(02-21-2021 02:33 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(02-21-2021 02:26 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(02-21-2021 10:39 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(02-21-2021 10:14 AM)DavidSt Wrote:  

(02-19-2021 08:09 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  More wind than any other state.

More wind coming out of the Republicans in deregulating everything, and take Texas off the natioinal grid. The power in Texas came from coal and natural gas. The gas lines froze that caused the outage.

You need to brush up on your history regarding ERCOT.


Renewables are great. I fully support wind--was a customer of Green Mountain when I was on ERCOT--and I have solar panels on my house now. So I put my money where my mouth is as far as supporting them. But I also recognize that they have limitations, and their biggest limitation is that they cannot be relied upon for firm energy. That was a problem here and that forced a bigger burden onto gas and coal than they were equipped to handle on short notice.

Correct. Early on, wind generation dropped to about 8% of its previous day's output. And with the feds dragging their feet, they couldnt get other forms of generation ramped up in order to prevent them from freezing up. (And the natural gas is a different animal altogether as you pointed out, where they need to get better storage facilities in TX so that they can handle a few days if the NG fields freeze up. )


To me, its comical that CA, MI, and other libturd governors can strip basic rights from citizens because of a pandemic, and after nearly a year of where those restrictions have been proven ineffective and bogus, they are still allowed to keep restrictions in place. Yet, when an approaching storm has its forecast changed to a once in a
century type of temps which will cause catastrophic demand to hit the grid in 24 hours, a state like TX cant simply take action and ramp up the generators to keep people from dying. They have to wait until Biden is done playing Mario Kart, then for him to have a legal team draft the green new texas deal in to a multi-page regulation document, then it gets approved by the feds late in the night and they send it back to Texas, then a Texas legal team has to decipher the damned document to understand what they can do and when. That is stupid and irresponsible. And this is what you get when you have federal bureaucrats in the way.

Do any of you think Donald Trump would have let bureaucrats get in the way? At least if he knew they were in the way?

The dc roadways would have been littered with the bodies of those butthurt elitists who dared to try to get in Trumps way of getting this done. Of course, someone like IUD Vindman would have listened in on a call, completely lie about it, then try to get Trump impeached over it.

Quote:The owner of Willie Ray’s Q Shack in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is on his way to help Texas residents affected by the recent winter storm.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, Willie Ray Fairley said he and his employees are traveling south to feed people who were without power, according to KCRG.

“This gesture wasn’t new for Fairly. He gave out thousands of free meals after the derecho hit Eastern Iowa,” the outlet noted.

Fairley asked for anyone willing to haul his smokers and be out of town for at least a week to help the storm victims.

“If someone even had a RV willing to bring I will cover all gas and food. Share share share! Be on the road by noon tomorrow. Short notice but it can be done,” he wrote:

Me and the team is planning on going to Texas to help the needed. By any chance is there a couple volunteers that would like to pull the smokers. Willing to be gone for at least a week. If someone even had a RV willing to bring I will cover all gas and food. Share share share! Be on the road by noon tomorrow. Short notice but it can be done.

Facebook users expressed their sincere gratitude to the eatery’s owner.

“Texas is blessed to have your Midwest hospitality and good eats headed their way. Shortage of gas and propane down here as well as dairy and meat so bring whatever you need with you. Thank you for your generosity,” one person commented.

“Former Cedar Rapids citizen here in Austin! What an amazing thing y’all are doing! It’s going to mean so much to Texans to have the support! Safe travels!!!!!” another said.

Several people also offered to donate funds and help distribute food when he arrived in the Lone Star State.

After the derecho in Iowa, Fairley fed his neighbors at no charge and said at the time “When a storm happens, you have to become family. Everyone’s family doesn’t matter who you are. You have to stick together.”

Jerica Parker, a former Cedar Rapids resident now living in Texas, said she learned of Fairley’s kindness through friends in her hometown.

“On a primal level, with the fact that we just don’t have food, and people haven’t had a hot meal in 3-4 days, this is amazing,” Parker noted.

“Somebody outside cares. We are not alone. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel. I think it’s going to be a huge morale bust wherever he goes,” she concluded.

Link

Quote:What did Schumer say?
The New York Democrat said he hopes Texas "learned a lesson," attributing the significant energy issues to officials who have "ignored climate change."

