power outages

Sorry to hear about all the power out in Texas including the Dallas area. Here's hoping everyone is ok. I have been through lengthy power outages during cold weather and it is no fun.

From the reports in the national news, it appears that the current situation is not due to down lines, but rather to down gas fired and coal fired generating plants that were not built to operate at such low temperatures, and in some cases because gas fired plants have been shut down due to outrageous prices for natural gas despite the historically large supply. That sounds like gouging due to heavy usage.

At any rate, I hope everyone is able to stay warm and cozy. Fix a hot beverage (if you have the heat source to make one) and sit close to the fire (if you have one).

Cold here, too, but nothing out of the ordinary for February.

Dave McNeely

I am in Arlington, about 1 block from Pantego. Mon. I had about 12inches
of snow on my uncovered balcony and my table and chairs.
AFAIK there have been no electric outages in this immediate area.
This AM (Wed) water pressure was barely a trickle. Haven't heard
the cause but a little concerned about potability. Fri, got 4 cases
of bottled water delivered from ALDI along with my groceries.
I have a beaucoup of rechargeables, including lights, emergency
radio, hand warmers, power banks, many solar rechargeable.

If you haven't heard about the 100+ vehicle pileup with at least 6
fatalities on 35W in FW, here's a link to a YouTube real-time video
of some of the crashes.

[www.youtube.com]

old man from dallas Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> From the reports in the national news, it appears
> that the current situation is not due to down
> lines, but rather to down gas fired and coal fired
> generating plants that were not built to operate
> at such low temperatures, and in some cases
> because gas fired plants have been shut down due
> to outrageous prices for natural gas despite the
> historically large supply. That sounds like
> gouging due to heavy usage.
>
> At any rate, I hope everyone is able to stay warm
> and cozy. Fix a hot beverage (if you have the
> heat source to make one) and sit close to the fire
> (if you have one).
>
> Cold here, too, but nothing out of the ordinary
> for February.

Abbutt, is whining about the end of the world as we know,
even tho wind turbines performed better than expected.
It was the heat based energy plants that fugged up because
their control devices froze up.

[www.youtube.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2021 02:33AM by Frank.

Your comment is consistent with what national news is reporting. On top of that, evidently gas suppliers are really gouging on prices, with some markets reporting that prices have soared to hundreds of times what they were a week or so ago, at a time of gas glut in the market. And of course, gas fuels the large majority of power plants in Texas. DMN reported this morning that Jerry Jone's natural gas company is gloating about what a killing it is making due to sudden market spikes. All the best people, don't you know?

Dave McNeely

old man from dallas Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Your comment is consistent with what national news
> is reporting. On top of that, evidently gas
> suppliers are really gouging on prices, with some
> markets reporting that prices have soared to
> hundreds of times what they were a week or so ago,
> at a time of gas glut in the market. And of
> course, gas fuels the large majority of power
> plants in Texas. DMN reported this morning that
> Jerry Jone's natural gas company is gloating about
> what a killing it is making due to sudden market
> spikes. All the best people, don't you know?
>
The vast majority of Texas is not on either Eastern or Western
Power Grid, but on it's own grid called ERCOT. The few areas
that are on the National Grids only had minor outages because
power could be diverted to them from areas with less extreme
weather.

[www.star-telegram.com]

[news.yahoo.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2021 04:45PM by Frank.

Yes, I knew that Texas is on its own grid, evidently to avoid federal regulations, from what I have read both before and recently. And I read this morning about the small areas connected to the two larger grids being ok. But even in areas with even more extreme weather than Texas has had, the power grids have kept on keepin' on, because they are "built to take it." Texas facilities are not, both because Texas seldom experiences such extremes, and because it is cheaper to build plants that are not "hardened" to cold weather. Even gas processing for distribution in Texas is seemingly short cut, not drying the fuel as completely as in other areas, resulting in transmission line valves and connections freezing, curtailing supply.

Wow, just wow!

Dave McNeely