric service.”
On Feb. 26, Smallwood had the opportunity to share before the Texas House of Representatives Committee on State Affairs and Energy Resources and Texas Senate Committee on Business and Commerce the cooperative members’ concerns regarding the ERCOT-mandated rotating outages.
Smallwood informed the committees that United is not a generation and transmission owner. United is a distribution cooperative that delivers electricity procured by Brazos Electric and there is concern about how much exposure Brazos and other power providers had to the high-priced wholesale power and how that will affect Texas consumers. Whereas lawmakers heard from other electricity providers during the two-day hearings that many of their customers experienced multi-day outages, Smallwood explained that United successfully executed its mandated rolling outages in 30 to 45-minute intervals.
Smallwood also alluded to the fact one of the biggest concerns that has been shared “very strongly with us, and obviously with the media,” were the well-documented instances where wholesale (electric) prices hit the ceiling and left market participants exposed——giving the appearance that price gouging was occurring at $9 per kWh when (United) charges $.084 per kWh. Smallwood relayed to the Senate Committee that members felt “the pricing was not fair and shouldn’t be passed on to the members.”
A major criticism of many Texas utilities was inadequate communications during the event. However, United was singled out and commended for leveraging a multi-pronged communications plan of social media, news media, website, email and texting.
United is a “bright spot in a very troubling and difficult couple of weeks we’ve had,” said Rep. Shelby Slawson (R-District 59). “I’m one of your members. We’ve heard a lot about the importance of communication with the public. I want to openly commend you and United Co-op for the way you handled that as a member [of the cooperative].”
United’s culture of communication is “something a lot of us could all learn from and is so important,” said Sen. Angela Paxton (R-District 8). “Teaching school, I had the opportunity to work with students on leadership…A lot of people think leadership is about having a title, but I always asked them to think of leadership as setting an example worth following and I think you’ve definitely set an example that’s worth following that we can all learn from,” she added.
Communications is “part of our DNA,” responded Smallwood. “Our understanding is that customers from other utilities were watching our social media and information because they were lacking information [from their providers],” he added.
The meter was read two days after temps returned to normal.
I've been checking the account every day to see what the damage was.
Note. I was not there at the time and the heater was set at 62 degrees.
Finally got the bill today. $135 which is $55 higher than normal.
Rate per KwH did not go up so the excessive fuel charges have not been applied
I SHOULD have already been billed for the period encompassing the freeze. That service period ended on 2/25. However, I have not as yet been billed. This indicates to me that the execs of the company from which I get my power are desperately trying to decide what to do. Otherwise, they'd have let the computer bill me.
Last edited:
TxGal
Day by day
Chuck DeVore: Texas' blackouts – here's the truth about why they happened and what we have to do next | Fox News
OPINION
Published 2 hours ago
Chuck DeVore: Texas' blackouts – here's the truth about why they happened and what we have to do next
There are two general reasons for Texas’ prolonged power outages
As Texas entered a deep freeze on Feb. 14, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio broke seven record lows over three days. Ice-laden trees snapped power lines. Wind turbines ground to a halt while some reliable natural gas, coal and nuclear plants failed to get energy to the grid. Electricity demand hit an all-time high – but the supply wasn’t available, plunging some four million Texans into the cold and darkness.
As massive gas-powered turbines spun down across Texas and the lights went out, an aggressive narrative spun up: the electric grid failed in Texas, not because wind and solar failed, but due to a lack of regulatory power to force the electric industry – from natural gas producers to pipeline operators to power generators, and lastly, the transmission line firms – to winterize. It was a failure of Texas’ unregulated free market. And further, this extreme weather event was a harbinger of more to come due to climate change, necessitating even more wind and solar power.
This narrative, pushed out by the renewable industry and environmentalists, found a sympathetic mouthpiece in corporate media.
The narrative is wrong.
