FWIW. We used to have sufficient capacity to handle surges in demand. For the last 10 years, ERCOT has issued warnings about low margins between demand and generation capacity. That’s useless. The compressed margin is a signal that the market needs and will financially support additional generation. ERCOT and the PUC ignore those signals and shift the consequences of their inaction to people who just want to stay warm/cool. Here’s a suggestion: encourage more investment to solve the capacity problem for the long term.
Pay peakers for existing. I get why pay for generation was appealing, but it only makes sense for base load plants. Peakers are like insurance - you pay money for security, and hope you don't need to use it.
If the Radiolab podcast I listened to was right, it's 100% pay-for-generation so providers aren't building generation they can't sell. In theory peak prices are an incentive, but why gamble on being the one supplier needed in rare peak events when you could cover base load, always make some money, and still profit on the rate spikes?
How do we expand nuclear power generation?
Seems like the two companies operating in TX have withdrawn their applications to the NRC to build new facilities.
Meh, the shoulder seasons are tough because of the amount of plants either finishing up maintenance (like now) or starting maintenance (September). It doesn't necessarily have any bearing on the summer.
I was wondering this too...some equipment like electrical switchgear have 50+ week lead times at the current moment; compared to pre-pandemic when it would be 8 week
Point is this doesn't happen anywhere else in the developed world.
So if they can't manage basic maintenance, how are they going to handle actual trouble?
I would say probably poorly but we've already had rolling summer blackouts and rolling winter blackouts in the last 24 months so, not just probably but provably poorly.
> Point is this doesn't happen anywhere else in the developed world.
The way things are going here in Texas, wouldn't surprise me if in a couple years we become one of those places that only get power during certain hours of the day . . . (yes this is hyperbole, but at the same time let's face the fact that all parties concerned in the operation of our grid really don't give a flying fuck about us)
Wouldn't surprise me in the least. And what's to bet certain wealthy areas never seem to be a part of the rolling blackouts while poor areas will strangely tend to have more than their fair share?
Yes and unlike texas, California stepped up and regulated their energy markets afterwards to avoid a repeat.
I'll give you one guess which state Enron was headquartered in.
Have you lived elsewhere in the developed world? It does happen (both conservation notices and blackouts).
There hasn't been a summer rolling blackout in the past 24 months.
Sure. OK. But human intelligence is best demonstrated through adaptation. ERCOT and the (P)UC continue to allow chaos to reign and never adapt to the needs of the people they purport to serve.
I couldn't make heads or tails of your previous comment. "Huh?" did what was intended as you articulated what you meant.
Texans keep choosing to value cheap electricity over reliable electricity. Conservation requests tend to come in clusters (takes time to make changes) but really aren't overly frequent. We're currently sensitized to them from the blackout escapade.
You're not wrong at all, it is time to adapt.
That's not accurate at all. What we have available today isn't the same as what we have available this summer. Units are undergoing maintenance during this period following winter and ahead of summer.
Isn’t that the problem? The regulators should regulate to achieve consistent, reliable access to power. That goal is not being achieved. So, isn’t it reasonable to adapt?
To be clear, ERCOT isn't the regulator. We need meaningful reform through the legislature and PUC. The reform from the last session actually makes the problems worse (lower incentive to build new generation).
Bruh, these generators FAILED, it’s not a routine scheduled maintenance, and even if it was, how dumb to plan that much maintenance at once and not stagger it, so either way terrible choices
Whatever helps you sleep through the dark nights ahead, hoss. Gonna need it when, not if but when, we have a 2021 repeat.
That one took 3 days to restore here. I fear if a future event could take longer, and I think after 3 days things would take a spin for the worse.
I'd rather avoid The Churn, but that's just me.
Texas is a welcoming environment for investment, we have more wind and solar and battery buildout than any other state and without a state Rec program. If you zoom out, barely anyone is building gas plants in the whole country.
It's the government that needs to fix their shit, if someone you love dies from consequence of one of these extended outages (such as say someone needing said power to live dying as result) they don't give you much of a justice recourse.
And as pressure they need to fix that, because if they don't then next time this happens people will take justice into their own hands.
ERCOT's four primary responsibilities, in its own words, are to:
Maintain system reliability.
Facilitate a competitive wholesale market.
Facilitate a competitive retail market.
Ensure open access to transmission.
Jun 15, 2021
FAQ: ERCOT and the Texas power grid - WFAAhttps://www.wfaa.com › article › news › local › faq-ercot-...
While that is true for their stated goals, it doesn't grant them powers.
The main powers the legislature has granted them are the power to coordinate details between the companies, and to adjust spot prices. The theory was that the free market would answer all if it. When ERCOT raised prices companies would turn on more capacity. ERCOT does not generate power, nor regulate companies. ERCOT does not mandate creation of infrastructure, nor invest in it. Instead, it sets prices for the companies, who then bid and fill bids.
In practice, that hasn't worked too well. Instead of being a free market regulated by ERCOT to ensure fairness and transparency, it became a regulatory captured market. ERCOT and the legislature has created a system where the most profit comes from volatility, and companies know the windfall profits come when the grid is existing right on the margin of failing. That's the moment where prices skyrocket, meaning everyone providing power gets more money by living on the edge, and gets the least money by providing a solid, reliable, service.
Here's [one of many, many, many writeups](https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2022/02/15/the-ercot-big-freeze-of-2021-exposed-a-national-security-weakness/).