"The bottom line is, Texas thought it could go it alone and built a system that ignored climate change," Schumer said while speaking in Manhattan, the New York Post reported.

"It was not what's called resilient, and now Texas is paying the price," he mocked. "I hope they learned a lesson."

Schumer went on to bash Texas officials for allegedly not considering the effects of climate change when constructing their energy systems.

"When we build power, when we build anything now, we have to take into account that climate change is real, or people will have to be caught the way the people in Texas were," Schumer said.

"When I wrote the [Hurricane] Sandy bill, $60 billion for New York, we made sure everything was resilient," he added. "When they built back the subways, built back this, built back that, they were going to be resistant to climate changes, and we have to do that."

Link

(02-21-2021 07:33 PM)CrimsonPhantom Wrote:  

Quote:What did Schumer say?
The New York Democrat said he hopes Texas "learned a lesson," attributing the significant energy issues to officials who have "ignored climate change."
"The bottom line is, Texas thought it could go it alone and built a system that ignored climate change," Schumer said while speaking in Manhattan, the New York Post reported.
"It was not what's called resilient, and now Texas is paying the price," he mocked. "I hope they learned a lesson."
Schumer went on to bash Texas officials for allegedly not considering the effects of climate change when constructing their energy systems.
"When we build power, when we build anything now, we have to take into account that climate change is real, or people will have to be caught the way the people in Texas were," Schumer said.
"When I wrote the [Hurricane] Sandy bill, $60 billion for New York, we made sure everything was resilient," he added. "When they built back the subways, built back this, built back that, they were going to be resistant to climate changes, and we have to do that."

Link

What a POS.

(02-21-2021 03:55 PM)CrimsonPhantom Wrote:  

Quote:The owner of Willie Ray’s Q Shack in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is on his way to help Texas residents affected by the recent winter storm.
In a Facebook post on Thursday, Willie Ray Fairley said he and his employees are traveling south to feed people who were without power, according to KCRG.
“This gesture wasn’t new for Fairley. He gave out thousands of free meals after the derecho hit Eastern Iowa,” the outlet noted.
Fairley asked for anyone willing to haul his smokers and be out of town for at least a week to help the storm victims.
“If someone even had a RV willing to bring I will cover all gas and food. Share share share! Be on the road by noon tomorrow. Short notice but it can be done,” he wrote:
Me and the team is planning on going to Texas to help the needed. By any chance is there a couple volunteers that would like to pull the smokers. Willing to be gone for at least a week. If someone even had a RV willing to bring I will cover all gas and food. Share share share! Be on the road by noon tomorrow. Short notice but it can be done.
Facebook users expressed their sincere gratitude to the eatery’s owner.
“Texas is blessed to have your Midwest hospitality and good eats headed their way. Shortage of gas and propane down here as well as dairy and meat so bring whatever you need with you. Thank you for your generosity,” one person commented.
“Former Cedar Rapids citizen here in Austin! What an amazing thing y’all are doing! It’s going to mean so much to Texans to have the support! Safe travels!!!!!” another said.
Several people also offered to donate funds and help distribute food when he arrived in the Lone Star State.
After the derecho in Iowa, Fairley fed his neighbors at no charge and said at the time “When a storm happens, you have to become family. Everyone’s family doesn’t matter who you are. You have to stick together.”
Jerica Parker, a former Cedar Rapids resident now living in Texas, said she learned of Fairley’s kindness through friends in her hometown.
“On a primal level, with the fact that we just don’t have food, and people haven’t had a hot meal in 3-4 days, this is amazing,” Parker noted.
“Somebody outside cares. We are not alone. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel. I think it’s going to be a huge morale bust wherever he goes,” she concluded.

Link

Reminds me very much of the Cajun Navy after Harvey.

As much as I would love for him to come my way, there are plenty of others with greater needs than I have, and I hope they get taken care of.

If I am ever in Cedar Rapids, I will look him up.

Whats the deal with the $5000 power bills I've been reading about?

(02-21-2021 07:47 PM)solohawks Wrote:  Whats the deal with the $5000 power bills I've been reading about?

yea, that doesnt make sense. I saw one was supposed to be $17K. Most homes have a 200 amp breaker box. If I were to pull max amperage 24hours per day for 30 days, my electric bill would only be about $3500. And it would be really hard to do that considering most homes in the south use heat pumps, and they would only be able to pull about a quarter of that if they ran all the time.

