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Rolling power blackouts in effect across Texas as massive winter storm drives demand for electricity

Ace in the Hole

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Some of my family are about 45 min south of Austin in LaGrange, they have been without running water since saturday, power has been off and on. The city did not have generators to power the water pumps. My grandparents are in their 90's and live on a decent size ranch, dealing with this. They are very resourceful but did not see this coming, they have their own water well for livestock and landscaping but on rural water for fresh, they will be making some changes for sure after this.

My phone went kinda crazy today... we do A LOT of rural aka ag solar projects... Ive had more referral calls in 24 hours than we get in a month. IF they are hard up for fresh water PM me..ill do the same run I did today for dilligaf's BIL tomorrow to them.
 

Willie B

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Someone in our church group, who works for an unnamed city, sent this to our group:


Hey friends, there is a wrestling match going on right now between ERCOT the people in charge of the electrical grid and North Texas municipal water District. ERCOT wants the water district to turn the pumps off tonight because they're using too much electricity. And so it continues...just got this text from the Stake President:

Just got word from a good source that the Mayor is 80% sure to shut off water. Please let members know so they can prepare.

You may want to fill up your bathtub tonight just in case so that you can have water to flush your toilets.


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...If the Mormons can’t figure this mess out nobody can👍...
 

72Hondo

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Moved to Texas from CA about 11 years ago. Shortly after I moved, hellacious ice storm came through. Roads were shit, most business shut down for a week,etc. but no one lost power for this amount of time that wasn’t a pole or transformer failure.

11 years later another bad storm rolls through, absolutely everything goes to shit. Population is probably tripled probably running on the same grid..

We were with out power for about 48hrs, running off a fireplace. Then get a notice from ATMOS saying your running too much gas, we’re going to have to cut you off (they never did). We’re still under a water boil order because water treatment plants have no power.

Food is still outside in coolers, every damn faucet is dripping (driving me nuts) bathtubs full of water etc.

Garage is manageable though. Been running heaters upon heaters to keep the boat warm’ish.

It’s a fucked up situation but somewhat manageable. I still want someone’s head for the epic power fuck up.


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DILLIGAF

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Moved to Texas from CA about 11 years ago. Shortly after I moved, hellacious ice storm came through. Roads were shit, most business shut down for a week,etc. but no one lost power for this amount of time that wasn’t a pole or transformer failure.

11 years later another bad storm rolls through, absolutely everything goes to shit. Population is probably tripled probably running on the same grid..

We were with out power for about 48hrs, running off a fireplace. Then get a notice from ATMOS saying your running too much gas, we’re going to have to cut you off (they never did). We’re still under a water boil order because water treatment plants have no power.

Food is still outside in coolers, every damn faucet is dripping (driving me nuts) bathtubs full of water etc.

Garage is manageable though. Been running heaters upon heaters to keep the boat warm’ish.

It’s a fucked up situation but somewhat manageable. I still want someone’s head for the epic power fuck up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Damn......hope you get thru this OK and the boat engine survives.

Just looked at the weather for Boerne and it is snowing pretty good and will for most of the day. Tonight is gonna be hopefully the last of this and everything can start thawing out a bit. It won't happen immediately but its going to turn......Hang in there
 

Justfishing

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Texas handled gas differently than other areas. Since they produce so much they dont need storage facilities. Also getting gas out of the storage facilites is slower than getting it direct from producers.

From what i have read it is the wells that are having trouble producing. The out put goes way down and some wells have shut down. Thus the power plants cant get the gas.

On top of that some plants are shutdown for normal maintainance gearing up for peak summer demand.

Couple that with the fact that most of texas doesnt share power with compacts across state lines. The panhandle is part of a power sharing grid that extend through oklahoma to the dakotas.

The isolation of the texas grid has prevented them from getting power from adjoining states. I imagine this will change. Along with making gas supplies work at lower temps
 

Wolskis

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Well... I am linking/quoting people who are in the industry so there’s that.
Most of us do the same squeezy. But an earlier post mentioned the deregulation of the Texas grid which took place 20 years ago so kind of a non-issue. That dereg actually set in place the elimination of the coal plants with the install of the gas turbine or combined cycle plants. These cost less to build, emissions dropped by 90% and the cost to produce power dropped. BTW that same dereg applied across the country. Ask yourself how in the heck does the grid actually work with coal, nuke, gas turbines, wind, solar, peakers and hydro. When you have that understanding, let me know.
 