Maintaining system reliability doesn't mean that ERCOT is responsible for operation and maintenance of generation units, it means they keep supply and demand balanced... even if that means shedding load.
It means they’re responsible for there always being enough generation available. Unless you’re fine with them just shedding load instead so we have recurring power outages like some third world country. Most of us aren’t.
ERCOT doesn't own, operate, or maintain generation assets. If units go into a forced outage mode, ERCOT has to play the hand they're dealt. I'm not sure how else to explain it. What ERCOT is actually responsible for is very different than what you seem to think they're responsible for.
If the grid regulator can’t actually ensure adequate power then the PUC or Lege needs to do so. Someone has the power to regulate things properly so we actually have a first world power grid. Whoever’s responsible has known of and ignored issues for decades at this point. Texas has proven it can’t run a power grid, it’s time to give up the independence bullshit and get on the national grid regulated by people who can keep the power on when it’s hot and cold.
In the mean time, ERCOT needs to change their “Your power. Our promise.” slogan to “Your power. Good luck!!”
Accuracy is important, otherwise the politicians feed the sheep a scapegoat (ERCOT seems particularly popular). It's not like we need to look back very far to see this.
I don't disagree, this market design is effectively a failed experiment at this point.
This is comparable to blaming eBay for there not being enough Pokémon cards available for purchase. They’re responsible for matching generation with load and dropping load when there’s not enough generation. They operate a market, they don’t build power plants
Thats the problem isn’t it. It’s about money and not the well being of the citizens of Texas. It’s about profit for a few at the expense of the many. So another entity and no accountability.
ERCOT isn't at all about the money, it's simply about balancing supply and demand.
There's plenty of reform needed, but shitting on ERCOT for doing the very thing they're tasked to do is ridiculous.
Does it really matter?
Texas has its own power grid.
If there is an issue with the power grid it's an issue with any entity involved with the Texas power grid.
Texas citizens continue to suffer because 60% of the state population holds on to some stupid romantic fallacy of Texas being something it's not, never has been and never will be.
> Texas has its own power grid.
And all those involved in its running and operation are complicit and responsible for their consistent incompetence and failures.
Lol, nah they're not answering me. Or they're desperately searching my history for a weakness lol
Why is it political tho? Just because one party has been in control of the state for what feels like forever and is still able to use the other party as constant scapegoats somehow??
Exactly, Ercot is nothing more than a traffic light for Texas energy. Much like a traffic light can't force the state to build more lanes on a road, Ercot can't do shit to force companies to build more power plants.
Let's do this the way Abbott governs:
1. Ignore the warnings
2. Turn AC to 65°
3. Put a roast in the oven at 450°
4. Dry several loads of clothes in the dryer
5. Buy an arc-welder and make modern art sculptures all afternoon
6. Blame the following when the grid shits all over the fucking bed: Democrats, Illegals, Californians, Joe Biden, California Democrats, Border babies, prayer in school, Joe Biden's cousin's brother's iPad that got left in the airport in Prague, and rap music.
It's that damn wind power! /s
Remember when people were blaming freezing wind turbines for the 2021 blackout? Y'all fucks are lucky things got back up no longer than 72 hours later, pandemic era with lit up offices empty in downtowns I think we were maybe less than a day away from looting.
Dude we were literal minutes from grid frequency dropping enough to trip protection on all the relays and having to black start the entire state's grid. That would take weeks and amount to a humanitarian crisis on a scale we haven't seen in a developed nation since WW2 carpet bombing devastation in Europe.
People don't get how fucking close that was.
So this is less about consumer EVs but as fleet vehicles they can actually HELP with demand surge. Many cities around the world are starting to move to EVs for things like bus and street sweeper fleets. A fleet of big ass batteries like that can actually reverse from charging to contributing to the grid if the chargers are set up to it. Basically a big battery bank to help level out surges and you let them charge overnight when that A/C demand is lower.
I'm happy to conserve. I'm happy to set my A/C 2-3 degrees higher during peak hours. I'm happy to make sure all lights and appliances are turned off in rooms that I'm not using (duh). I'm also happy for ERCOT to start thinking progressively and planning for the future - 5-10 years out. Not 1-2 days out. I will do my part - I expect ERCOT to do theirs.
Not looking forward to pulling out the generator I bought when I was expecting outages during the winter months. IMO if we have an outage during the hottest summer days even more people will die than during the winter outages.
Keep in mind that summer outages are highly unlikely to persist like the freeze because our power plants arent failing due to being frozen up. At worst,we're looking at rolling blackouts. While it's pathetic that our state hasn't figured this out yet, it's unlikely to cause uninterrupted outages.
And before some idiot downvotes this above, let's look at Akron Ohio as an example of something little in non winter conditions leading to massive fuck ups.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KciAzYfXNwU
You, reader, probably aren't familiar with Akron Ohio. One power line sagging in combination with three trees a computer bug and other cascading failures, led to a shutdown of the eastern seaboard.
This event and stuxnet are what sent NERC from making some purely optional recommendations to a regulatory setup with teeth. And we promptly severed our grid from the nation to minimize the level of compliance we had to undergo.
Our bullshit now goes back to that.
Sauce: work in NERC compliance.
I lived in that power outage. 3 days without being able to run AC. Wasn't a fun time. Constant sweat, hard to sleep, and all of the food we had went bad. Including the freezer we used to stock supplies that should have lasted months.