Now I could see that if these are ranchers and they are heating livestock, poultry, etc. (ie commercial)

Looks like TX allows for fluctuating rates based on the wholesale price. This perfect storm caused the wholesale price to get to levels no one thought possible

(02-21-2021 07:47 PM)solohawks Wrote:  Whats the deal with the $5000 power bills I've been reading about?

Texas has an unregulated energy market, you can pick your provider like you picked a long distance provider in the 80s.

Some providers offer a fairly fixed price per KWh, much like you would pay on a muni utility. Some offer time of use billing (.08 per kWh during x hours, .12 per kWh during y hours), and some offer variable pricing based on spot pricing.

ERCOT pays generation partners on a variable spot price per mWh. If you have signed up for a variable plan like griddy you pay based on the spot price. So all week when there was more demand than supply the spot price shot up, hitting $9000 per mWh at times. Griddy passes wholesale spot pricing to consumers, so they are paying $9 per kWH during those peaks, when people on fixed plans are probably paying like .09 per kWH.

Combine that with the low temps, and heat pumps are forced to leverage aux heat which uses a buttload of power. A 15kw aux heater on a heat pump pulls 60 amps. A bunch of houses in Texas probably have two heat pumps.

(02-21-2021 07:56 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(02-21-2021 07:47 PM)solohawks Wrote:  Whats the deal with the $5000 power bills I've been reading about?

yea, that doesnt make sense. I saw one was supposed to be $17K. Most homes have a 200 amp breaker box. If I were to pull max amperage 24hours per day for 30 days, my electric bill would only be about $3500. And it would be really hard to do that considering most homes in the south use heat pumps, and they would only be able to pull about a quarter of that if they ran all the time.

Now I could see that if these are ranchers and they are heating livestock, poultry, etc. (ie commercial)

My guess is these are people who used a provider called "Griddy". Griddy customers get extremely low rates because the service allows them to buy surplus power on the spot market, which 99% of the time is far cheaper than the contracted rates offered by most traditional electric providers. However, there is a catch with using this method to save money on your power bill---the customer using this service is taking on the full risk of elevated power pricing during periods of extreme use when the spot market goes crazy. During times of extreme energy use when the surplus electricity essentially doesnt exist, Griddy users are in the same position as any other electric provider desperately trying to buy whatever energy they can from any provider available. When that happens, spot market prices can skyrocket like they did just a few days ago. To help its customers navigate that risk, Griddy has an app that alerts users of the situation so they can immediate reduce power usage or even jump to another provider during periods of extremely high spot market prices. During this latest freeze crisis, Griddy even took the unprecedented step of literally advising its users to leave the service. My understanding was during the height the crisis a single killowatt hour was running $9---so Griddy bills were skyrocketing at a ridiculous pace during that time of high usage. The only thing that might have save some users was being caught in an extended rolling blackout. That said, you'd still have to use a crap load of energy to get to 17K in just 3 or 4 days of this kind of energy market. Two or 3K could happen pretty easily.

Thanks Elvis and Coog

What should happen to these 5 and 6 figure bills that people obviously cannot pay?

(02-21-2021 08:12 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(02-21-2021 07:56 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(02-21-2021 07:47 PM)solohawks Wrote:  Whats the deal with the $5000 power bills I've been reading about?

yea, that doesnt make sense. I saw one was supposed to be $17K. Most homes have a 200 amp breaker box. If I were to pull max amperage 24hours per day for 30 days, my electric bill would only be about $3500. And it would be really hard to do that considering most homes in the south use heat pumps, and they would only be able to pull about a quarter of that if they ran all the time.

