I don’t think those decisions were made by accountants; the accountants just provided the numbers to the execs. Executive bonuses for taking risks that explode years in the future, don’t get clawed back.
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The extent of the risk for the power companies is directly proportional to amount of their competition,
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The whole dam problem was the refusal to winterize. Even the wind turbans, no heat strip installed to prevent the freezing, like they do in the north, gas lines to the power plants above ground unprotected from the cold which reduces pressure and allows moisture in the gas to precipitat out. Plant after plant shut down from lack of winterizing. We went alone and lost the bet. Will we learn? I have serious doubts.
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I’ll ask a technical question here that was beyond the abilities of some others I thought could handle it.
While I’ve seen the ERCOT graphs that others have linked to in similar comments elsewhere and—once I got past the jargon aspect of them (“COP” = “current operating plan” and "HSL” = “high sustained/sustainable limit”)—I got stuck trying to understand exactly what lesson to draw from them.
On review of a previously-provided example, I observed that the green (“actual performance”) did indeed track decently w/ the blue (“today’s forecast”), which supports the statement others have made, and w/ which I’d absolutely LOVE to agree, that wind power was meeting its current day forecasted capabilities!
My question/concern arises from the previously-provided comparison between the green (“actual performance”), where at the minimum actual output (Hour 9) the 800 MW—while exactly matching the blue (“today’s forecast”)—also represents a large [60% (=(2000-800)/2000)] reduction from the orange (“yesterday’s forecast”) of 2,000 MW.
While I’ve got decades in the natural gas transmission and distribution utility industry (and a few years in electricity, before that, while I went to engineering school), I’m not enough of a control room manager to know how problematic it is to be that far off 24-hours in advance.
Is this simply a matter of us focusing on the green/blue comparison and Faux Nooze (heh, heh, I like my Freaudian Slip of “Noose”) et al. focusing on the green/orange comparison? And, if so, which is the comparison that truly matters?
Thanks, in advance, to anyone who can answer this question!
What is clear is that Texas has pretty much done this to themselves by continually electing people like Rick Perry and Abbott and other morons to run the state. They have carried their disdain for ANY Federal oversight over their insane “governance” of the state, that the consequences of that folly have now become apparent. Rick Perry is nw saying that Texas should just enjoy suffering now because it is better than having the Feds involved in any way with the way they want to run their “bidness”. I am willing to bet that Rickie Perry is all warm and cozy somewhere outside of the disaster zone that he helped create.
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If we had only listened to Carter…
He was sabotaged by Reps AND Dems.
Sad, sad thing.
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Texas Republican Leaders excel at picking who should silently suffer for the good of the Free Market.
Remember the Lt. Gov who said the elderly should just let themselves die from Covid to save the economy?
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The number crunchers are running the health care industry also. That is why we have a crappy health care system.
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Me too. Too many short term thinking Texas pols, obviously most of these are GOP! Cannot wait for Beto to challenge Abbott. Of course I am pissed we have not gotten rid of Cruz, but Cornyn is the real splinter in my finger. That dude does nothing for Texans. Try calling his line, and expect no answer at either his austin office or his dc office and expect that his mailbox is full. That dude only answers to deep pockets and those with military concerns.
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Utilities in MA underwent an orgasm of deregulation years ago. They spent oodles of cash lobbying the state house, then when they got what they wanted, started shedding generating capacity and cutting back spending on maintenance (this is part of why I had to put in an emergency generator).
A big ice storm hit central MA about 10 years ago; some customers of Unitil (note that, en Espanol, the anagram inutil means ‘useless’) were without power for weeks. A few years ago, a local gas utility over-pressured a gas main, setting of explosions and fires and damaging the heating systems of thousands of homes. Those people were without heat for months.
But somebody made out like a bandit in both cases.
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Why is there no mention of the impact of the ludicrous decision to NOT interconnect with the west or east? Sure, ERCOT could and should take steps to harden its isolated grid, but the whole point of large interconnects is that there is flexibility to deliver supply where it is needed. I live in the SPP, stretching from just north of ERCOT up into Canada. Many states in the SPP were being hit harder than Texas and the SPP had to issue an emergency supply reduction order. Worst case for us: a 1-hour rolling outage early Tuesday morning.
I hope this helps push Texas purpler. Purplier. More purple.
Houston gets five times fewer freezing nights
>eye twitch<
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Tx did not want any Federal regulations, so no interconnections with other states.
That Lone Star just became a lot dimmer.
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First, there was tRump for 4 years, then came Covid for the last year and now this horrendous, devastating freeze.
Just curious what the hell we’ve done to have this all slung at us in a short period of time. Please don’t mention God, I’m not buying it.
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But will this little object lesson give pause to the TX secessionists? Not for a second. Because slow learners.
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You don’t have building codes for new construction that have to be followed? You know, 2x6 studs and insulation in between them, water pipes that if on an outside wall have to have foam around them?
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It’s not just the red states. Here in deep blue CT, we have to endure Eversource, whose power grid was labeled “third world” by at least one out-of-State lineman who was brought in to help fix the last round of outages. They won’t make the investments needed to make the power supply more reliable, because it’s cheaper to “fix on fail.” Had to sleep in a sleeping bag in front of the fireplace? No running water because you have a well pump? Lost everything in your freezer? Tough shit. Our shareholders are happy, and our execs are getting multi-million-dollar bonuses. And oh, BTW, three, count 'em, three of CT’s State Senators are Eversource employees, one of them its spokesman.
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I’m hoping the landers get together and turn on us.
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That’d be uber cool!
And this event will bring untold new public hand wringing, study and eventually investment in natural gas supply infrastructure and distribution in Texas. Leading to all sorts of private opportunity and speculative betting on scarcity and continuous supply contracts. Texas is the biggest gas producer State in the US- they export natural gas across their land borders and on ships. Price is no object, only opportunity to be the supplier of last resort to a captive market- it pays for everything
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