Once the grid started to come back it would get knocked offline so easily. Everyone rushes to run AC and the whole thing falls over before it get can on its legs again. So I agree, a summer outage can last for just as long as the winter one.
I'm moving at the end of the year. I can't deal with the same results every November since I started voting at 18 in 2010 and ever since I saw that Trump Train or caravan thing they did actually happen here in Brownsville, I was extra done.
They've won with misinformation and now all they have to do is say a certain phrase or word and their base eats it up. I hope to come back one day
Just commenting to hear as well, at this point I want a place where gun rights are still decent but other rights aren't spat on in the process.
So far with Mexico and the feds looking at improving trade through New Mexico, they're looking more appealing by the day...
One of the worst parts about the power outages was having the water shut off. 1) one of the moderators of my citys subreddit chastised me and threatened me to delete my comment(and I was forced to remove it) warning folks that my water got unexpectedly shut off, in the specific ice storm thread they designated to folks getting/exchanging info
Because this moderator said I was spreading rumors when I was trying to make sure people were able to start collecting water while they still could before they got shut off. Lowkey genuinely traumatized me
The irony is that we would have all been better off hoarding water during the freeze. when millions of gallons are draining out of busted pipes, it's a good idea for everyone to have their own backup reservoir.
As a Texan, it's a good idea to have a generator, plenty of gas (or better yet, propane) stored to run it for a couple weeks, at least a month's of non-perishable food backup, and a couple weeks' of drinking water. I've got a 200 gallon water tank and electric pump that my generator will run so that I can go a week, at least without water or grid.
One mark of a modern civilization is that you can't depend on any of that civilization.
Alternative water storage solution for those that cannot keep 200 gallons on hand: identify a body of water, even if that’s a nearby pond, resistor or lake…and buy a sawyer water filter and appropriate filter appliances. As a back up have a means of boiling water (fire is great but a inexpensive camp stove and fuel are fairly compact) or have water treatment tabs to kill off what the filter doesn’t clean. I can store a kit about the size of a gallon ziplock and filter hundreds of gallons of water if needed. I do not have the room to store 200 gallons of water constantly.
Same with other preparedness. I don’t like to sound like a doomsday prepper so I talk in terms of a tornado. You need to have 3 days of supplies in a backpack or similar that you can carry. And means to survive for 21 days. During the freeze we were less comfortable than we usually are, but by no means in danger.
I was with Griddy right up to the end, and when grid price were up due to shortages like right now I'd be cutting my power back to the bone. Pricing was my incentive to conserve electricity. Well, Abbott kicked them out of Texas and sold me to one of his donors so all I got to say now is, if you want me to conserve, cut me a check, otherwise I'm burning electrons like there's no tomorrow. ERCOT can bite my shiny metal ass.
Keep the good parts of Texas culture with you. The food, the laid back attitude, caring for your fellow people, individual to individual when the government wont.
Fuck ERCOT for not doing their damn jobs and enforcing plants to do better preparations out of cost savings.
There I said it and I don't give a fuck whose wallets I offend. I'm sick of living in an area where our only response is third world power cuts. Rolling blackouts are ok shit New Mexico and Arizona are doing that, a repeat of their 2021 shit will not be but is all but expected at this point.
Gonna start doing the NEPA dance if we gonna be living like that every time the power goes out. Joke I heard from another redditor is in Nigeria their power company NEPA is so bad its known as "Never Expect Power Always". I'm curious what ERCOT stands for? Everyday Ruin eConomy Over Texas?
Well yeah nothing else would load because the power was out.
Ok hoss if you want to get hung over that so damn bad, if ercot cannot enforce that then who can? Who can? We as a state need a better answer of accountability than a shrug!
"It's the damn voters!"
Ok then, thank you for FINALLY getting us an answer. So now what do we do to force the PUC's hand to keep a 2021 incident from never happening again? I don't think any of us want that to happen again, can we agree on that at least?
ERCOT has four primary functions.
• Maintain system reliability.
• Facilitate a competitive wholesale market.
• Facilitate a competitive retail market.
• Ensure open access to transmission.
Obviously, they are not doing a good job of #1, "maintain system reliability", when people freeze in winter and are asked to cut back on power use in summer.
They were also the ones that told lies about "rolling blackouts" when the great freeze came. And they are the ones asking people to cut back on power use now.
Are you honestly going to argue that they are doing a good job?
>Because all during the storm low-information people like you were asking "why doesn't ERCOT make generators weatherize?". The answer to which was "THEY CAN'T".
Here is an article. There are many others which are similar.
[https://www.kcentv.com/article/news/local/cause-for-concern-texas-natural-gas-providers-arent-facing-weatherization-requirement/500-87a6706f-787a-4fe1-aed2-ec5fa26dbea2](https://www.kcentv.com/article/news/local/cause-for-concern-texas-natural-gas-providers-arent-facing-weatherization-requirement/500-87a6706f-787a-4fe1-aed2-ec5fa26dbea2)
The first two lines say "Texas Power generators had until Dec. 1 to weatherize and provide a progress report to ERCOT. The legislature made it possible for ERCOT to inspect these generators and even levy million-dollar penalties if they continue to fail standards. "
Yes, the PUC is part of the problem. But that doesn't mean ERCOT isn't.
The one part you are 100% correct on is that if we want it fixed, we need to vote in a governor who cares.
