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While what happened in Texas is good for empathy, it’s not exactly the same. The power outages there were due to a poorly regulated electrical market where the

While what happened in Texas is good for empathy, it’s not exactly the same. The power outages there were due to a poorly regulated electrical market where the power stations froze in predictable ways. Notice that it was only Texas utilities that experienced the most major issues.

exabrial 5y ago
Neither statement is true but is oft repeated. I can bring some clarity: A poorly regulated electrical market doesn't make a poor user experience. In fact, it was government meddling that created the crisis: Forced closure of coal plants before suitable replacements that could withstand 100 weather year events were available. The free market in Texas has and was leaps and bounds ahead of other markets in green energy production. Texas has also wanted to build countless nuclear projects that are stonewalled by the NRC and other green energy projects that die due to EPA or other local agencies. Believe it or not, green energy companies play dirty too and leverage government bureaucracy to stifle competition and expansion of green energy. Secondly, it was not Only Texas. I live in Kansas and travel to Missouri weekly and we certainly had outages. The reason is all of these areas are covered by the "Southwest Power Pool" which is a generation pool which agree to sell energy to each other and help out during extreme events (an oversipmlication, but good enough for a HN comment). Texas operators trade energy in multiple markets so nearby locations were affected. My home state, produces nearly 2/3 of its energy from green sources: wind and nuclear and the excess is sold to the SPP and can be consumed in Texas. Texas is in fact the _ideal_ energy market, as new ideas can compete immediately and directly and operate on small scales. We'd be doing ourselves a huge favor to operate more grids like this as it lower the entry bar for clean energy startups.
- bluejekyll 5y ago
  I use the article from the Atlantic. And I did not say other areas didn’t have problems, only that it was Texas that suffered most: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/02/what-went-wrong-texas/618104/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/02/what-...
- mschaef 5y ago
  > Secondly, it was not Only Texas. I live in Kansas and travel to Missouri weekly and we certainly had outages. ERCOT was down easily 30-35GW (40-50%) of generation and cut power for days across large swaths of the state. SPP had outages, but not nearly as extensive in terms of MW shortfall, number of customers impacted, or duration of the impact. > My home state, produces nearly 2/3 of its energy from green sources: wind and nuclear and the excess is sold to the SPP and can be consumed in Texas. The only part of Texas it can really be consumed in are the parts of Texas served by SPP in the extreme NOrth (that are interconnected with the rest of the Eastern Interconnection). There are a couple small (<1GW) DC tie lines into ERCOT, but not nearly enough to do the sort of bulk power transport that would've been helpful during last February.) > The reason is all of these areas are covered by the "Southwest Power Pool" which is a generation pool which agree to sell energy to each other and help out during extreme events (an oversipmlication, but good enough for a HN comment). Texas operators trade energy in multiple markets so nearby locations were affected. SPP and ERCOT both have 'generation pools' and markets that enable them to serve load across their service areas. What SPP has that ERCOT does not are extensive connections to neighboring pools (MISO, PJM, etc.) and more adequately winterized generation and fuel supply infrastructure. The CEO of SPP gave an interview on an energy podcast last spring where she directly credits the ability bring in power from PJM and MISO as helping SPP serve its load. That sort of option wasn't even available to ERCOT. Notably, the other option unavailable to ERCOT is exporting/selling wind power to neighboring ISO's.... The Texas focus on avoiding federal energy regulation is costing them the ability to sell one of their strong suits into a broader market.
mschaef 5y ago
> The power outages there were due to a poorly regulated electrical market where the power stations froze in predictable ways. There were plenty of issues with the electrical system, but the Texas Nat Gas infrastructure was also culpable. They had wells that froze up. Wells also often produce water that can freeze in cold conditions and block a well. There are mitigations for this that were often not in place in TX. They had also failed to submit paperwork indicating their electrically pumping stations were critical infrastructure and should not be shut off as many of them were.
evv555 5y ago
>While what happened in Texas is good for empathy, it’s not exactly the same. The power outages there were due to a poorly regulated electrical market where the power stations froze in predictable ways. Situation in West Europe is also based in energy politics, a lack of energy security planning, and no impact studies from shutting down nuclear power plants. There are parallels in my mind in that both are a product of short sighted ideological thinking.

