3 ms·
As a Texas power consumer I still appreciate the structure of the energy market here compared to other states I have participated in. There is still plenty room
by infecto 3y ago
As a Texas power consumer I still appreciate the structure of the energy market here compared to other states I have participated in. There is still plenty room for improvement. I think other states could benefit from the general structure.
The good parts are mainly surrounded by the separation of concerns. There are two main grid operators, their only concern is maintaining and expanding the transmission. They get a flat fee for this work. Generators are purely in the business of generation. Of course they are there to make a profit but the beauty of this part is we can move a lot quicker than other states to build out new generation, lots of clean. While other states are still struggling, Texas is leading the front in new plants. Sometimes at night the wind capacity is so large it dips close to negative prices.
ERCOT in my opinion gets a lot of attention and too much of the blame. ERCOT from all the prior readings I have done, did their best given their operating rules. PUCT Who governs them and is comprised of appointed staff from the governor iirc has gotten little to no attention.
This article was a lot of fluff and could have really been summed up with the ending. Providing emergency power was never in the original rule set.
It’s easy for us to just say oh Texas sucks, it’s filled with a bunch of conservatives, this is what they want. I think that’s a weak argument though that is a little childish. Don’t get me wrong, I am not happy with many parts of the government, but in this scenario I don’t believe this was an evil conspiracy by design. Unsure if there is enough want in the people to change it.
Ideally this would require some type of emergency clause on generation but I am not sure what that would look like. Someone has to be on the hook for paying the generation.
With all that said, I am still overall happy with the structure. We generate a lot of clean power and we have the incentives to build more and more of it out. We should not force generators to produce outside of the energy market so we need to figure out how and who pays for this emergency power.
- cyanydeez 3y agoThe only time I ever consider the powergrid in this State is summer, or a lighting strike. We don't have wide swaths going without power due to entirely predictable circumstances. There's absolutely reasons ERCOT and Texas are blamed steadily, and it's because they refuse to interconnect with other systems and refuse to winterize. I don't see news of people dying around here because of predictable winter storms.
- infecto 3y agoWhat kind of point are you trying to make? Not rude I am just not sure what your point was beyond saying Texas and ERCOT is to blame? Can you state the point and the reasons behind it?
- paulmd 3y agoWhat are you trying to ask here? You seem to have identified the key points of the argument successfully so I am just not sure what the point of making it was besides saying you disagree? Can you outline your reasons for framing this statement as a question?
- infecto 3y agoSorry I hit a nerve. I was not clear what his argument was. That’s what I was asking. My reasons were my own confusion. I was asking for actual counter points to my statements as he responded to me. Instead I saw general disdain for Texas. The issue is indeed partly in the voters hands but I already agreed with that so what was being said. Again sorry to have hit a nerve I was genuinely looking for more substance on the matter. Winterizing is not predictable and the poster said he is concerned in the summer which can be just as deadly as the winter. So yes, I want a further elaboration.
- wtfwhateven 3y agohuh? are seasons not predictable?
- infecto 3y agoNobody was arguing that seasons are not predictable. Extreme weather patterns not found in history are not predictable. Are you trying to say we all should have known this storm was coming? Please enlighten us.
- s1artibartfast 3y agoFor what it is worth, I live in California and would trade our grid for yours, uptime included. Im paying >$0.50/kwh which is something like 4x the price in Texas, and I still need a backup generator because outages >24hours are common, even in the bay area