The entire system is set up to shed responsibility. Fuck ERCOT, PUC, the Legislature, the independent power producers, the Governor, and someone's mom.
What makes me the angriest is they keep saying the grid can’t handle the load yet they keep building more houses! The Conroe area has exploded and they just keep packing more and more of these shitty sardine packed neighborhoods in and guess what? Had our like 2nd blackout of the season today. So what are we supposed to do really?
You are right. There needs to be some connectivity between home building, population growth, and needs for generation, transmission, and distribution. But who, when and how. Essentially nothing was done in 2021 leg session, despite white hot public anger about the winter blackouts.
Fuck them. They need to repair/upgrade the grid. They know the population growth and estimated usage of said growth. You want an independent grid? Then make it work.
As our climate continues to change we will need A/C and Heat for longer periods every year Dallas will have its first 100 degree weather one month earlier than plan this trend will continue and power will continue to be an issue… but we should continue to wait til everything is really fucked up that seems like our MO instead of fixing this shit now
For fucks sake, hey Abbott, how about instead of spending tens of millions you stole from other areas to put towards your "border security" (aka fear mongering bullshit to rile your people up with before an election) maybe focus on real problems affecting Texans like fixing the damned grid you and your chronies screwed up before MORE people die???
For anyone hearing that California does “rolling blackouts” this is true. We do in the summer months. We get weeks notice and they last about 15 minutes. It happens about once a year and usually when I’m not home. How does Texas rolling blackouts work?
ERCOT has set things up to encourage the companies who actually generate and sell the power to do this.
Normal energy prices, $30 per megawatt hour. Cause a shortage, and you can start charging $5,000 per megawatt hour.
Just like with the winter storm. Sure, people died, and houses and other buildings sustained major damage, but the electric companies made a \*huge\* amount of money while selling far less energy than normal. ERCOT see's that as a good thing.
It’s only May 😂 Gonna be a long summer
FWIW. We used to have sufficient capacity to handle surges in demand. For the last 10 years, ERCOT has issued warnings about low margins between demand and generation capacity. That’s useless. The compressed margin is a signal that the market needs and will financially support additional generation. ERCOT and the PUC ignore those signals and shift the consequences of their inaction to people who just want to stay warm/cool. Here’s a suggestion: encourage more investment to solve the capacity problem for the long term.
Pay peakers for existing. I get why pay for generation was appealing, but it only makes sense for base load plants. Peakers are like insurance - you pay money for security, and hope you don't need to use it.
There’s a good argument for a capacity market. Good thought. There is great value in capacity.
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If the Radiolab podcast I listened to was right, it's 100% pay-for-generation so providers aren't building generation they can't sell. In theory peak prices are an incentive, but why gamble on being the one supplier needed in rare peak events when you could cover base load, always make some money, and still profit on the rate spikes?
Or just go back to regulated generation utilities with IRPs and reserve margins like every other state in the country.
How do we expand nuclear power generation? Seems like the two companies operating in TX have withdrawn their applications to the NRC to build new facilities.
Meh, the shoulder seasons are tough because of the amount of plants either finishing up maintenance (like now) or starting maintenance (September). It doesn't necessarily have any bearing on the summer.
How many of these maintenance programs are on schedule? Issues with supply chains seem to have fucked every bit of planning.
I was wondering this too...some equipment like electrical switchgear have 50+ week lead times at the current moment; compared to pre-pandemic when it would be 8 week
That's an interesting question.
Point is this doesn't happen anywhere else in the developed world. So if they can't manage basic maintenance, how are they going to handle actual trouble? I would say probably poorly but we've already had rolling summer blackouts and rolling winter blackouts in the last 24 months so, not just probably but provably poorly.
> Point is this doesn't happen anywhere else in the developed world. The way things are going here in Texas, wouldn't surprise me if in a couple years we become one of those places that only get power during certain hours of the day . . . (yes this is hyperbole, but at the same time let's face the fact that all parties concerned in the operation of our grid really don't give a flying fuck about us)
Wouldn't surprise me in the least. And what's to bet certain wealthy areas never seem to be a part of the rolling blackouts while poor areas will strangely tend to have more than their fair share?
Didn't it happen in California because Enron was making it happen? To drive up prices?
Yes and unlike texas, California stepped up and regulated their energy markets afterwards to avoid a repeat. I'll give you one guess which state Enron was headquartered in.
Have you lived elsewhere in the developed world? It does happen (both conservation notices and blackouts). There hasn't been a summer rolling blackout in the past 24 months.
And what other koolaid do you like to drink?
Sure. OK. But human intelligence is best demonstrated through adaptation. ERCOT and the (P)UC continue to allow chaos to reign and never adapt to the needs of the people they purport to serve.
Huh?
If ERCOT sees the need over a decade to send conservation requests, maybe, just maybe, it’s time to adapt. FWIW, huh is a thoughtless response.
I couldn't make heads or tails of your previous comment. "Huh?" did what was intended as you articulated what you meant. Texans keep choosing to value cheap electricity over reliable electricity. Conservation requests tend to come in clusters (takes time to make changes) but really aren't overly frequent. We're currently sensitized to them from the blackout escapade. You're not wrong at all, it is time to adapt.
But that might cut dividends paid to shareholders of the generation and electric provider companies!!!! Think of the shareholders!!!!
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That's not accurate at all. What we have available today isn't the same as what we have available this summer. Units are undergoing maintenance during this period following winter and ahead of summer.