Long Way Home

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Texas and some other southern states chose not to winterization the utility power production /infrastructure and grid. Texas gets power from something like 50-60% from gas, Wind 15-20%, Coal 10-15%. I think back in 2010,2011,2012 there was a study done after a cold spell that Texas utilities would need to winterization the equipment as other northern states do. The utility's company, government chose not to because of cost.
Also Texas chose not to connect it's grid to other states, the electricity is cut off from the rest of the country from importing any electricity as its power plants went down.
 

Long Way Home

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Just found this
Texas by percentage
An ERCOT report on generating capacity listed the top sources of power in the state:
  • Natural gas (51%)
  • Wind (24.8%)
  • Coal (13.4%)
  • Nuclear (4.9%)
  • Solar (3.8%)
  • Hydro, biomass-fired units (1.9%)
 

rrrr

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Most Texans see our isolation from the national grid as a plus. It keeps prices low, and there's no interference in its operations by the feds.

I see one huge benefit this incident will produce. The rush to wind and solar will be stopped. It's asinine to rely on wind power for 25% of the electricity supply. We should be building natural gas plants now, before the federal government tries to stop their construction going forward.

The United States has reduced its carbon output 28% since 2005. We don't owe the world a fucking thing when it comes to climate change. When other countries realize similar reductions, then they criticize the US. Until then, they can fuck off.
 

squeezer

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Most of us do the same squeezy. But an earlier post mentioned the deregulation of the Texas grid which took place 20 years ago so kind of a non-issue. That dereg actually set in place the elimination of the coal plants with the install of the gas turbine or combined cycle plants. These cost less to build, emissions dropped by 90% and the cost to produce power dropped. BTW that same dereg applied across the country. Ask yourself how in the heck does the grid actually work with coal, nuke, gas turbines, wind, solar, peakers and hydro. When you have that understanding, let me know.

I have no trouble understanding how the power grid works. The trouble I have is when people with an agenda spew propaganda. The Texas situation is not the fault of windmills, its not the fault of the push for cleaner energy sources. Its is caused by three things. Some pretty extreme weather, utility infrastructure unprepared for the same, lack of inter-connectivity to other grids. Windmills can work perfectly fine in weather that is much colder than Texas is experiencing right now. The fact that the ones there don't is a function of decisions that were made and nothing more.
 

Ace in the Hole

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Most Texans see our isolation from the national grid as a plus. It keeps prices low, and there's no interference in its operations by the feds.

I see one huge benefit this incident will produce. The rush to wind and solar will be stopped.

Resi Solar, especially battery tied systems will surge in sales after this..I can assure you. I'm sure we will sell a shit load of whole home generators as well.
 

4Waters

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I have no trouble understanding how the power grid works. The trouble I have is when people with an agenda spew propaganda. The Texas situation is not the fault of windmills, its not the fault of the push for cleaner energy sources. Its is caused by three things. Some pretty extreme weather, utility infrastructure unprepared for the same, lack of inter-connectivity to other grids. Windmills can work perfectly fine in weather that is much colder than Texas is experiencing right now. The fact that the ones there don't is a function of decisions that were made and nothing more.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH NATURAL GAS? Quit avoiding the question!
 

4Waters

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I have no trouble understanding how the power grid works. The trouble I have is when people with an agenda spew propaganda. The Texas situation is not the fault of windmills, its not the fault of the push for cleaner energy sources. Its is caused by three things. Some pretty extreme weather, utility infrastructure unprepared for the same, lack of inter-connectivity to other grids. Windmills can work perfectly fine in weather that is much colder than Texas is experiencing right now. The fact that the ones there don't is a function of decisions that were made and nothing more.
"Come on man" I told you my agenda, what's yours, what's wrong with natural gas?
 

squeezer

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WHAT IS WRONG WITH NATURAL GAS? Quit avoiding the question!

Nothing at all... It makes a great backup/demand system.

There is that pesky fact that half the NG generation is/was down because of the weather.


By some estimates, nearly half of the state’s natural gas production has screeched to a halt due to the extremely low temperatures, while freezing components at natural gas-fired power plants have forced some operators to shut down.


