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Texas resident here w/ no connection to the power industry, but I'm not sure I would call it a failure of our grid. Texas is the largest producer of energy in t

Texas resident here w/ no connection to the power industry, but I'm not sure I would call it a failure of our grid. Texas is the largest producer of energy in the United States in fossil fuels, wind, and solar. We are the only state to have our own grid[0] and we have an open electric market with competition for consumer and business electric generation. The dependence on wind turned out to be a vulnerability with ice (something I didn't know until recently) and the lack of high-capacity interconnections with the other two grids that serve the rest of the country also makes it harder for Texas to get extra power in these kinds of situations, but I think that's fixable -- and it probably will be fixed after this. Frozen generating stations[1] and frozen roads that keep crews from fixing stuff are also factors. Most Texas businesses aren't setup for this kind of weather since we don't normally have it. [0] https://www.khou.com/article/weather/texplainer-why-does-texas-have-its-own-power-grid/269-be61fb6f-11ce-4201-b2d2-4f40fd8ff510 https://www.khou.com/article/weather/texplainer-why-does-tex... [1] https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/texas/how-long-do-rolling-blackouts-last/285-20fc4086-964d-4d6f-98f7-7b995fb58a15 https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/texas/how-long-do-ro...

awnird 6y ago
I had read yesterday that Texas was currently down 1.5GW of wind, but over 30GW of gas was out of commission. Texans are still spinning it as a failure of relying on wind though. https://twitter.com/cohan_ds/status/1361473297486139392 https://twitter.com/cohan_ds/status/1361473297486139392
- mimixco 6y ago
  It seems that the natural gas stations were not weatherized for this, and that sort of makes sense from a business perspective. Few people would plan for snow in Houston while setting up their buildings or equipment. It just didn't make economic sense. If this stuff is going to be normal, it might be necessary for those individual plants to winterize better in the future. That's a decision for each utility and plant operator to make, not for the grid.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
danans 6y ago
> The dependence on wind turned out to be a vulnerability with ice (something I didn't know until recently) Texas wind is actually generating near it's predicted output during this event: http://www.ercot.com/content/cdr/html/CURRENT_DAYCOP_HSL.html http://www.ercot.com/content/cdr/html/CURRENT_DAYCOP_HSL.htm... The fault seems to lie with the spike in natural gas demand for heating competing with the demand for natural gas based electricity. https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/02/texas-power-grid-crumples-under-the-cold/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/02/texas-power-grid-cru...

awnird 6y ago

I had read yesterday that Texas was currently down 1.5GW of wind, but over 30GW of gas was out of commission. Texans are still spinning it as a failure of relying on wind though. https://twitter.com/cohan_ds/status/1361473297486139392 https://twitter.com/cohan_ds/status/1361473297486139392

mimixco 6y ago
It seems that the natural gas stations were not weatherized for this, and that sort of makes sense from a business perspective. Few people would plan for snow in Houston while setting up their buildings or equipment. It just didn't make economic sense. If this stuff is going to be normal, it might be necessary for those individual plants to winterize better in the future. That's a decision for each utility and plant operator to make, not for the grid.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

danans 6y ago

> The dependence on wind turned out to be a vulnerability with ice (something I didn't know until recently) Texas wind is actually generating near it's predicted output during this event: http://www.ercot.com/content/cdr/html/CURRENT_DAYCOP_HSL.html http://www.ercot.com/content/cdr/html/CURRENT_DAYCOP_HSL.htm... The fault seems to lie with the spike in natural gas demand for heating competing with the demand for natural gas based electricity. https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/02/texas-power-grid-crumples-under-the-cold/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/02/texas-power-grid-cru...