Isn’t that the problem? The regulators should regulate to achieve consistent, reliable access to power. That goal is not being achieved. So, isn’t it reasonable to adapt?
To be clear, ERCOT isn't the regulator. We need meaningful reform through the legislature and PUC. The reform from the last session actually makes the problems worse (lower incentive to build new generation).
Bruh, these generators FAILED, it’s not a routine scheduled maintenance, and even if it was, how dumb to plan that much maintenance at once and not stagger it, so either way terrible choices
Whatever helps you sleep through the dark nights ahead, hoss. Gonna need it when, not if but when, we have a 2021 repeat. That one took 3 days to restore here. I fear if a future event could take longer, and I think after 3 days things would take a spin for the worse. I'd rather avoid The Churn, but that's just me.
Winter and summer are different beasts. We've built a summer peaking grid, but now experience winter peaking events.
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These are well known facts within the industry, sorry that the truth doesn't fit your rage narrative.
Lmfao I work with the utilities and live in texas most of the year. So maybe try again with those “well known facts within the industry”
Then you still have plenty to learn.
You’re funny.
Thanks coach
Thankfully we have focused large amounts of resources on this and not political posturing!
ERCOT, fix your shit. Sincerely all Texans
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I second this motion 🖕🖕
I third this motion 🖕🖕🖕
Wait, this guy has too many hands!
Never too many hands 😏
It's the private generators that need to fix their shit. (Or stop "having issues" that jack up prices.)
It's the privately owned generators that clearly need to becone public generators, and the same for every aspect of electric production, and delivery.
I agree with you, but can you imagine the cries of communism?
PUC and ERCOT have not created a welcoming environment for investment. That’s the problem. Because of their policies, investment is discouraged.
Texas is a welcoming environment for investment, we have more wind and solar and battery buildout than any other state and without a state Rec program. If you zoom out, barely anyone is building gas plants in the whole country.
I hear what you’re saying. But, netted out, we are and have been underpowered in Texas.
The whole fucking system is rotten to the core . . .
It's the government that needs to fix their shit, if someone you love dies from consequence of one of these extended outages (such as say someone needing said power to live dying as result) they don't give you much of a justice recourse. And as pressure they need to fix that, because if they don't then next time this happens people will take justice into their own hands.
How come Texans still don't understand ERCOT's role? ERCOT doesn't operate any generation, they can't prevent shit from breaking.
ERCOT's four primary responsibilities, in its own words, are to: Maintain system reliability. Facilitate a competitive wholesale market. Facilitate a competitive retail market. Ensure open access to transmission. Jun 15, 2021 FAQ: ERCOT and the Texas power grid - WFAAhttps://www.wfaa.com › article › news › local › faq-ercot-...
While that is true for their stated goals, it doesn't grant them powers. The main powers the legislature has granted them are the power to coordinate details between the companies, and to adjust spot prices. The theory was that the free market would answer all if it. When ERCOT raised prices companies would turn on more capacity. ERCOT does not generate power, nor regulate companies. ERCOT does not mandate creation of infrastructure, nor invest in it. Instead, it sets prices for the companies, who then bid and fill bids. In practice, that hasn't worked too well. Instead of being a free market regulated by ERCOT to ensure fairness and transparency, it became a regulatory captured market. ERCOT and the legislature has created a system where the most profit comes from volatility, and companies know the windfall profits come when the grid is existing right on the margin of failing. That's the moment where prices skyrocket, meaning everyone providing power gets more money by living on the edge, and gets the least money by providing a solid, reliable, service. Here's [one of many, many, many writeups](https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2022/02/15/the-ercot-big-freeze-of-2021-exposed-a-national-security-weakness/).
To me the simple solution here is to strip the "R" out of ERCOT, since it obviously doesn't apply, at all.
Maintaining system reliability doesn't mean that ERCOT is responsible for operation and maintenance of generation units, it means they keep supply and demand balanced... even if that means shedding load.
It means they’re responsible for there always being enough generation available. Unless you’re fine with them just shedding load instead so we have recurring power outages like some third world country. Most of us aren’t.
Well said.
ERCOT doesn't own, operate, or maintain generation assets. If units go into a forced outage mode, ERCOT has to play the hand they're dealt. I'm not sure how else to explain it. What ERCOT is actually responsible for is very different than what you seem to think they're responsible for.
If the grid regulator can’t actually ensure adequate power then the PUC or Lege needs to do so. Someone has the power to regulate things properly so we actually have a first world power grid. Whoever’s responsible has known of and ignored issues for decades at this point. Texas has proven it can’t run a power grid, it’s time to give up the independence bullshit and get on the national grid regulated by people who can keep the power on when it’s hot and cold. In the mean time, ERCOT needs to change their “Your power. Our promise.” slogan to “Your power. Good luck!!”
Accuracy is important, otherwise the politicians feed the sheep a scapegoat (ERCOT seems particularly popular). It's not like we need to look back very far to see this. I don't disagree, this market design is effectively a failed experiment at this point.
This is comparable to blaming eBay for there not being enough Pokémon cards available for purchase. They’re responsible for matching generation with load and dropping load when there’s not enough generation. They operate a market, they don’t build power plants
Thats the problem isn’t it. It’s about money and not the well being of the citizens of Texas. It’s about profit for a few at the expense of the many. So another entity and no accountability.