“Texas is a gas state,” said Michael Webber, an energy resources professor at the University of Texas at Austin. While he said all of Texas’ energy sources share blame for the power crisis — at least one nuclear power plant has partially shut down, most notably — the natural gas industry is producing significantly less power than normal.


 

arch stanton

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Moved to Texas from CA about 11 years ago. Shortly after I moved, hellacious ice storm came through. Roads were shit, most business shut down for a week,etc. but no one lost power for this amount of time that wasn’t a pole or transformer failure.

11 years later another bad storm rolls through, absolutely everything goes to shit. Population is probably tripled probably running on the same grid..
I can’t help with the cold but for the drippy faucet put a string around the end and water will flow silently down the string into the drain
We were with out power for about 48hrs, running off a fireplace. Then get a notice from ATMOS saying your running too much gas, we’re going to have to cut you off (they never did). We’re still under a water boil order because water treatment plants have no power.

Food is still outside in coolers, every damn faucet is dripping (driving me nuts) bathtubs full of water etc.

Garage is manageable though. Been running heaters upon heaters to keep the boat warm’ish.

It’s a fucked up situation but somewhat manageable. I still want someone’s head for the epic power fuck up.


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Wedgy

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IMO, Sadly, for the Nation, Common sense is in severely short supply on the Democratic side of the aisle. General population too.

They prove that shit every single day, over and over, and over.
Dedicated again, to you Squeezy
 

Sleek-Jet

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Most Texans see our isolation from the national grid as a plus. It keeps prices low, and there's no interference in its operations by the feds.

I see one huge benefit this incident will produce. The rush to wind and solar will be stopped. It's asinine to rely on wind power for 25% of the electricity supply. We should be building natural gas plants now, before the federal government tries to stop their construction going forward.

The United States has reduced its carbon output 28% since 2005. We don't owe the world a fucking thing when it comes to climate change. When other countries realize similar reductions, then they criticize the US. Until then, they can fuck off.

Right up till the power goes out... LOL. Reliability costs money.

I'm not so sure where the fear of FERC is coming from. Energy policy is set by the states. Wholesale prices for energy up here run between 25.00 - 35.00/MWh.
 

4Waters

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Nothing at all... It makes a great backup/demand system.

There is that pesky fact that half the NG generation is/was down because of the weather.


By some estimates, nearly half of the state’s natural gas production has screeched to a halt due to the extremely low temperatures, while freezing components at natural gas-fired power plants have forced some operators to shut down.


“Texas is a gas state,” said Michael Webber, an energy resources professor at the University of Texas at Austin. While he said all of Texas’ energy sources share blame for the power crisis — at least one nuclear power plant has partially shut down, most notably — the natural gas industry is producing significantly less power than normal.


Actually they were down for maintenance and they couldn't get them fired back up because of the cold, that's already been said.

If there is nothing wrong with natural gas then why does it have to be a backup, why can't it be a primary source of power generation.

So I ask again what is wrong with natural gas?
 

Willie B

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... I had never heard a story about massive snow storms in Texas until now... and I have friends that have lived there for decades......
...nobody has mentioned the periods of time where it has rained for three months straight in parts of Texas???...
... Was sitting in Billy Bobs In Fort Worth with a friend of mine when he asked me ...do you know who owns this place and I said no... ...my friend said my cousin...I went really??? it was the middle of the week there was nobody in there but myself the bartender a cocktail waitress and my friend ...so I asked asked my friend what his cousins name was and he said Holt Hickman... I asked the bartender if that was true and the bartender said yes he was one of the three owners...
...Anyway during the course of the conversation the weather came up and my friend told me ...when I had asked him how the weather was there.... He said hot and humid in the summer and sometimes rains for three months straight in the winter...
..,Is this true about raining for three months straight in the winter???
 

squeezer

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Actually they were down for maintenance and they couldn't get them fired back up because of the cold, that's already been said.

If there is nothing wrong with natural gas then why does it have to be a backup, why can't it be a primary source of power generation.

So I ask again what is wrong with natural gas?

It can be and is...

Its also a great source of energy for cooking and heating.

Having said that whats wrong with Wind and Solar? I reject the idea that there is any single energy source that should be the goto in every situation.