Now I could see that if these are ranchers and they are heating livestock, poultry, etc. (ie commercial)

My guess is these are people who used a provider called "Griddy". Griddy customers get extremely low rates because the service allows them to buy surplus power on the spot market, which 99% of the time is far cheaper than the contracted rates offered by most traditional electric providers. However, there is a catch with using this method to save money on your power bill---the customer using this service is taking on the full risk of elevated power pricing during periods of extreme use when the spot market goes crazy. During times of extreme energy use when the surplus electricity essentially doesnt exist, Griddy users are in the same position as any other electric provider desperately trying to buy whatever energy they can from any provider available. When that happens, spot market prices can skyrocket like they did just a few days ago. To help its customers navigate that risk, Griddy has an app that alerts users of the situation so they can immediate reduce power usage or even jump to another provider during periods of extremely high spot market prices. During this latest freeze crisis, Griddy even took the unprecedented step of literally advising its users to leave the service. My understanding was during the height the crisis a single killowatt hour was running $9---so Griddy bills were skyrocketing at a ridiculous pace during that time of high usage. The only thing that might have save some users was being caught in an extended rolling blackout. That said, you'd still have to use a crap load of energy to get to 17K in just 3 or 4 days of this kind of energy market. Two or 3K could happen pretty easily.

ah that makes sense. I tried a few calculations, including pulling enough amps to cause all of my wires in my house to glow white hot, while getting charged Hawaii electric rates, and I still couldnt get there. But $9 per KWH would do it. (Which is literally 100 times what I currently pay.)

(02-21-2021 09:51 PM)solohawks Wrote:  Thanks Elvis and Coog

What should happen to these 5 and 6 figure bills that people obviously cannot pay?

Ive heard fema will step in to aid in paying the cost.

(02-21-2021 10:10 AM)U_of_Elvis Wrote:  

(02-21-2021 07:59 AM)UTSAMarineVet09 Wrote:  

(02-16-2021 03:47 PM)U_of_Elvis Wrote:  

(02-16-2021 02:11 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(02-16-2021 02:07 PM)U_of_Elvis Wrote:  

They are about 78% fossil fuel / Nuke.

Anf guess what happens when you drop that 22%, at a time when demand is the highest?

Sounds like they need to go 50% nuke and be done with the problems.

They are generating 4000 MW with wind right now, so obviously not all of it froze.

They lost 20,000+ MW of gas/coal/nuke output, which would make it hard to pin this on wind vs “TX power generation not built for once a decade low temp”.

Once in a decade? Try once in a century.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

1989, 2011, 2021

The temp was lower this time, but the outcome was the same. Massive loss of generation capacity to poor winterization.

The bold is the key phrase there smart one. Plus, I lived in Houston in 2011...

(02-22-2021 12:42 AM)JDTulane Wrote:  

(02-21-2021 09:51 PM)solohawks Wrote:  Thanks Elvis and Coog

What should happen to these 5 and 6 figure bills that people obviously cannot pay?

Ive heard fema will step in to aid in paying the cost.

Wait a minute, my head just exploded. Let me get this straight. Texas, that freedom loving bastion of conservative principles lead by conservative group-think for a generation suddenly shows the limits of conservative economic theory. So when all these libtard haters get their junk in a wringer over their precious free market principles THEY WANT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO USE LIBTARD TAX DOLLARS FROM BROKE/WOKE BLUE STATES TO PAY OFF THE UNREGULATED ENERGY COMPANIES? Sounds like socialism to me, folks.

Tell you what. I'll willingly chip if in return TX regulates the bleep out of their precious freedom loving energy market and joins the rest of the national grid.

From Twitter: @tedcruz - This is WRONG. No power company should get a windfall because of a natural disaster, and Texans shouldn’t get hammered by ridiculous rate increases for last week’s energy debacle. State and local regulators should act swiftly to prevent this injustice. https://mobile.twitter.com/tedcruz/statu...0268319747

F***ing Communist. What happened to the free market you socialist pig?

(02-21-2021 08:12 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(02-21-2021 07:56 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(02-21-2021 07:47 PM)solohawks Wrote:  Whats the deal with the $5000 power bills I've been reading about?

yea, that doesnt make sense. I saw one was supposed to be $17K. Most homes have a 200 amp breaker box. If I were to pull max amperage 24hours per day for 30 days, my electric bill would only be about $3500. And it would be really hard to do that considering most homes in the south use heat pumps, and they would only be able to pull about a quarter of that if they ran all the time.