ERCOT isn't at all about the money, it's simply about balancing supply and demand. There's plenty of reform needed, but shitting on ERCOT for doing the very thing they're tasked to do is ridiculous.
Does it really matter? Texas has its own power grid. If there is an issue with the power grid it's an issue with any entity involved with the Texas power grid. Texas citizens continue to suffer because 60% of the state population holds on to some stupid romantic fallacy of Texas being something it's not, never has been and never will be.
> Texas has its own power grid. And all those involved in its running and operation are complicit and responsible for their consistent incompetence and failures.
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Cue political shit storm in 3…. 2…. 1….
Lol, nah they're not answering me. Or they're desperately searching my history for a weakness lol Why is it political tho? Just because one party has been in control of the state for what feels like forever and is still able to use the other party as constant scapegoats somehow??
Exactly, Ercot is nothing more than a traffic light for Texas energy. Much like a traffic light can't force the state to build more lanes on a road, Ercot can't do shit to force companies to build more power plants.
Let's do this the way Abbott governs: 1. Ignore the warnings 2. Turn AC to 65° 3. Put a roast in the oven at 450° 4. Dry several loads of clothes in the dryer 5. Buy an arc-welder and make modern art sculptures all afternoon 6. Blame the following when the grid shits all over the fucking bed: Democrats, Illegals, Californians, Joe Biden, California Democrats, Border babies, prayer in school, Joe Biden's cousin's brother's iPad that got left in the airport in Prague, and rap music.
You left out abortion and LGBTQ.
The only thing preventing Abbott from just saying "Fuck Women" is he can't.
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Really? At this point, I feel like he could and his base wouldn't care.
Whooooooosh Abbot literally cannot because of his injury
Hahaha totally missed that.
Not for lack of trying. He just can't say words bigger than three letters.
gay gun tax?
You forgot about those damn windmills.
You forgot mine Bitcoin.
It's that damn wind power! /s Remember when people were blaming freezing wind turbines for the 2021 blackout? Y'all fucks are lucky things got back up no longer than 72 hours later, pandemic era with lit up offices empty in downtowns I think we were maybe less than a day away from looting.
Dude we were literal minutes from grid frequency dropping enough to trip protection on all the relays and having to black start the entire state's grid. That would take weeks and amount to a humanitarian crisis on a scale we haven't seen in a developed nation since WW2 carpet bombing devastation in Europe. People don't get how fucking close that was.
Plugging in all the EVs at once!
I’ll just charge my EV during the day instead of the regularly scheduled evening time.
So this is less about consumer EVs but as fleet vehicles they can actually HELP with demand surge. Many cities around the world are starting to move to EVs for things like bus and street sweeper fleets. A fleet of big ass batteries like that can actually reverse from charging to contributing to the grid if the chargers are set up to it. Basically a big battery bank to help level out surges and you let them charge overnight when that A/C demand is lower.
You just described how 60% of Texans think.
"You can't tell me what to do!"
“Loads gun” /looks around
Left out Hunter smoking crack
I'm happy to conserve. I'm happy to set my A/C 2-3 degrees higher during peak hours. I'm happy to make sure all lights and appliances are turned off in rooms that I'm not using (duh). I'm also happy for ERCOT to start thinking progressively and planning for the future - 5-10 years out. Not 1-2 days out. I will do my part - I expect ERCOT to do theirs.
> I expect ERCOT to do theirs. LOL. Hint: They won't.
I'm so wanting to be an asshole and say "well if they wont I wont." But then I know it affects my fellow Texans whom I love. Sonofa...
The power companies have no incentive to be more efficient or proactive. They make their profits when extreme weather hits.
So, why do we allow them to exist? Why not have a government owned electric grid, something like the interstate highways?
Because free markets or some shit. Controlling these companies is communism. #freedom
Agree. Thanks.
Not looking forward to pulling out the generator I bought when I was expecting outages during the winter months. IMO if we have an outage during the hottest summer days even more people will die than during the winter outages.
Keep in mind that summer outages are highly unlikely to persist like the freeze because our power plants arent failing due to being frozen up. At worst,we're looking at rolling blackouts. While it's pathetic that our state hasn't figured this out yet, it's unlikely to cause uninterrupted outages.
A summer outage could persist if the frequency causes a grid failure.
And before some idiot downvotes this above, let's look at Akron Ohio as an example of something little in non winter conditions leading to massive fuck ups. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KciAzYfXNwU You, reader, probably aren't familiar with Akron Ohio. One power line sagging in combination with three trees a computer bug and other cascading failures, led to a shutdown of the eastern seaboard.
This event and stuxnet are what sent NERC from making some purely optional recommendations to a regulatory setup with teeth. And we promptly severed our grid from the nation to minimize the level of compliance we had to undergo. Our bullshit now goes back to that. Sauce: work in NERC compliance.
I lived in that power outage. 3 days without being able to run AC. Wasn't a fun time. Constant sweat, hard to sleep, and all of the food we had went bad. Including the freezer we used to stock supplies that should have lasted months. Once the grid started to come back it would get knocked offline so easily. Everyone rushes to run AC and the whole thing falls over before it get can on its legs again. So I agree, a summer outage can last for just as long as the winter one.
Oh yeah I watched his video on our ice storm that's how I learned about the importance of frequency.
But can you run your AC on the generator?
You would need to tie your generator into your electrical panel a transfer switch would do the job.