Our family farm didn't get grid power for its first 40 years in existence. The power source was a 32v "Windcharger" system with a battery bank in the basement. Routine winter lows in the -40's are common in the region. Heating was coal... If you told them to heat with electricity they would have laughed at you. Pretty much the way I laugh at people that push notions about what power sources are "Best"
 

buck35

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If available it's damn hard to beat hydro power as you well know squeak.... Pretty sure yours is Bonneville.
 

Shlbyntro

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I have no trouble understanding how the power grid works. The trouble I have is when people with an agenda spew propaganda. The Texas situation is not the fault of windmills, its not the fault of the push for cleaner energy sources. Its is caused by three things. Some pretty extreme weather, utility infrastructure unprepared for the same, lack of inter-connectivity to other grids. Windmills can work perfectly fine in weather that is much colder than Texas is experiencing right now. The fact that the ones there don't is a function of decisions that were made and nothing more.
Hey Squeezer. If you look at the hard facts laid out on charts. You will see that wind was the absolute most effected source of energy in this series of storms more so than any other source of energy. Do our systems as a whole need better weather protection. Probably so. But those of us who are living through this would still choose to keep our grid independant of federal control and make the small necessary changes to avoid the possibility of this happening in the future. Your "nationalize" and "get with the new green deal" opinions are not welcome here. I invite you to come live through this struggle with the rest of us in Texas and realize the actual failings of what are going on.

This is an infrastructure crisis, not an energy crisis. Much of our redundant energy infrastructure was sacrificed to promote and keep costs down for "green" energy. We don't have a cold weather infrastructure to keep roads clear that would allow truckers to keep food on the shelves and fuel at fueling stations.

@squeezer Do not talk about things you do not know and SHUT THE FUCK UP already
 
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Shlbyntro

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Just received an email that ERCOT has directed energy suppliers to slowly begin permanently restoring power to sections of the grid that have been affected by the rolling black outs.
 

squeezer

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If available it's damn hard to beat hydro power as you well know squeak.... Pretty sure yours is Bonneville.

Yup.

Although Hydro has its critics as well.

For my $$ it would be small scale nuclear. “Candu” style reactors with solar on every new structure. The solar gets dumped into the “charging“ grid with nuclear covering base loads.
 

beertruck

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looks like Texas was hit with a case of Global Warming.
It always amazed me when I was in Texas and it snowed. Growing up in New England I thought Texas was alway hot.
 

Wolskis

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I have no trouble understanding how the power grid works. The trouble I have is when people with an agenda spew propaganda. The Texas situation is not the fault of windmills, its not the fault of the push for cleaner energy sources. Its is caused by three things. Some pretty extreme weather, utility infrastructure unprepared for the same, lack of inter-connectivity to other grids. Windmills can work perfectly fine in weather that is much colder than Texas is experiencing right now. The fact that the ones there don't is a function of decisions that were made and nothing more.

The extreme weather is the key here.

ERCOT knew this was coming and planned for this based on 2011 which was the last cold weather event. Also keep in mind ERCOT is the air traffic controller, they don't own any generation assets. The owner of the generation assets will be held accountable.

What ERCOT should be proud of is preventing an entire state blackout. They had to shed load, which means to isolate certain parts of the transmission system. Had ERCOT not shed power the 2005 east coast black out would have happened. Somewhat similar to the great Southwest Blackout of 2011. Out of both events FERC issued very strict guidelines for generator and transmission owners to conduct various scheduled maintenance activities which I believe prevented other blackouts.

The windmills contributed along with solar, gas, coal and nuke. I've worked at power plants from CA to VA to TX to AZ and now OH. Each one of these plants are designed for the mean temperatures. The CA plant had no cold weather protection. The VA was better but took 5 years to correct. The TX plant which was down in the Rio Grande valley had zero weather protection. The AZ plant had zero cold weather protection. This OH plant has the best I've seen so far and we still had issues for the first 2 years. This applies to the windmills as well. Northern based windmills have anti-icing systems, TX windmills most likely don't.

Many many ingredients go into maintaining a stable electrical grid.

How else can I enlighten you?
 

buck35

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Yup.

Although Hydro has its critics as well.