exabrial 5y ago

Neither statement is true but is oft repeated. I can bring some clarity: A poorly regulated electrical market doesn't make a poor user experience. In fact, it was government meddling that created the crisis: Forced closure of coal plants before suitable replacements that could withstand 100 weather year events were available. The free market in Texas has and was leaps and bounds ahead of other markets in green energy production. Texas has also wanted to build countless nuclear projects that are stonewalled by the NRC and other green energy projects that die due to EPA or other local agencies. Believe it or not, green energy companies play dirty too and leverage government bureaucracy to stifle competition and expansion of green energy. Secondly, it was not Only Texas. I live in Kansas and travel to Missouri weekly and we certainly had outages. The reason is all of these areas are covered by the "Southwest Power Pool" which is a generation pool which agree to sell energy to each other and help out during extreme events (an oversipmlication, but good enough for a HN comment). Texas operators trade energy in multiple markets so nearby locations were affected. My home state, produces nearly 2/3 of its energy from green sources: wind and nuclear and the excess is sold to the SPP and can be consumed in Texas. Texas is in fact the _ideal_ energy market, as new ideas can compete immediately and directly and operate on small scales. We'd be doing ourselves a huge favor to operate more grids like this as it lower the entry bar for clean energy startups.

bluejekyll 5y ago
I use the article from the Atlantic. And I did not say other areas didn’t have problems, only that it was Texas that suffered most: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/02/what-went-wrong-texas/618104/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/02/what-...
mschaef 5y ago
> Secondly, it was not Only Texas. I live in Kansas and travel to Missouri weekly and we certainly had outages. ERCOT was down easily 30-35GW (40-50%) of generation and cut power for days across large swaths of the state. SPP had outages, but not nearly as extensive in terms of MW shortfall, number of customers impacted, or duration of the impact. > My home state, produces nearly 2/3 of its energy from green sources: wind and nuclear and the excess is sold to the SPP and can be consumed in Texas. The only part of Texas it can really be consumed in are the parts of Texas served by SPP in the extreme NOrth (that are interconnected with the rest of the Eastern Interconnection). There are a couple small (<1GW) DC tie lines into ERCOT, but not nearly enough to do the sort of bulk power transport that would've been helpful during last February.) > The reason is all of these areas are covered by the "Southwest Power Pool" which is a generation pool which agree to sell energy to each other and help out during extreme events (an oversipmlication, but good enough for a HN comment). Texas operators trade energy in multiple markets so nearby locations were affected. SPP and ERCOT both have 'generation pools' and markets that enable them to serve load across their service areas. What SPP has that ERCOT does not are extensive connections to neighboring pools (MISO, PJM, etc.) and more adequately winterized generation and fuel supply infrastructure. The CEO of SPP gave an interview on an energy podcast last spring where she directly credits the ability bring in power from PJM and MISO as helping SPP serve its load. That sort of option wasn't even available to ERCOT. Notably, the other option unavailable to ERCOT is exporting/selling wind power to neighboring ISO's.... The Texas focus on avoiding federal energy regulation is costing them the ability to sell one of their strong suits into a broader market.

mschaef 5y ago

> The power outages there were due to a poorly regulated electrical market where the power stations froze in predictable ways. There were plenty of issues with the electrical system, but the Texas Nat Gas infrastructure was also culpable. They had wells that froze up. Wells also often produce water that can freeze in cold conditions and block a well. There are mitigations for this that were often not in place in TX. They had also failed to submit paperwork indicating their electrically pumping stations were critical infrastructure and should not be shut off as many of them were.

evv555 5y ago

>While what happened in Texas is good for empathy, it’s not exactly the same. The power outages there were due to a poorly regulated electrical market where the power stations froze in predictable ways. Situation in West Europe is also based in energy politics, a lack of energy security planning, and no impact studies from shutting down nuclear power plants. There are parallels in my mind in that both are a product of short sighted ideological thinking.