Massive winter storm prompts disaster declaration and could stress Texas' electricity grid

[Cyber Liberty]

 

[Bigun]

And the requirement was waived.  This looks like a very misleading article.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-15/pollution-limit-waived-for-texas-power-plants-in-emergency-order

The Department of Energy issued an emergency order allowing several Texas power plants to produce as much electricity as possible, a move expected to violate anti-pollution rules that comes amid a deepening electricity crisis in the state that has cut power to millions of homes.

The Energy Department order, requested by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, authorizes power plants throughout the state to run a maximum output levels, even as such a move is anticipated to result in a violation of limits of pollution....

Because we know Bloomberg news is infallibly accurate.  And why should we have to ask permission in the first damned place?

[thackney]

Because we know Bloomberg news is infallibly accurate.  And why should we have to ask permission in the first damned place?

Texas power plants get emergency clearance to crank up output
https://www.gctelegram.com/story/news/2021/02/16/news-briefs/6768852002/

- - - - - - -

The Department of Energy issued an emergency order allowing several Texas power plants to produce as much electricity as possible, which is expected to violate anti-pollution rules.

https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/the-grid/texas-plunges-into-electricity-crisis/

How many different sources do you want?

This was not the cause of our power shortage.

[Bigun]

Texas power plants get emergency clearance to crank up output
https://www.gctelegram.com/story/news/2021/02/16/news-briefs/6768852002/

- - - - - - -

The Department of Energy issued an emergency order allowing several Texas power plants to produce as much electricity as possible, which is expected to violate anti-pollution rules.

https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/the-grid/texas-plunges-into-electricity-crisis/

How many different sources do you want?

This was not the cause of our power shortage.

And I repeat: Why should we have to ask permission in the first damned place?

[PeteS in CA]

The DoE order was issued 2/14/2021 at 8:51 PM EST, the same day permission was requested, https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2021/02/f82/DOE%20202%28c%29%20Emergency%20Order%20-%20ERCOT%2002.14.2021.pdf .

Who is "tnm.me" that he/she/they/it should be believed?

[thackney]

And I repeat: Why should we have to ask permission in the first damned place?

#TEXIT

[thackney]

Texas largely relies on natural gas for power. It wasn’t ready for the extreme cold.
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/16/natural-gas-power-storm/

Texas largely relies on natural gas — especially during times of high demand — to power the state. From pumping it out of the ground to the plants in city centers, experts say natural gas infrastructure was unprepared for the plunging temperatures brought by the winter storm.

Failures across Texas’ natural gas operations and supply chains due to extreme temperatures are the most significant cause of the power crisis that has left millions of Texans without heat and electricity during the winter storm sweeping the U.S.

From frozen natural gas wells to frozen wind turbines, all sources of power generation have faced difficulties during the winter storm. But Texans largely rely on natural gas for power and heat generation, especially during peak usage, experts said.

Officials for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, which manages most of Texas’ grid, said that the primarily cause of the outages on Tuesday appeared to be the state’s natural gas providers. Many are not designed to withstand such low temperatures on equipment or during production.

By some estimates, nearly half of the state’s natural gas production has screeched to a halt due to the extremely low temperatures, while freezing components at natural gas-fired power plants have forced some operators to shut down....

[Victoria33]

You have a whole section in your book about keeping your electronics charged....

@Cyber Liberty

Yes, my book covers any kind of emergency.
One morning, I got out of bed, picked up a pad and pen and wrote down everything I did that I could not do without power.  Did that all day, then developed the best way to get it done without power.  I researched that and did it for several years during hurricanes, updating as I went when I found better methods to do a job, then wrote the book.  My doctor has the book and says he is coming to my house to live if there is an emergency.

[Elderberry]

I just made morning coffee on my Propane powered stove, Not with Puny Cans of Sterno.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Texas power plants get emergency clearance to crank up output
https://www.gctelegram.com/story/news/2021/02/16/news-briefs/6768852002/

- - - - - - -

The Department of Energy issued an emergency order allowing several Texas power plants to produce as much electricity as possible, which is expected to violate anti-pollution rules.

https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/the-grid/texas-plunges-into-electricity-crisis/

How many different sources do you want?

This was not the cause of our power shortage.