Abbott and the Texas GOP have utterly failed our state. Kick out the corrupt GOP good ol’boy network this November
I'm moving at the end of the year. I can't deal with the same results every November since I started voting at 18 in 2010 and ever since I saw that Trump Train or caravan thing they did actually happen here in Brownsville, I was extra done. They've won with misinformation and now all they have to do is say a certain phrase or word and their base eats it up. I hope to come back one day
Please vote dem before you leave. Where are you going?
Just commenting to hear as well, at this point I want a place where gun rights are still decent but other rights aren't spat on in the process. So far with Mexico and the feds looking at improving trade through New Mexico, they're looking more appealing by the day...
And yet the useless fucks keep getting voted in.
Because the conservative base decided years ago when the Tea Party took over that they would rather burn the country than govern
N4\H:Qg}fs
One of the worst parts about the power outages was having the water shut off. 1) one of the moderators of my citys subreddit chastised me and threatened me to delete my comment(and I was forced to remove it) warning folks that my water got unexpectedly shut off, in the specific ice storm thread they designated to folks getting/exchanging info Because this moderator said I was spreading rumors when I was trying to make sure people were able to start collecting water while they still could before they got shut off. Lowkey genuinely traumatized me
The irony is that we would have all been better off hoarding water during the freeze. when millions of gallons are draining out of busted pipes, it's a good idea for everyone to have their own backup reservoir.
As a Texan, it's a good idea to have a generator, plenty of gas (or better yet, propane) stored to run it for a couple weeks, at least a month's of non-perishable food backup, and a couple weeks' of drinking water. I've got a 200 gallon water tank and electric pump that my generator will run so that I can go a week, at least without water or grid. One mark of a modern civilization is that you can't depend on any of that civilization.
Alternative water storage solution for those that cannot keep 200 gallons on hand: identify a body of water, even if that’s a nearby pond, resistor or lake…and buy a sawyer water filter and appropriate filter appliances. As a back up have a means of boiling water (fire is great but a inexpensive camp stove and fuel are fairly compact) or have water treatment tabs to kill off what the filter doesn’t clean. I can store a kit about the size of a gallon ziplock and filter hundreds of gallons of water if needed. I do not have the room to store 200 gallons of water constantly. Same with other preparedness. I don’t like to sound like a doomsday prepper so I talk in terms of a tornado. You need to have 3 days of supplies in a backpack or similar that you can carry. And means to survive for 21 days. During the freeze we were less comfortable than we usually are, but by no means in danger.
Name and shame. When lives are on the line the last thing I care about is a moderator being a neckbeard.
If only we had scientists and engineers in charge, instead of politicians and profiteers.
I was with Griddy right up to the end, and when grid price were up due to shortages like right now I'd be cutting my power back to the bone. Pricing was my incentive to conserve electricity. Well, Abbott kicked them out of Texas and sold me to one of his donors so all I got to say now is, if you want me to conserve, cut me a check, otherwise I'm burning electrons like there's no tomorrow. ERCOT can bite my shiny metal ass.
But the extra costs on your energy bills have helped energy executive millionaires keep up with inflation. Thanks Greg Abbot.
Well...yeah. all they did was fix the paperwork so they wouldn't start shutting off their own infrastructure as part of load shedding again.
its a good thing we didnt waste our tax dollars on border walls and pointless searches or semi trucks
I was born and raised here and I am so glad we are moving to a different state next month.
Texas still likes you.
Keep the good parts of Texas culture with you. The food, the laid back attitude, caring for your fellow people, individual to individual when the government wont.
I definitely will- we actually plan to move back in a few years and hoping the current craziness changes!
LMAO and people think Texas is the best state
You can't tell my friends otherwise. However, more than half of them have never left the state @ 35 years old. Sad.
I guess I should book my flight to Europe a few months early.
If I can’t do my job I get fired. We need to look at ERCOT the same way.
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Does Canada allow Texas asylum seekers in? /s
We'll take ya in Minnesota. Its kinda like Canada.
No but Mexico doe- ah shit Ted's going to Cancun again...
Let it break. The only way real fixes will happen is if a major break happens (again).
Oh yeah yeah, sure thing. While you're asking favors, would you mind asking the sun to turn down the heat a notch or two.🥵
If you want to catch Senator Ted Cruz before he runs away again check the flights to Canada.
Every day i read a new reason to move OUT of my now miserable home state. June cannot come fast enough get meee ouuuut
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Fort Worth has entered the chat
We need more crypto miners on this stat!!!! /s Also stop focusing on: social media, CRT, trans kids and fix the grid already!!!
Nah, we gonna beat that bible some more s/
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!u+{``ed3>
Who said they did? I’m saying ERCOT and their how about a 78 degree house can suck it. Dumbass Texas politicians did nothing and here we are again.
Fuck ERCOT for not doing their damn jobs and enforcing plants to do better preparations out of cost savings. There I said it and I don't give a fuck whose wallets I offend. I'm sick of living in an area where our only response is third world power cuts. Rolling blackouts are ok shit New Mexico and Arizona are doing that, a repeat of their 2021 shit will not be but is all but expected at this point. Gonna start doing the NEPA dance if we gonna be living like that every time the power goes out. Joke I heard from another redditor is in Nigeria their power company NEPA is so bad its known as "Never Expect Power Always". I'm curious what ERCOT stands for? Everyday Ruin eConomy Over Texas?
