Tomorrow I hope to discover if any pipes are busted.
I have heard that there was a freeze up in a major natural gas line which limited the capacity to some power plants. Natural gas contains some moisture, Gas companies try to remove as much as possible, but it can collect in low portions of the lines. Some even have sumps which collect the moisture and remove it. As lines get colder, the condensation increases. I have no idea how they remove blockages.
I don't know anyone who works for ERCOT, but if this is their first test of the system, They failed with an F+.
Locally, the only AC power in town was the water supply system in my town (600 people). Not sure if our sewer plant had electricity.
There was not a single gas station operational in the entire county for 2 days during the worst of the cold blast.
The local propane retailer had no power to his business, but they operated in the extreme cold pumping propane to those who brought them propane tanks to fill. (neighbors helping neighbors)
I had zero electricity for over 2 days at my home, we did have natural gas. But the only way to use it was a single 3,000 btu bathroom heater. The 2nd day I managed to build a fire in the fireplace, but it did not help much. When we went to bed at night we bundled up and actually did fine until we had to get up in the morning. The only way I had to cook was outside on my bar-b-que grill and the side burner on it. Natural gas heat is worthless if you don't have the electric power to run the central heating unit.
At the farm I had simple propane heaters that worked.
At the county seat, the hospital (& some houses near), the water supply system and the courthouse area (including at least 1 bank) had power.
My wife works in a bank at the county seat, she was notified on Monday morning that they had power and they were to be there at 9:00AM. She managed to get dressed in the bathroom with heat and got to work.
My 95 year old father, who lives at home with 24 hour help for care givers central heat system was shut down from no electricity. They had a 4 burner gas range top that provided heat and a small gas bathroom heater. His house has great windows with storm windows and they managed to stay warm.
The problem with top down computer control systems over the entire state's electric system makes life or death decisions that they cannot possibly know the consequences for.
My wife's daughter live just outside of Abilene, she was without power until yesterday afternoon. More than 5 days and nights without electricity and without heat (she has an all electric system)
This is not about the Wind Turbines freezing up (as the press is saying), that might have contributed some. This is about dealing with a very freak storm and some bad breaks in gas supply system to power plants and decisions made by people in Austin calling all the shots.
Lesson learned? I already had planned to move back to our farm. And when the remodel there is finished this year, it will have heat and power options that don't rely on the Monster System.
Moral of story? Today's problems were often yesterday's solutions.
Computers do not solve problems. They make big decisions that affect huge numbers of people, but the stupid computers don't have the ability to understand what pushing this button and that button really do.
Good stuff and a good plan. I prepare yearly for cold weather events and lack of power at my house.
I am curious and if you or anyone knows the answer.....
How much money have ERCOT executives received in bonuses for “green energy” and how much of their disposable cash was used for it?
Would be interested to know......
Tomorrow I hope to discover if any pipes are busted.
Or doesn’t, as the case may be.
Is there any information on “out of state” shipments of power?
Manages?
My fireplace is the only dependable commodity in my house over the past week. That and what was a cord of wood.
A third of the ERCOT board members live out of state
—snip—
The ERCOT website biographies prior to being pulled down listed ERCOT Chair Sally Talbert as a former state utility regulator in Michigan. Records indicate she lives in Williamston, Michigan.
ERCOT Vice Chair Peter Cramton was listed as an economics professor at the University of Cologne in Germany and at the University of Maryland, the website biography said.
—snip—
Terry Bulger, who lives int in Wheaton, Ill., according to the ERCOT website.
Raymond Hepper was listed as a retired general counsel and officer for a New England company. Records indicate he now lives in Maine.
Vanessa Anesetti-Parra was listed as serving as vice president of regulatory and compliance for an energy company. A social media page lists her home as Toronto.
The flood gates at the dams along the Highland Lakes operate on decisions made by people a 100 miles away. Back when there were real live people monitoring the dams, we rarely had floods and nothing as huge as in recent years. Today, we are at the mercy of dingbats in Austin sitting in cubicles staring at screens. Mr. b had a fall and broke his arm in three places. I couldn't get out the driveway so had to call the ambulance. The next morning at day break, the hospital demanded he be taken back home. Excuse me, but all roads into town were closed. It didn't matter, they wanted him out. I called around on all sides of the hospital and no was able to get out. Eventually, they moved him and some elderly people into a storage room to sit and wait hours for rides and be out of the staff's hair. A couple of angels in a big bad a$$ truck picked him up on their way this direction to deliver meals. As soon as the roads clear, I'll be headed to town to patch up some of our failures. Get cells phones with two different companies so if one company doesn't have service the other might. Get a couple of those weirdo phone batteries. Return a propane tank that didn't work. Stop by the cable company to see if they could give me directions on getting the box to work - yeah, last time the box didn't work they refused to hand us one over the counter but wouldn't be out for 3 weeks but would still charge us or we could cancel service with them, sigh. And meds that Mr. b refused to stock up on. Anyone know how to fix a tv cable box that is on "standby"? Yes, unplugged and plugged it back in but no luck. Thankfully, PEC power company figured out a good off and on schedule two nights ago. Instead of freezing us out with no power all day, they decided to turn it on for say an hour and off for an hour and a half. Rinse and repeat. Guessing they were following dumb bunny orders from ERCOT prior to yesterday.
“The Electric Reliability Council”
You know how you can tell these must be a bunch of leftists: They accomplished the opposite of their name.
Electric Reliability Council? Is that like Minitruth, Miniplenty, and Miniluv?
That write-up at the top of this thread seems to me to be a lame dodge of responsibility of ERCOT and saying that someone else is at fault.
Regardless of who is at fault, what they have done is criminal.
I am not sure what happened. Every time there is bad weather kicking up my power goes out. All the neighborhoods surrounding mine usually have their power back on before our neighborhood. But, for some odd reason, our power did not go off at all.
Thanks for sharing. I never did lose electricity, maybe I live close to HEB and walgreens. Walgreens closed since the 14th, and I made it to HEB yesterday, they were completely out of fresh meat, cheese and dairy products, hardly any produce and no water. Good thing I didn’t need water. I hope they get supplies in soon, people get irate when their hungry.
Supposed to get over 40° tomorrow!
It isn’t their first “test of the system”.
We went through the exact same thing in 2011 with a deep freeze and extended blackouts. And they never ensured that the infrastructure we needed to meet the demands of 200,000 people a year moving to north Texas got built.
Instead, they built expensive windmills that freeze up when it is freezing and have extensive conservation ad campaigns ... while refusing to expand the nuclear plant in east Texas or build more natural gas plants though we produce natural gas in DFW.
The problem resides as always in DC and the Effin bureaucrats running things.
To stay within total emissions Texas only runs its power plants at 60% load. When more power demand is needed, Texas ( like all other states) must receive “ mother may I “ permission from DC to ramp up the generators. Of course, Mordour on the Patomac drug it’s feet and before we knew it power was going down.
Texans it is time to go our separate ways with DC and the 2.5 million unelected bueracracy. Support #TEXIT and HB1359 to let Texans vote.
Texas First. Texan Always