Even the WSJ says that wind power supplied 42% of power generation and it was reduced to only 8% due to freezing

The Political Making of a Texas Power Outage
How bad energy policy led to rolling blackouts in the freezing Lone Star State.
Why are millions of Americans in the nation’s most energy-rich state without power and heat for days amid extreme winter weather? “The people who have fallen short with regard to the power are the private power generation companies,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott explained. Ah, yes, blame private power companies . . . that are regulated by government.

The Republican sounds like California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who lambasted private utilities for rolling blackouts during a heat wave last summer. Power grids should be able to withstand extreme weather. But in both these bellwether states, state and federal energy policies have created market distortions and reduced grid reliability.

Mr. Abbott blamed his state’s extensive power outages on generators freezing early Monday morning, noting “this includes the natural gas & coal generators.” But frigid temperatures and icy conditions have descended on most of the country. Why couldn’t Texas handle them while other states did?

The problem is Texas’s overreliance on wind power that has left the grid more vulnerable to bad weather. Half of wind turbines froze last week, causing wind’s share of electricity to plunge to 8% from 42%.   https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-political-making-of-a-texas-power-outage-11613518653
http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,428905.msg2382147.html#msg2382147

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Something that needs to be ingrained into the liberal mental midget's heads

[Bigun]

Even the WSJ says that wind power supplied 42% of power generation and it was reduced to only 8% due to freezing

The Political Making of a Texas Power Outage
How bad energy policy led to rolling blackouts in the freezing Lone Star State.
Why are millions of Americans in the nation’s most energy-rich state without power and heat for days amid extreme winter weather? “The people who have fallen short with regard to the power are the private power generation companies,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott explained. Ah, yes, blame private power companies . . . that are regulated by government.

The Republican sounds like California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who lambasted private utilities for rolling blackouts during a heat wave last summer. Power grids should be able to withstand extreme weather. But in both these bellwether states, state and federal energy policies have created market distortions and reduced grid reliability.

Mr. Abbott blamed his state’s extensive power outages on generators freezing early Monday morning, noting “this includes the natural gas & coal generators.” But frigid temperatures and icy conditions have descended on most of the country. Why couldn’t Texas handle them while other states did?

The problem is Texas’s overreliance on wind power that has left the grid more vulnerable to bad weather. Half of wind turbines froze last week, causing wind’s share of electricity to plunge to 8% from 42%.   https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-political-making-of-a-texas-power-outage-11613518653
http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,428905.msg2382147.html#msg2382147

  Farting around with green energy that doesn't work when you really need it instead of focusing on things that have been proven to work has put us in this situation. And all the excuse-making and diversions are not ever going to change that fact!

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Because we know Bloomberg news is infallibly accurate.  And why should we have to ask permission in the first damned place?

We should have never even bothered to.

Let them fine us or whatever unconstitutional thing they wish to do.

Just cements our desire to leave this place.

The federal government is not a signatory to the pact Texas entered into when it came into the Union.  It is a creation to serve the states.

Now it is backwards as the states are demanded to serve the federal government.

Time to end the madness.

[Bigun]

Need a picture of someone washing the bird shit off with a power washer as well. 

[thackney]

Even the WSJ says that wind power supplied 42% of power generation and it was reduced to only 8% due to freezing

That is false.  Wind does not come close to being 42% of Texas electric power.



also:

The blackouts, which have spread from Texas across the Great Plains, have reignited the debate about the reliability of intermittent wind and solar power as the U.S. seeks to accelerate the shift to carbon-free renewable energy. Rolling outages in California last summer were blamed in part on the retirement of gas plants as the state pursued an aggressive clean-energy agenda.

Wind shutdowns accounted for 3.6 to 4.5 gigawatts -- or less than 13% -- of the 30 to 35 gigawatts of total outages, according to Woodfin. That’s in part because wind only comprises 25% of the state’s energy mix this time of year.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/02/16/nation/why-is-power-out-much-texas-frozen-wind-farms-are-just-small-piece-puzzle/

The Political Making of a Texas Power Outage
How bad energy policy led to rolling blackouts in the freezing Lone Star State.
Why are millions of Americans in the nation’s most energy-rich state without power and heat for days amid extreme winter weather? “The people who have fallen short with regard to the power are the private power generation companies,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott explained. Ah, yes, blame private power companies . . . that are regulated by government.

The Republican sounds like California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who lambasted private utilities for rolling blackouts during a heat wave last summer. Power grids should be able to withstand extreme weather. But in both these bellwether states, state and federal energy policies have created market distortions and reduced grid reliability.