For my $$ it would be small scale nuclear. “Candu” style reactors with solar on every new structure. The solar gets dumped into the “charging“ grid with nuclear covering base loads.
You know solar doesn't pan out up here and anything nuclear is a nonstarter. Come on man...
 

squeezer

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Hey Squeezer. If you look at the hard facts laid out on charts. You will see that wind was the absolute most effected source of energy in this series of storms more so than any other source of energy. Do our systems as a whole need better weather protection. Probably so. But those of us who are living through this would still choose to keep our grid independant of federal control and make the small necessary changes to avoid the possibility of this happening in the future. Your "nationalize" and "get with the new green deal" opinions are not welcome here. I invite you to come live through this struggle with the rest of us in Texas and realize the actual failings of what are going on.

This is an infrastructure crisis, not an energy crisis. Much of our redundant energy infrastructure was sacrificed to promote and keep costs down for "green" energy. We don't have a cold weather infrastructure to keep roads clear that would allow truckers to keep food on the shelves and fuel at fueling stations.

@squeezer Do not talk about things you do not know and SHUT THE FUCK UP already

Seeing that we went five days without power this last week and have friends staying with us because they are still dark means I am living through this struggle.

It took 4 hours of no furnace and freezing temps to prompt the following response:

(Immediate)

Water shut off to hose bibs.
Woodstove lit and heating one side of the house.
Gas fireplace heating the other side.

(Within 8 hours)

Generator purchased
Isolation panel roughed in

I didn’t sit on my ass and blame windmills for the situation.

Further

The boat was winterized months ago including 50 gallons of non-ethanol fuel... This is important because all the gas stations around were shut down. Many of the people around with generators ran out of fuel day two. We did not.


It just sounds like Texans can’t take care of themselves and rely on others to provide simple things like heat...
 

squeezer

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The extreme weather is the key here.

ERCOT knew this was coming and planned for this based on 2011 which was the last cold weather event. Also keep in mind ERCOT is the air traffic controller, they don't own any generation assets. The owner of the generation assets will be held accountable.

What ERCOT should be proud of is preventing an entire state blackout. They had to shed load, which means to isolate certain parts of the transmission system. Had ERCOT not shed power the 2005 east coast black out would have happened. Somewhat similar to the great Southwest Blackout of 2011. Out of both events FERC issued very strict guidelines for generator and transmission owners to conduct various scheduled maintenance activities which I believe prevented other blackouts.

The windmills contributed along with solar, gas, coal and nuke. I've worked at power plants from CA to VA to TX to AZ and now OH. Each one of these plants are designed for the mean temperatures. The CA plant had no cold weather protection. The VA was better but took 5 years to correct. The TX plant which was down in the Rio Grande valley had zero weather protection. The AZ plant had zero cold weather protection. This OH plant has the best I've seen so far and we still had issues for the first 2 years. This applies to the windmills as well. Northern based windmills have anti-icing systems, TX windmills most likely don't.

Many many ingredients go into maintaining a stable electrical grid.

How else can I enlighten you?

I am not the one blaming windmills for systematic failures of a grid under built for the weather😎

Hopefully Your information/expertise is helping those who are on this board understand what actually happene.
 

Shlbyntro

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Seeing that we went five days without power this last week and have friends staying with us because they are still dark means I am living through this struggle.

It took 4 hours of no furnace and freezing temps to prompt the following response:

(Immediate)

Water shut off to hose bibs.
Woodstove lit and heating one side of the house.
Gas fireplace heating the other side.

(Within 8 hours)

Generator purchased
Isolation panel roughed in

I didn’t sit on my ass and blame windmills for the situation.

Further

The boat was winterized months ago including 50 gallons of non-ethanol fuel... This is important because all the gas stations around were shut down. Many of the people around with generators ran out of fuel day two. We did not.


It just sounds like Texans can’t take care of themselves and rely on others to provide simple things like heat...

Welcome to the party. I still stand by my statements
 

4Waters

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It can be and is...

Its also a great source of energy for cooking and heating.

Having said that whats wrong with Wind and Solar? I reject the idea that there is any single energy source that should be the goto in every situation.

Our family farm didn't get grid power for its first 40 years in existence. The power source was a 32v "Windcharger" system with a battery bank in the basement. Routine winter lows in the -40's are common in the region. Heating was coal... If you told them to heat with electricity they would have laughed at you. Pretty much the way I laugh at people that push notions about what power sources are "Best"
Dancing around the question, what is wrong with natural gas, why are you so against it, what's your agenda here? Why can't it be a primary source of power generation and wind and solar supplement natural gas?
 

snowhammer

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Seeing that we went five days without power this last week and have friends staying with us because they are still dark means I am living through this struggle.