There are three electric grids in the continental U.S with Texas having its own grid providing power to about 90% of Texans. This electrical independence allows Texans to escape a certain amount of federal meddling in its electric affairs – though it also makes Texans largely responsible for their own problems.
Addressing those problems, the Texas Legislature held marathon hearings a week after the freeze. That testimony, and an increasing flow of information from operators on the ground, has produced a more complete picture of what went wrong during a storm that plunged Texas into a deep freeze colder than most of Alaska.
There are two general reasons for Texas’ prolonged power outages, one proximate to the storm and involving a series of on-the-ground mistakes and cold-related failures, and one the result of long-term policy.
However, it was the policy failures over 20 years that allowed the storm-related failures to become persistent and deadly.
It’s important to note that had every Texas generator powered by natural gas, coal, nuclear and hydro operated at full output during the height of the storm’s demand, Texas still would have experienced planned blackouts. That Texas’ grid has become increasingly dependent on unreliable wind and solar is largely to blame for this critical shortfall.
Federal and state tax policy have encouraged the overbuilding of wind, and to a lesser extent, solar power, resulting in cheap, subsidized power flooding the Texas grid. This inexpensive but unreliable power has acted as a powerful disincentive to build needed natural gas power plants.
In the past five years, Texas saw an increase of about 20,000 megawatts of installed wind and solar capacity with a net loss of 4,000 megawatts of gas and coal-fired powerplants. This 4,000 megawatts, had it been built or not prematurely retired, would have saved lives during the 2021 St. Valentine’s Day Storm.
Because ERCOT, Texas’ grid operator, didn’t have enough reliable safety margin meant that when things started to go wrong on early Monday morning, they got worse fast.
So, did the unusually cold weather cause power plant failures?
We know that wind turbines were affected, with half of them freezing up. Over the course of 2019, Texas wind produced about 34% of its capacity – from hour-to-hour and season-to-season, sometimes more than 70%, sometimes close to zero. At one point during the storm, solar was producing no electricity while wind produced about 1% of its potential output. Since electricity must be produced the moment it is needed, that meant that natural gas power plants had to make up the shortfall.
The emerging data from thermal – gas, coal, and nuclear – power plants suggests that there were some cold-related failures. But, as ERCOT struggled to keep the lights on, the grid became unstable, tripping additional power plants offline to protect their massive generators from destructive interaction with a fluctuating line frequency.
As ERCOT issued the order to start load shedding – rotating blackouts – some of the darkened circuits included vital oil and gas infrastructure. This uncoordinated move starved natural gas power plants of their fuel – leading to a further loss of power and the widespread and incorrect rumor that wellhead and pipeline freeze off contributed to the disaster.
When these systems lost power, gas production dropped 75%. An Obama-era environmental rule that forced oilfield compressors to switch from natural gas to electric likely made things worse. Eventually, power was restored, and natural gas production ramped back up to meet electricity generation demand.
Winter isn’t over, but Texas – and California and other Western states – are at increased risk of blackouts this summer. This is due to policy that favors unreliables – wind and solar – over reliable electricity from gas, coal and nuclear.
In Texas, it’s an overbuilding of wind. In California, an overbuilding of mandated solar. In both states, this has caused the grid to become increasingly at risk of blackouts at times when nature doesn’t cooperate.
As America builds more wind and solar – with a renewed push from the Biden administration –the costs to prevent blackouts will mount in the form of massive battery farms to store power or increasingly large numbers of backup gas power plants. Instead, we should end subsidies for all energy sources while making wind and solar pay for the reliability costs they impose on the grid.
OPINION
Published 2 hours ago
Chuck DeVore: Texas' blackouts – here's the truth about why they happened and what we have to do next
There are two general reasons for Texas’ prolonged power outages
As Texas entered a deep freeze on Feb. 14, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio broke seven record lows over three days. Ice-laden trees snapped power lines. Wind turbines ground to a halt while some reliable natural gas, coal and nuclear plants failed to get energy to the grid. Electricity demand hit an all-time high – but the supply wasn’t available, plunging some four million Texans into the cold and darkness.