Mr. Abbott blamed his state’s extensive power outages on generators freezing early Monday morning, noting “this includes the natural gas & coal generators.” But frigid temperatures and icy conditions have descended on most of the country. Why couldn’t Texas handle them while other states did?

The problem is Texas’s overreliance on wind power that has left the grid more vulnerable to bad weather. Half of wind turbines froze last week, causing wind’s share of electricity to plunge to 8% from 42%.   https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-political-making-of-a-texas-power-outage-11613518653
http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,428905.msg2382147.html#msg2382147

[XenaLee]

@amuse
@amuse

In other news, there isn't enough water pressure in many Texas cities to fight a house fire because everyone has their faucets dripping. #GreenNewDeal



9:06 AM · Feb 16, 2021·Twitter Web App

Which is exactly why I haven't used my fireplace during this "snowpocalypse".   And call me paranoid... but... I've got the nagging feeling that this is only a precursor of what is yet to come under the 2nd Obamanation.   Especially since Biteme wants to give the ChiComs access to our electric grid now.

[Bigun]

We should have never even bothered to.

Let them fine us or whatever unconstitutional thing they wish to do.

Just cements our desire to leave this place.

The federal government is not a signatory to the pact Texas entered into when it came into the Union.  It is a creation to serve the states.

Now it is backwards as the states are demanded to serve the federal government.

Time to end the madness.

   and  again!

[thackney]

https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/are-frozen-wind-turbines-to-blame-for-texas-power-outages/

...But the vast majority of energy the state generates is through natural gas. In October 2020, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that renewables generated 22% of the state’s energy, while gas generated 51.8%.

In ERCOT’s plan for this winter, it expected that thermal and hydro resources, i.e. gas, coal and water, would need to generate 67,000 megawatts per hour during a high demand event to support the state. This didn’t take into account a historic snow storm where demand would increase and supply would be threatened.

On Monday, frozen instruments and a limited gas supply forced 30,000 MW/h of power offline. This was half of what ERCOT believed they would need. According to the agency, wind turbines account for less than 13% of the total generation that was lost. The majority of which was coal and gas....

- - - - - - - - -

Seasonal Assessment of Resource Adequacy for the ERCOT Region (SARA)
Winter 2020/2021
http://www.ercot.com/content/wcm/lists/197378/SARA-PreliminaryWinter2020-2021.pdf

Operational Resources (thermal and hydro), MW 67,547
Capacity from Private Use Networks, MW 3,631
Coastal Wind, Peak Average Capacity Contribution, MW 1,480
Panhandle Wind, Peak Average Capacity Contribution, MW 1,411
Other Wind, Peak Average Capacity Contribution, MW 3,251
Solar Utility-Scale, Peak Average Capacity Contribution, MW 254

[roamer_1]

Well y'all... Hold on now... It's already lifted up in here... The deep freeze is gone, it's snowing, and soon to turn to rain... we did not go under zero last night, stayed in the teens, and a thaw is coming... And since I am north and west of all y'all, it's coming your way.

[Bigun]

Well y'all... Hold on now... It's already lifted up in here... The deep freeze is gone, it's snowing, and soon to turn to rain... we did not go under zero last night, stayed in the teens, and a thaw is coming... And since I am north and west of all y'all, it's coming your way.

32 degrees and raining here at present. Melting some of the snow that has been on the ground since Sunday night.  God help us if the temp drops now. fortunately, that isn't expected.

[roamer_1]

Which is exactly why I haven't used my fireplace during this "snowpocalypse".

Oh no, darlin... Do not forego the fire.... It's what makes you HOT. 

Nah... I know you make your own hot 24/7. But don't be braggin and denying lesser wimmins.

 

[roamer_1]

32 degrees and raining here at present. Melting some of the snow that has been on the ground since Sunday night.  God help us if the temp drops now. fortunately, that isn't expected.

We will be in the forty's in a day or two ... so big thaw is on the way.

[thackney]

We will be in the forty's in a day or two ... so big thaw is on the way.

We will be in the 70's in a week but two more nights of dipping into the 20's before that happens.

[roamer_1]

We will be in the 70's in a week but two more nights of dipping into the 20's before that happens.

See... Right about now is when I oughta be heading for the Gulf Coast... The Redneck Riviera... I won't see 70's for three more months...

[Cyber Liberty]

Still not saying what the temperatures are here.....