It took 4 hours of no furnace and freezing temps to prompt the following response:

(Immediate)

Water shut off to hose bibs.
Woodstove lit and heating one side of the house.
Gas fireplace heating the other side.

(Within 8 hours)

Generator purchased
Isolation panel roughed in

I didn’t sit on my ass and blame windmills for the situation.

Further

The boat was winterized months ago including 50 gallons of non-ethanol fuel... This is important because all the gas stations around were shut down. Many of the people around with generators ran out of fuel day two. We did not.


It just sounds like Texans can’t take care of themselves and rely on others to provide simple things like heat...
So......

Fossil fuel for the win!!!!

31661ac16f471cef-celebes-crested-macaque-monkey-gif-by-head-like-an-orange.gif
 

squeezer

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You know solar doesn't pan out up here and anything nuclear is a nonstarter. Come on man...

Solar ”Pans Out” pretty much anywhere the sun shines to some extent... Would I rely on it for electric heat in Montana...No. But it sure as hell can heat a pool in Texas.
 

jet496

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Dancing around the question, what is wrong with natural gas, why are you so against it, what's your agenda here? Why can't it be a primary source of power generation and wind and solar supplement natural gas?
Because the government says it's bad.
 

squeezer

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Dancing around the question, what is wrong with natural gas, why are you so against it, what's your agenda here? Why can't it be a primary source of power generation and wind and solar supplement natural gas?

Thats a distinction without a difference...

The grid should and will remain mixed source. You want NG with wind/solar backup, No problem. I want non combustion sources as the primary with whatever backup makes sense. The reality is your system and mine look more similar than not.

Where the line is drawn balance wise between the two is much more a function of climate/geography than anything else.
 

buck35

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Solar ”Pans Out” pretty much anywhere the sun shines to some extent... Would I rely on it for electric heat in Montana...No. But it sure as hell can heat a pool in Texas.
I pay 2.5 cents a kWh.. Locally own PUD. Hard to beat
 

mesquito_creek

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Regardless of one's opinion or feelings.. I challenge you to find one major utility in the USA that doesn't have more renewables it it generation mix going forward. That's the fact and it didn't change one bit under the past 4 years under Republicans and this event won't change it either. The fact is that renewables are in the mix going forward at greater percentages... They are just "goals" so its not that the projections will come to reality, but the momentum is set.

BTW ... focusing on generation is short sighted, you can almost give away the power because the business/profits/technology advancements are in transmission and distribution and going forward that will even be more prevalent in the business model.
 

4Waters

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Thats a distinction without a difference...

The grid should and will remain mixed source. You want NG with wind/solar backup, No problem. I want non combustion sources as the primary with whatever backup makes sense. The reality is your system and mine look more similar than not.

Where the line is drawn balance wise between the two is much more a function of climate/geography than anything else.
What is wrong with natural gas? Why do you want to get away from the combustion of natural gas? Why do you want to rely on something that is not guaranteed as a primary source for our power? Answer it!
 

Looking Glass

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What is wrong with natural gas? Why do you want to get away from the combustion of natural gas? Why do you want to rely on something that is not guaranteed as a primary source for our power? Answer it!


Because AOC wants to.
 

LargeOrangeFont

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Seeing that we went five days without power this last week and have friends staying with us because they are still dark means I am living through this struggle.

It took 4 hours of no furnace and freezing temps to prompt the following response:

(Immediate)

Water shut off to hose bibs.
Woodstove lit and heating one side of the house.
Gas fireplace heating the other side.

(Within 8 hours)

Generator purchased
Isolation panel roughed in

I didn’t sit on my ass and blame windmills for the situation.

Further

The boat was winterized months ago including 50 gallons of non-ethanol fuel... This is important because all the gas stations around were shut down. Many of the people around with generators ran out of fuel day two. We did not.


It just sounds like Texans can’t take care of themselves and rely on others to provide simple things like heat...

Translation -

I used my gigantic white privilege and massive carbon footprint to warm my family and friends in Portlandia. But all of you need to use wind and solar to make your power.
 
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