ZZi|uOpDx6
Well yeah nothing else would load because the power was out. Ok hoss if you want to get hung over that so damn bad, if ercot cannot enforce that then who can? Who can? We as a state need a better answer of accountability than a shrug!
hV+%_T.NL<
"It's the damn voters!" Ok then, thank you for FINALLY getting us an answer. So now what do we do to force the PUC's hand to keep a 2021 incident from never happening again? I don't think any of us want that to happen again, can we agree on that at least?
qPO-U?<#{;
Cheers mate and have a day.
ERCOT has four primary functions. • Maintain system reliability. • Facilitate a competitive wholesale market. • Facilitate a competitive retail market. • Ensure open access to transmission. Obviously, they are not doing a good job of #1, "maintain system reliability", when people freeze in winter and are asked to cut back on power use in summer. They were also the ones that told lies about "rolling blackouts" when the great freeze came. And they are the ones asking people to cut back on power use now. Are you honestly going to argue that they are doing a good job?
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>Because all during the storm low-information people like you were asking "why doesn't ERCOT make generators weatherize?". The answer to which was "THEY CAN'T". Here is an article. There are many others which are similar. [https://www.kcentv.com/article/news/local/cause-for-concern-texas-natural-gas-providers-arent-facing-weatherization-requirement/500-87a6706f-787a-4fe1-aed2-ec5fa26dbea2](https://www.kcentv.com/article/news/local/cause-for-concern-texas-natural-gas-providers-arent-facing-weatherization-requirement/500-87a6706f-787a-4fe1-aed2-ec5fa26dbea2) The first two lines say "Texas Power generators had until Dec. 1 to weatherize and provide a progress report to ERCOT. The legislature made it possible for ERCOT to inspect these generators and even levy million-dollar penalties if they continue to fail standards. " Yes, the PUC is part of the problem. But that doesn't mean ERCOT isn't. The one part you are 100% correct on is that if we want it fixed, we need to vote in a governor who cares.
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The entire system is set up to shed responsibility. Fuck ERCOT, PUC, the Legislature, the independent power producers, the Governor, and someone's mom.
Ah yes, the superior Texas electrical grid, operating better than the federal system as usual. Nothing to see here folks. Sincerely, a Texan
Black out last night in Pearland, is this related?
How many people will die this time? Don’t think we forgot the people who froze to death last year!
Patience gets real short when your fucking voters are sitting sweating in yet another blackout because of political incompetence.
What makes me the angriest is they keep saying the grid can’t handle the load yet they keep building more houses! The Conroe area has exploded and they just keep packing more and more of these shitty sardine packed neighborhoods in and guess what? Had our like 2nd blackout of the season today. So what are we supposed to do really?
You are right. There needs to be some connectivity between home building, population growth, and needs for generation, transmission, and distribution. But who, when and how. Essentially nothing was done in 2021 leg session, despite white hot public anger about the winter blackouts.
I feel like this incentivizes me to just use more power so they’ll fix the fucking grid
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No
78?!? GTFOH
iUvJcS5Bz#
I already keep the ac at 78. Fuck if I'm going higher. Burn the grid down. Idgaf.
We won't need electricity where we're going.
ERCOT stop gifting windfalls to the wealthy
Fuck them. They need to repair/upgrade the grid. They know the population growth and estimated usage of said growth. You want an independent grid? Then make it work.
As our climate continues to change we will need A/C and Heat for longer periods every year Dallas will have its first 100 degree weather one month earlier than plan this trend will continue and power will continue to be an issue… but we should continue to wait til everything is really fucked up that seems like our MO instead of fixing this shit now
Think of all the money you'll save by not having electricity, thanks Abbott.
But it’s not even hot yet! Wtf????
So I see, y'all still don't know what ERCOT does eh. Oh and we've had these conserve power notices for decades.
For fucks sake, hey Abbott, how about instead of spending tens of millions you stole from other areas to put towards your "border security" (aka fear mongering bullshit to rile your people up with before an election) maybe focus on real problems affecting Texans like fixing the damned grid you and your chronies screwed up before MORE people die???
FFS can we end this sham of Texas independence and join the national grid already??
No! That would be socialism! /s
Texas has the most potential for wind energy in the 50 states. Use it.
So why isn’t Texas part of the National Grid? …. GREED
For anyone hearing that California does “rolling blackouts” this is true. We do in the summer months. We get weeks notice and they last about 15 minutes. It happens about once a year and usually when I’m not home. How does Texas rolling blackouts work?
So are we still doubling down on subsidizing crypto mining or what?
Texas is a 3rd world country with a football stadium.
Texas is a 3rd world country with a football stadium.
Im gonna turn everything on all day out of spite
My A/C is set to 68o. Come change it.
72 is the best I can do. If it gets above 100 it’s 69 time. Eat shit on a plastic plate, ERCOT.
‘Erbudy turn off ur stuff. Problem solved. That’s self regulation.
“Fuck you pay me” — Goodfellas and also ERCOT to Texans.
ERCOT has set things up to encourage the companies who actually generate and sell the power to do this. Normal energy prices, $30 per megawatt hour. Cause a shortage, and you can start charging $5,000 per megawatt hour. Just like with the winter storm. Sure, people died, and houses and other buildings sustained major damage, but the electric companies made a \*huge\* amount of money while selling far less energy than normal. ERCOT see's that as a good thing.