Texas ERCOT Power - Round 2

[Teken]

I’m pretty sure lots of people know what happened during the 2021 winter in Texas. Where no less than 200 people died as rolling blackouts occurred due to extreme cold weather.

It was said after this massive outage that new laws and repairs would avoid anything like that again.

Fast forward to summer 2022 and the ERCOT grid is still teetering on collapsing?!?!

The grid is pretty old all across North America. Rolling blackouts seem to be the trend.

Hope very much all of you who live in Texas remain cool and safe!

Texans asked not to use major appliances as state faces rolling blackouts Texas Faces Rolling Blackouts as ERCOT Warns Not to Use Major Appliances

 

[TonyR]

The grid is pretty old all across North America. Rolling blackouts seem to be the trend.

And Brandon's actions diminishes our gas supply rapidly so we'll immediately cough up $40K for an EV plus possibly $2K to $5K for electrical work for the EV charging stations at our homes in order to switch over quickly to an EV that we can't reliably and consistently charge on this overloaded grid?

Our Clown-in-Chief is, as you described the ERCOT grid, also "teetering on collapse."

 

[gwminor48]

I’m pretty sure lots of people know what happened during the 2021 winter in Texas. Where no less than 200 people died as rolling blackouts occurred due to extreme cold weather.

It was said after this massive outage that new laws and repairs would avoid anything like that again.

Fast forward to summer 2022 and the ERCOT grid is still teetering on collapsing?!?!

The grid is pretty old all across North America. Rolling blackouts seem to be the trend.

Hope very much all of you who live in Texas remain cool and safe!

Texans asked not to use major appliances as state faces rolling blackouts Texas Faces Rolling Blackouts as ERCOT Warns Not to Use Major Appliances

Thanks @Teken As a Texan I'm trying to stay cool with every day over 100 degrees and I've been keeping a watch on the grid:

Grid and Market Conditions

www.ercot.com

 

[Teken]

I think it’s fair to say what ever a person does must use common sense. They must review and look at the current state of technology and balance the pros / cons of going with the so called Green Energy.

Based on past reading Texas has started on the green path already. But it’s not enough as the article illustrates wind power generation is down. Hence the importance of having multiple sources of power in case one isn’t producing.

As it relates to EV we as a people need to find a balance and begin to embrace such technology where it makes sense. But like you, I know the technology isn’t there yet.

Regardless, we must continue to work toward making it better.

One only needs to reflect on where we all came from as it relates to batteries.

NiCad -> NiMh - Lithium -> LifePo4 etc

Until we can do better than oil the world must keep advancing the technology in all areas from molten salt Nuclear etc.

its finding a balance thats hard because its going to cost you if you get it wrong!

Think Germany . . .

 

[Teken]

Thanks @Teken As a Texan I'm trying to stay cool with every day over 100 degrees and I've been keeping a watch on the grid:

Grid and Market Conditions

www.ercot.com

Have you seen any rolling black outs in your area? If so how do they normally happen? Do they send out a broadcast saying from X to Y time no power?

vs

Its based on the honour system of just personally cutting back your usage?

 

[TonyR]

NiCad -> NiMh - Lithium -> LifePo4 etc

Understanding those are rechargeable but I'm amazed that some local stores still have the old carbon-zinc batteries. I've been using alkaline for YEARS and YEARS, I throw away the cheap carbon zinc batteries ("Heavy Duty" ) they include with some devices oftentimes...seen too many devices ruined with leaky ones and have had to break out the baking soda, small wire brush and dielectric grease to try and restore a device that I couldn't replace or part with.

 

[BORIStheBLADE]

We've had nuclear power since the 50's. We would have other things to worry about if our smart leaders used nuclear to transition away from coal. Wind and solar output is a joke..

From what I've read about the big freeze and loss of power is the low temperature made natural gas plants inoperable. This is why my generator is propane and gasoline...

 

[Teken]

Understanding those are rechargeable but I'm amazed that some local stores still have the old carbon-zinc batteries. I've been using alkaline for YEARS and YEARS, I throw away the cheap carbon zinc batteries ("Heavy Duty" ) they include with some devices oftentimes...seen too many devices ruined with leaky ones and have had to break out the baking soda, small wire brush and dielectric grease to try and restore a device that I couldn't replace or part with.

Don’t even get me started about damaged equipment due to shitty batteries! I and many people / companies lived and breathed Duracell.

You could count on them giving you power when you needed it. Fast forward to today they just leak like a siv damaging all manner of hardware!

The irony is like you, I’ve purchase tons hardware where something came with some no name battery?!?! They literally just sit there for years being used or not being used - Nothing???

No leakage, tons of power, shelf stable?!?

Think how incredible it is some no name company that doesn't even have anywhere the amount of money is able to produce a battery that offers low self discharge, decent power, and doesn't leak?? Yet in the polar opposite we have a billion dollar company like Duracell / Similar that sell jus utter shit batteries! Every piece of electronics that takes batteries has dielectric grease applied in a healthy dose to the terminals and the battery compartment.

Should a cell leak it will give me at least some chance of saving the terminals / housing.

Anything I'm not going to use for a month I remove all the batteries and just place the same in a bag and zip tie to the hardware if I need it later. No hunting for cells or mixing new vs old when I need to use that random piece of hardware.

It's sometimes a pain but like you some things can't be replaced so a few minutes to pop in a battery isn't going to kill me!