As massive gas-powered turbines spun down across Texas and the lights went out, an aggressive narrative spun up: the electric grid failed in Texas, not because wind and solar failed, but due to a lack of regulatory power to force the electric industry – from natural gas producers to pipeline operators to power generators, and lastly, the transmission line firms – to winterize. It was a failure of Texas’ unregulated free market. And further, this extreme weather event was a harbinger of more to come due to climate change, necessitating even more wind and solar power.
This narrative, pushed out by the renewable industry and environmentalists, found a sympathetic mouthpiece in corporate media.
The narrative is wrong.
There are three electric grids in the continental U.S with Texas having its own grid providing power to about 90% of Texans. This electrical independence allows Texans to escape a certain amount of federal meddling in its electric affairs – though it also makes Texans largely responsible for their own problems.
Addressing those problems, the Texas Legislature held marathon hearings a week after the freeze. That testimony, and an increasing flow of information from operators on the ground, has produced a more complete picture of what went wrong during a storm that plunged Texas into a deep freeze colder than most of Alaska.
There are two general reasons for Texas’ prolonged power outages, one proximate to the storm and involving a series of on-the-ground mistakes and cold-related failures, and one the result of long-term policy.
However, it was the policy failures over 20 years that allowed the storm-related failures to become persistent and deadly.
It’s important to note that had every Texas generator powered by natural gas, coal, nuclear and hydro operated at full output during the height of the storm’s demand, Texas still would have experienced planned blackouts. That Texas’ grid has become increasingly dependent on unreliable wind and solar is largely to blame for this critical shortfall.
Federal and state tax policy have encouraged the overbuilding of wind, and to a lesser extent, solar power, resulting in cheap, subsidized power flooding the Texas grid. This inexpensive but unreliable power has acted as a powerful disincentive to build needed natural gas power plants.
In the past five years, Texas saw an increase of about 20,000 megawatts of installed wind and solar capacity with a net loss of 4,000 megawatts of gas and coal-fired powerplants. This 4,000 megawatts, had it been built or not prematurely retired, would have saved lives during the 2021 St. Valentine’s Day Storm.
Because ERCOT, Texas’ grid operator, didn’t have enough reliable safety margin meant that when things started to go wrong on early Monday morning, they got worse fast.
So, did the unusually cold weather cause power plant failures?
We know that wind turbines were affected, with half of them freezing up. Over the course of 2019, Texas wind produced about 34% of its capacity – from hour-to-hour and season-to-season, sometimes more than 70%, sometimes close to zero. At one point during the storm, solar was producing no electricity while wind produced about 1% of its potential output. Since electricity must be produced the moment it is needed, that meant that natural gas power plants had to make up the shortfall.
The emerging data from thermal – gas, coal, and nuclear – power plants suggests that there were some cold-related failures. But, as ERCOT struggled to keep the lights on, the grid became unstable, tripping additional power plants offline to protect their massive generators from destructive interaction with a fluctuating line frequency.
As ERCOT issued the order to start load shedding – rotating blackouts – some of the darkened circuits included vital oil and gas infrastructure. This uncoordinated move starved natural gas power plants of their fuel – leading to a further loss of power and the widespread and incorrect rumor that wellhead and pipeline freeze off contributed to the disaster.
When these systems lost power, gas production dropped 75%. An Obama-era environmental rule that forced oilfield compressors to switch from natural gas to electric likely made things worse. Eventually, power was restored, and natural gas production ramped back up to meet electricity generation demand.
Winter isn’t over, but Texas – and California and other Western states – are at increased risk of blackouts this summer. This is due to policy that favors unreliables – wind and solar – over reliable electricity from gas, coal and nuclear.
