Texas’ Big Freeze: The 2021 Power Crisis and the Lessons Learned One Year Later 34

[bimr]

Link

 

[Guest102023]

It's a politics and perception problem.

Bingo! Unfortunately your politics are toxic and your perception skewed. And that’s putting it diplomatically. But nevertheless it is explainable.

Welcome to Drumpfland, where every statement is the opposite of truth. Some of the accusations made here are truly bonkers. It feels strange to be one of the few people in the room unafraid to face unpleasant facts rather than deny them and slander others who disagree. Tied down by intellectual Lilliputians (didn’t read that one either did you?)

But here’s the really bad news that you need to come to grips with: the American Empire is in free fall. It looks like a suicide mission. But I take no satisfaction in that.


"If you don't have time to do the job right the first time, when are you going to find time to repair it?"

 

[TugboatEng]

Politics don't need to be toxic. That one is on you. I believe bigot is the word you would use to describe yourself.

 

[Guest102023]

What’s sad is that you undercut yourself with every attack and you can’t see it.

You live in Drumpfland yet I’m the one making politics toxic by observing that it is toxic??? Give your head a shake!

"If you don't have time to do the job right the first time, when are you going to find time to repair it?"

 

[TugboatEng]

Ironic, have you ever seen me mention Trump?

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

Realistically all grids are facing the same issues.

Not just Texas. The politics for me is not individual of local flavour.

This has been brewing for 30 years. But as most places political cycles are less than 5 years they never do anything until things collapse.

And I might it's us that are expected to pay for it even though they have been extracting profits during the run down. And as soon as it's sorted they will again run down the capital and extract profits.

 

[CWB1]

Welcome to Drumpfland, where every statement is the opposite of truth. Some of the accusations made here are truly bonkers. It feels strange to be one of the few people in the room unafraid to face unpleasant facts rather than deny them and slander others who disagree. Tied down by intellectual Lilliputians (didn’t read that one either did you?)

To quote the movie Billy Madison

What you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

Bah humbug, knocking about ideas how to get the grids of this world in a better condition than they have turned into is more fun.

Really like the smart grid idea with the grid being able to onload and off load to keep stability using opted in customers a really good idea. Making it worth there while to boot.

I have mentioned it before but there is an arc smelting pot in Germany sitting full of scrap metal on standby to be triggered by the grid. They get paid to use the electricity. Conversely there are other loads which are on standby to be offloaded for a period. And they are selectable.

That to me is a worthy engineering solution than rolling blackouts and eating thermal cycles.

 

[cranky108]

Here is the problem, "Money". It was intended to be spent on things that strengthen the grid. But it looked too good, and was spent on pet projects, that did not help the grid.

Notice the cold weather rules don't say anything about fixing the gas freezing problems.

 

[Overvoltage]

I have mentioned it before but there is an arc smelting pot in Germany sitting full of scrap metal on standby to be triggered by the grid. They get paid to use the electricity. Conversely there are other loads which are on standby to be offloaded for a period. And they are selectable.

That to me is a worthy engineering solution than rolling blackouts and eating thermal cycle

And at least you get something useful and tangible out of it with that. Cryptominers are requesting similar deals where they will "switch off" to return that capacity to the grid, but in exchange want rock bottom rates or even to be paid to use the energy. To produce what? A number calculation that only adds value to the owner.

Heck, it doesn't even add jobs (once it's built, and even then not many with containerized setups they bring in on a truck and drop into a spot with hookups).

But, the right people are making money off of it now, so I suspect we won't see it regulated like other countries have already done. We'll just all pay higher energy rates (for infrastructure and energy) as linked earlier.

 

[cranky108]

Besides number calculations they also produce heat, and lots of it, and noise.

On the other hand, they could be used for code breaking.

 

[Guest102023]

Thanks CWB1,
I now hate Adam Sandler a little less!
I will now search out this excellent cinematic rant.


"If you don't have time to do the job right the first time, when are you going to find time to repair it?"

 

[JohnRBaker]

Something Governor Abbott hasn't really said much about and that is that Texas has three times as much solar power generation capacity as it did just one year ago:

https://twitter.com/JoeNBC/status/1...0520/solar-power-currently-saving-texas-power

https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/...s-right-to-finally-support-green-17040477.php

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[JohnRBaker]

In fact, Texas has been doing quite well in getting renewables up and running and connected to the state's grid:

Texas Leads the Country in Renewables

https://www.energytexas.com/blog/texas-leads-the-country-in-renewables/

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[JohnRBaker]

Speaking of renewables, this is the current status of the California power generation system:

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[TugboatEng]

It's a pretty mild day today. I see Orange county is at 78°. LA is 72°. It's 63° where I'm at right now.

 

[dik]

thanks, John... good info...

So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

 

[JohnRBaker]

It's currently 82˚ here in Irvine. It was 84˚ yesterday and they're predicting a high of 83˚ today, which looks like what it'll be, plus or minus a degree or two, for the next 10 days.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[1503-44]

Nice to know that necessity, economics and engineering sense in TX is apparently winning out in determining the optimum mix of renewable and conventional power sources, despite TX leadership objectives. I guess that's about the best result you can hope for.

Einstein gave the same test to students every year. When asked why he would do something like that, "Because the answers had changed."

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

But they won't let the peasants have it.

 

[1503-44]

they have their ARs

Einstein gave the same test to students every year. When asked why he would do something like that, "Because the answers had changed."