 

[TonyR]

We've had nuclear power since the 50's. We would have other things to worry about if our smart leaders used nuclear to transition away from coal. Wind and solar output is a joke..

FWIW, I agree whole-heartedly. Use to see the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise CVAN-65 docked at Alameda, CA. It was part of the 7th Fleet that I was attached to 1970-72. It had a VERY good track record, was very reliable.

 

[BORIStheBLADE]

FWIW, I agree whole-heartedly. Use to see the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise CVAN-65 docked at Alameda, CA. It was part of the 7th Fleet that I was attached to 1970-72. It has a VERY good track record, was very reliable.

Its just like everything else in politics.. They don't want to fix it then they would have to move on to more difficult political decisions that might cost their job.

 

[garycrist]

Here is how the rolling black-outs happen. The lights go off. Then the lights come on. We had no warning, nada nothing!
The cold was not so bad but, this 100-110 F tends to be killer. Sell me some more pipe dream EV oh yes, maybe some more trillions on
Fusion crap too.

Yes, our precious wind generators ain't gonna make "no" power today, there's NO WIND!!!

 

[StevenFromTexas]

I don't have to worry about rolling blackouts today. The part of Lubbock, Texas I live in doesn't switch over to the Electric Unreliability Council of Texas (EUCOT) until next year. The rest of the city? Well, good luck to you. LOL

 

[Teken]

I don't have to worry about rolling blackouts today. The part of Lubbock, Texas I live in doesn't switch over to the Electric Unreliability Council of Texas (EUCOT) until next year. The rest of the city? Well, good luck to you. LOL

Correct me if I am wrong at the State level Texas isn’t connected to the national grid like the other 49 States correct? Also, any possibility of that ever happening to allow a measure of fail over / redundancy?

 

[gwminor48]

I'm not sure about the grid, I do think it is independent but I could be wrong. We haven't had any blackouts in my area yet this summer. In the winter disaster there were no warnings, power went out, sometimes as short as 30 minutes, sometimes hours

 

[sebastiantombs]

Speaking of rechargeable batteries, has anyone tried the rechargeable lithium AA, LiPO or some variation I assume? I'm tired of buying Duracells in bulk and ending up with damaged gear when they leak, and they do leak now a days. I do have some NiMh but they're a 1.2 volt cell and start out on the low side when compared to Z/C or alkalines. The rechargeable lithiums are, supposedly, 1.5 volts but seem to be a lot lower in mah ratings. I've got some of them on the way and will be testing and tracking them compared to NiMh.

 

[Teken]

This is proof everything (IS) bigger in Texas!

Bloomberg - Are you a robot? Bitcoin Miners Shut Off Rigs as Texas Power Grid Nears Brink

 

[sebastiantombs]

The first time I was in Texas, stopover at DFW, I got off the plane, rushed into the mens room, yeah they had specific bathrooms for the two genders back then, checked and found out that line is a myth

 

[David L]

I have lived in Texas my whole life. There is nothing new about these Blackouts. They are Rare and only last a few hours, tops. When temps are 100 or over then you will see them. Last year we Never hit 100 degrees all year long. I live close to Houston. I have been through many 100 plus Summers, usually lasting a few days to a week tops. Yes, this Summer is brutal, I think San Antonio has already had a few weeks of 100 plus. We are all fine. The Texas Grid is solid, it is one of the best grids in the country. Our prices are very low compared to many states too. Crypto Mines are flocking here by the droves due to our Power Grid, they consume a lot of power. It is predicted that Texas will have the largest number of Crypto Mines companies in the country.

Not sure where all the hype is, or the meaning of such hype, from ERCOT. Yes, last winter hit our power plants pretty hard, they are not setup for extreme winter. Unfortunately we had a few hundred deaths, very sad. We have deaths every year due to weather, happens all over our country, mainly affects the elderly.

My question is, since a high percentage of people now work from home, the buildings they use to work in is using a lot less Electricity, Sure they still have their servers up but no workstations. I have 5 family members who now permanently work from home, their offices have shutdown due to Covid. Been told only IT staff are at their buildings. Maybe the increased Residential power during the day is a factor in the Grid and how it was designed for those Residential areas? Not sure, maybe this is what I am missing. I just know this is all new, since Covid.

 

[looney2ns]

Hows that green energy working out?

From article.
"While extremely hot weather is driving record power demand across the state, wind power is currently generating significantly less than usual, ERCOT said.
Current projections show wind generation coming in at around 8 percent of its capacity during Monday's busiest hour, according to ERCOT."

I'm sure the incredible rapid growth of some areas, such as McKinney, has put the hurt on the power grid. When my daughter lived there a few years ago, it was incredible how many new homes were being built, and the over all infrastructure was way, way behind the curve in that area.

 

[gwminor48]

Here is how the rolling black-outs happen. The lights go off. Then the lights come on. We had no warning, nada nothing!
The cold was not so bad but, this 100-110 F tends to be killer. Sell me some more pipe dream EV oh yes, maybe some more trillions on
Fusion crap too.

Yes, our precious wind generators ain't gonna make "no" power today, there's NO WIND!!!

Yes these people like Biden or whoever is controlling him say they want to push us to battery powered vehicles seem to be ignoring the fact that our power grids are struggling to keep up as it is. Add a shitload of EV's to that? A disaster! Where does the energy come from to charge those batteries?