Now I could see that if these are ranchers and they are heating livestock, poultry, etc. (ie commercial)

My guess is these are people who used a provider called "Griddy". Griddy customers get extremely low rates because the service allows them to buy surplus power on the spot market, which 99% of the time is far cheaper than the contracted rates offered by most traditional electric providers. However, there is a catch with using this method to save money on your power bill---the customer using this service is taking on the full risk of elevated power pricing during periods of extreme use when the spot market goes crazy. During times of extreme energy use when the surplus electricity essentially doesnt exist, Griddy users are in the same position as any other electric provider desperately trying to buy whatever energy they can from any provider available. When that happens, spot market prices can skyrocket like they did just a few days ago. To help its customers navigate that risk, Griddy has an app that alerts users of the situation so they can immediate reduce power usage or even jump to another provider during periods of extremely high spot market prices. During this latest freeze crisis, Griddy even took the unprecedented step of literally advising its users to leave the service. My understanding was during the height the crisis a single killowatt hour was running $9---so Griddy bills were skyrocketing at a ridiculous pace during that time of high usage. The only thing that might have save some users was being caught in an extended rolling blackout. That said, you'd still have to use a crap load of energy to get to 17K in just 3 or 4 days of this kind of energy market. Two or 3K could happen pretty easily.

I wonder if it was just the power fluctuations messing with the meters and the equipment at the power companies. In our county a few years back we were having water bills in the tens of thousands of dollars due to flaws in the county's system.

(02-22-2021 09:36 AM)UTSAMarineVet09 Wrote:  

(02-21-2021 10:10 AM)U_of_Elvis Wrote:  

(02-21-2021 07:59 AM)UTSAMarineVet09 Wrote:  

(02-16-2021 03:47 PM)U_of_Elvis Wrote:  

(02-16-2021 02:11 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  Anf guess what happens when you drop that 22%, at a time when demand is the highest?

Sounds like they need to go 50% nuke and be done with the problems.

They are generating 4000 MW with wind right now, so obviously not all of it froze.

They lost 20,000+ MW of gas/coal/nuke output, which would make it hard to pin this on wind vs “TX power generation not built for once a decade low temp”.

Once in a decade? Try once in a century.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

1989, 2011, 2021

The temp was lower this time, but the outcome was the same. Massive loss of generation capacity to poor winterization.

The bold is the key phrase there smart one. Plus, I lived in Houston in 2011...

I don't remember hearing of any major problems in 2011 either. And 1989 the biggest problem was bursting water pipes. I lived in Houston then. I don't remember any significant power problems. 1989 was colder in Houston than this time, but I don't remember how it was in the rest of the state.

(02-22-2021 10:15 AM)bullet Wrote:  

(02-22-2021 09:36 AM)UTSAMarineVet09 Wrote:  

(02-21-2021 10:10 AM)U_of_Elvis Wrote:  

(02-21-2021 07:59 AM)UTSAMarineVet09 Wrote:  

(02-16-2021 03:47 PM)U_of_Elvis Wrote:  They are generating 4000 MW with wind right now, so obviously not all of it froze.

They lost 20,000+ MW of gas/coal/nuke output, which would make it hard to pin this on wind vs “TX power generation not built for once a decade low temp”.

Once in a decade? Try once in a century.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

1989, 2011, 2021

The temp was lower this time, but the outcome was the same. Massive loss of generation capacity to poor winterization.

The bold is the key phrase there smart one. Plus, I lived in Houston in 2011...

I don't remember hearing of any major problems in 2011 either. And 1989 the biggest problem was bursting water pipes. I lived in Houston then. I don't remember any significant power problems. 1989 was colder in Houston than this time, but I don't remember how it was in the rest of the state.

https://www.texastribune.org/2011/02/03/...blackouts/

It seems like its a completely legitimate business model where people did not understand the risks they were taking.

Coog's explanation was great

Quote:Griddy customers get extremely low rates because the service allows them to buy surplus power on the spot market, which 99% of the time is far cheaper than the contracted rates offered by most traditional electric providers. However, there is a catch with using this method to save money on your power bill---the customer using this service is taking on the full risk of elevated power pricing during periods of extreme use when the spot market goes crazy. During times of extreme energy use when the surplus electricity essentially doesnt exist, Griddy users are in the same position as any other electric provider desperately trying to buy whatever energy they can from any provider available. When that happens, spot market prices can skyrocket like they did just a few days ago.

From what it sounds like, Griddy did everything humanly possible to help its customers avoid this, even telling them to cancel their service with them.

Griddy will likely be made the bad guy in this and have its model shut down because it has now proven to be too risky