Posted on 07/15/2021 9:32:31 AM PDT by ConservativeMind
The UT researchers said that 67 sites were allowed to sign up for a voluntary “emergency response” program coordinated by ERCOT.
Dozens of mostly natural gas facilities, including some directly supplying fuel to power plants around the state, were paid to have their electricity cut off in an emergency like February’s devastating winter storm, according to a report released Tuesday by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin.
The UT researchers said that 67 sites, mostly gas refining and pipeline infrastructure locations around Texas, were allowed to sign up for a voluntary “emergency response” program coordinated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, which runs the state's power grid.
Of those 67 locations receiving payments from ERCOT, at least five sites “later identified themselves to the electric utility as critical natural gas infrastructure,” according to the UT researchers.
Most power plants in Texas use natural gas for fuel. A key cause of the February blackouts was power plants not being able to get the fuel they needed to operate.
In February, about 4.5 million homes lost electricity in one of the most serious winter weather blackouts in Texas history. In mid-February, temperatures stayed below freezing throughout Texas for nearly a week. By some estimates, hundreds died from the cold and lack of power and potable water which was in short supply because of frozen and burst water pipes.
(Excerpt) Read more at wfaa.com ...
It was only hundreds who died.
I would think a good lawyer could have a field day with this one.
If Abbott doesn’t crush this insanity, he is part of the coup…which many of us have suspected…
ALL DEMOCRATS AND RINOS ARE EVIL!
Goodbye, Gregg.
Abbott better make sure AG paxton throws the book at criminal commie dems.
What insanity? This so-called news article lacks context.
If natural gas is used for power, it can be curtailed to prevent congestion in transmission lines.
If natural gas is used for heat, it can be curtailed in an emergency to prevent fires perhaps due to broken pipes.
Bkmk.
What nonsense you say?
Some MBAs F’d up they saw dollar signs to be part of a curtailment program and didn’t stop to think their infrastructure might be critical need and not eligible for the payoffs. Corporate greed as usual. Texas needs to end RECORD and the PUC go back to regulation from the state and force winterizing the grid, Mark all the gas infrastructure as critical and install back up diesels at the pipe line points and mandate 25% spinning reserves above the Max estimated mwh demand at any 15 epoch. Costs will be ten billion spread out over all the rate payers and over two fiscal years. Sell state bonds to cover it and recoup the costs via a per kWh tariff in every one sold statewide to commercial residential and industrial equally.
“If an entity is considered critical infrastructure, then it should not be offering to participate in the ERS program,” ERCOT said in a statement late Tuesday, referring to the voluntary Emergency Response Program’s acronym.”
Looks like context right there. Bet the problem was price. And the utilities that signed up were buying protection from having to eat any cost increase.
Autocorrect RECORD = ERCOT
ERCOT is the problem the solutions are eliminate them and go back to state power regulation. Deregulation has been a disaster literally. ERCOT exists to make corporations profits not to help the avg Texan. We look forward to a Gov West Abbott can ride South facing in a Northbound horse for all we care.
You can’t fix stupid
So, businesses signing up to have their power cut during emergencies in exchange for lower power rates is actually pretty common.
What was stupid here is that they allowed businesses vital to the electrical infrastructure to sign up! What the hell was ERCOT or the business thinking? Both of them are equally guilty.
The problem was the Texas RRC ignored the oil industry professionals who in 2004 and again in 2011 told them to harden the well heads to freezing temps, bury the gas gathering lines below the frost line depth instead of leaving the plastic lines on the surface, harden the gas water separators as well. Stop removing natural gas engine powered compressor stations for electric ones or have back up diesels at the electric powered ones.
Texas lost more than half it’s gas supply to freezing lines or separators plus electric pumps being cut off by the rolling blackouts. MORE THAN HALF let that sink in. Gas is not stored in Texas it is made from the well heads into the pipelines in minutes from ground to pipeline when those well heads and gas processors froze in half of the supply for the country went off line it became a critical gas shortage which caused gas power plants to drop off line and cascade the failure. Texas came within 5 minutes of the whole power grid going down and a black start being attempted and I say attempted because 13 of 17 of the black start generators also went down due to the freeze and or lack of fuel. Without those black start the grid would have stayed down for MONTHS truly apocalyptic scenarios would happen then. Texas avoid a 3 to six month black out by 5 minutes millions would have died or had to flee. Yes as a matter of fact I am an industry professionals and the RRC ignored us twice maybe they will.listen now.
Nope-
It’s the gubbermint.
They don’t go by the laws anyhow - only the peon public has to follow the law.
ERCOT: “A Government Agency (’sovereign immunity’ defense in play) ERCOT is chartered by government, directed by government regulation, and governed by government entities. Its funding is from a tax on electric consumers on each monthly bill.”
It’s a 504c4 organization: https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/other-non-profits/social-welfare-organizations
Those responsible are faceless and nameless, decisions are made by committees so no one is responsible, if it’s the DOJ or intel community they just put a classification on it and keep it from the public or courts... In government, no one is ever responsible-
***How do governments fix shortages in supply? RATIONING.***
They don’t manufacture/produce anything.
And they don’t help create more supply either. That would cut into the profit margins of some, but also cause true competition which we don’t really want. Government doesn’t like competition when it comes to the services they offer.
Government only rations/redistributes. Just like you have redistribution of wealth with money, so is the case with electrical power when government manages things.
He needs to get with AG Ken Paxton to go over the long list of criminal charges to be brought against every member of ERCOT. It's way past time to start locking up commie leftists and Abbott and Paxton need to get to it.
Remember the members of ERCOT resigning a week or so after the freeze? I said then it was clear proof they knew they were guilty of deliberately causing this disaster. They resigned in order to protect against potential prosecution.
I want Abbott to win reelection but ERCOT criminals must go to prison. Any leftist dem involved in this should be prosecuted. The commie left prosecutes our side when we are innocent. They target Trump supporters and conservatives. It's time for some highly justified leveling of the playing field. Lock these people up!!
The Texas RRC who regulates the natural gas grid also failed us. They had decades to prepare for February. The industry told them after the ice storm of 2004 and again in 2011 to harden the gas grid. They FLAT out said no it will eat profits when the industry professionals sent the reports the state legislature demanded the last two times. The legi and the Gov are going to need to put in law and mandate the hardening of the grids ERCOT and the RRC are just yes men for the corporations nothing will change until mandated with fiscal penalty high enough to hurt the profits of the Enron level.corruption that ERCOT and the RRC represents. Abbott is toast Mr West is going to trounce him if Matthew doesn’t. Matthews loved by the younger generation and they vote in force in Texas now more are coming from Cali and the NE to the tech Mega of Austin , Dallas and Houston my money is on West but just barely over Matthew.
I think you have that confused.
The only price affected was the pipelines’ normal electricity price via contract, which could have been permanently fixed at 8-12 cents a KWH via contract. They got a discount on that contract rate of a certain percentage off those normal rates, but if cut off, they would not be able to supply natural gas. This is normally only for no more than a couple hours in the summer, but for a gas turbine, it would cut at least some supply, which means electricity won’t be able to generate electricity for the power emergency.
It’s a bad situation that isn’t good in the summer or winter, but especially when so many power generation options are forced offline, such that homes freeze over in a day and for days longer.
Abbott is just another “yes” man.
I hope he’s gone. He did nothing to help.
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