In Texas, it’s an overbuilding of wind. In California, an overbuilding of mandated solar. In both states, this has caused the grid to become increasingly at risk of blackouts at times when nature doesn’t cooperate.
As America builds more wind and solar – with a renewed push from the Biden administration –the costs to prevent blackouts will mount in the form of massive battery farms to store power or increasingly large numbers of backup gas power plants. Instead, we should end subsidies for all energy sources while making wind and solar pay for the reliability costs they impose on the grid.
TxGal
Day by day
We're on a fixed rate plan with our electric provider, and average monthly billing, so our bill will be averaged going forward. We won't likely get a large hit in any one month. But, I'm sure we'll be paying more.
Our usual usage is about 100 kWh a week, give or take. For that one week of 14 - 20 Feb, we used over 500 kWh. We only had one power outage of a few hrs, and that was toward the end of the storm. We're pretty sure that was for line repairs somewhere, given the amount of icing we got on everything....upwards of an inch. We were lucky - extremely lucky - that our power otherwise held during the massive storm.
We have a small, but well-built house. We had extra insulation put in when we built it (not the blown-in stuff), more in line with heavy winter areas. We got some interesting comments about that, like it as an unnecessary expense. Heavy thermal curtains on all windows, and added window 'blankets' that I made in the windows. We left our thermostat on 68 to try and protect the pipes, and put about a dozen square bales of hay on our back porch on the north side of the house to help it hold warmth. We had propane heaters and electric heaters on stand-by, and a small Honda generator, if needed in a power outage, but we held off. (Epic fail on our part, our firewood for our woodstove was not covered and was under snow and ice...lesson learned).
Despite all of that, we watched our HVAC unit run constantly (we dipped to -1 at the worst of it), and for the first time ever saw the auxiliary, emergency heat msg showing up on our thermostat. Honestly, I was amazed the unit held up at all.
We have an emergency fund set up for unexpected expenses (thank you, Dave Ramsey!). I believe we were extremely fortunate we did not have any big issues and the pipes seem to have held....I still flinch at every unusual noise thinking something is blowing.
Family down in the Huntsville area are serviced by a different electricity provider, and theirs looks a bit more problematic. Time will tell. Sounds like Gov Abbott is trying to work something out. Fingers crossed for everyone affected by this historic mess.
Our usual usage is about 100 kWh a week, give or take. For that one week of 14 - 20 Feb, we used over 500 kWh. We only had one power outage of a few hrs, and that was toward the end of the storm. We're pretty sure that was for line repairs somewhere, given the amount of icing we got on everything....upwards of an inch. We were lucky - extremely lucky - that our power otherwise held during the massive storm.
We have a small, but well-built house. We had extra insulation put in when we built it (not the blown-in stuff), more in line with heavy winter areas. We got some interesting comments about that, like it as an unnecessary expense. Heavy thermal curtains on all windows, and added window 'blankets' that I made in the windows. We left our thermostat on 68 to try and protect the pipes, and put about a dozen square bales of hay on our back porch on the north side of the house to help it hold warmth. We had propane heaters and electric heaters on stand-by, and a small Honda generator, if needed in a power outage, but we held off. (Epic fail on our part, our firewood for our woodstove was not covered and was under snow and ice...lesson learned).
Despite all of that, we watched our HVAC unit run constantly (we dipped to -1 at the worst of it), and for the first time ever saw the auxiliary, emergency heat msg showing up on our thermostat. Honestly, I was amazed the unit held up at all.
We have an emergency fund set up for unexpected expenses (thank you, Dave Ramsey!). I believe we were extremely fortunate we did not have any big issues and the pipes seem to have held....I still flinch at every unusual noise thinking something is blowing.
Family down in the Huntsville area are serviced by a different electricity provider, and theirs looks a bit more problematic. Time will tell. Sounds like Gov Abbott is trying to work something out. Fingers crossed for everyone affected by this historic mess.
Locked.
- Status