TEXAS SNOW DAY

[dwbronco]

So when you say you got a lot of snow . . . this is the "before" picture, right?

Seriously, 6 inches pretty much anywhere in TX is like a foot and a half up north. I live in NH, but I grew up in Austin. They simply do not have the equipment to deal with snow, especially if it's long-lasting or in excess of an inch or two.

It's fun to minimize what they are going through, but I get to hear all you whiny ass Northerners cry any time the temperature goes above 89°. God forbid it hits 100°.

Sponsored

 

[Techun]

Part of the problem is an over-reliance on wind power. The wind turbines have frozen up.

More specifically it's a texas windmill problem. Windmills in all other locations are built to handle the cold, but that equipment was left off of texas windmills to save money.

And the windmills are only a small part of the problem. Traditional fossil fuel plants are also shut down due to cold, for the same reason.

 

[dingle87]

I’ve been reading up on some of this, isn’t Texas also not connected to the national grid? They’re insulated from the rest of the US electrical supply, if I understand it correctly. Along with the across the board infrastructure issues, it doesn’t sound like they’ve taken proper precautions to protect the system on many levels.

 

[North7]

Part of the problem is an over-reliance on wind power. The wind turbines have frozen up.

And the windmills are only a small part of the problem. Traditional fossil fuel plants are also shut down due to cold, for the same reason.

As Techun mentioned, its a combination of events, all sources of power are having some failures.

From frozen natural gas wells to frozen wind turbines, all sources of power generation have faced difficulties during the winter storm. But Texans largely rely on natural gas for power and heat generation, especially during peak usage, experts said.

Officials for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, which manages most of Texas’ grid, said that the primarily cause of the outages on Tuesday appeared to be the state’s natural gas providers. Many are not designed to withstand such low temperatures on equipment or during production.
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/16/natural-gas-power-storm/

For instance, around 5:30 a.m. Monday, one of the two units of the South Texas Project, a nuclear-power plant near the Gulf of Mexico, shut down, according to Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials and the plant’s operator. The unit’s water supply froze, causing two pumps to fail. The pumps delivered water that is turned into steam and used to generate electricity.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/texas-...eze-prompt-governor-to-urge-probe-11613513090

Never the less, who can resist a good cartoon.

 

[North7]

I’ve been reading up on some of this, isn’t Texas also not connected to the national grid? They’re insulated from the rest of the US electrical supply, if I understand it correctly.

Correct, I guess yet another reason why we are called the Lone Star State.

Along with the across the board infrastructure issues, it doesn’t sound like they’ve taken proper precautions to protect the system on many levels.

Many of the systems were not properly winterized, hopefully the governors call for a full review leads to action and investment to avoid future crisis.

Gov. Abbott orders investigation into Texas energy company amid blackouts, freezing temperatures

 

[chownd]

As a northerner, what is going on in texas is horrible. We're mostly equiped to deal with issues like that. I lost power for a week due to a snow storm about 9 years ago while we had a 3 month old. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

The issue ISN'T JUST the wind power though. Solar and wind is actually outperforming winter estimates by a decent margin in texas. I follow the energy sector fairly closely.

The biggest take away is what wind lost, traditional, thermal like gas lost practically double.

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/16/texas-wind-turbines-frozen/

Picked a local to texas link but there's plenty reporting on this in the last 24 hours.

Regardless of all that, I hope all TX fam is staying safe, warm and fed during this.

 

[Drex]

you did not have snow, you had a flurry.

 

[North7]

you did not have snow, you had a flurry.

8" to 10" of snow so far is not a flurry. Flurries don't shut down power plants or water utilities. Flurries don't start fires, cause hypothermia, carbon monoxide poisoning and kill people. I just had my 36th power failure, we are being shut off every 40-60 minutes, we are fortunate, some like @LOSTXGOLD has had no power for over 36 hours.

Flurries don't cause your power company to put out notices like this:

We know this crisis has tested your patience, and we wish the situation were otherwise. But CoServ, like all electric utilities, is doing everything it can to help ERCOT maintain grid stability and prevent grid failure, which would lead to a true blackout – no power for ANYONE – that would take several days, if not weeks, to restore.

If it is required to shut down power to every CoServ household to save the grid, we will have no other choice but to do so. Unfortunately, this is the reality we find ourselves in today. We thank you for your continued understanding during this winter emergency.
https://www.coserv.com/News/CoServ-News/winter-emergency-tuesday-afternoon-outage-update-from-coserv

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/wea...e-poisonings-as-texans-struggle-to-stay-warm/

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/firefighters-battle-fire-in-duncanville/2554087/

 

[Carolina Jim]

 

[Deleted member 3063]

Best wishes and prayers to those suffering and dying from this cold.

Sadly they are not prepared for the snow or the cold, no real historical reason they should have been. For some reason the southern 2/3rds of the Texas power grid is isolated from it's neighbors and that is their fatal failure imo.
Texas produces more electric power than any other state and of that a maximum of 28% can be generated by renewables. The failure rate from oil and gas fired generation is nearly double of that lost from wind. Main reason - icing on turbine blades. Northern wind generator blades have provisions for heating.


"16 gigawatts of renewable energy generation, mostly wind generation, were offline. Nearly double that, 30 gigawatts, had been lost from thermal sources, which includes gas, coal and nuclear energy." The Texas Tribune

No, frozen wind turbines aren’t the main culprit for Texas’ power outages

 

[Southern Girl]

I don't trust people that drink out of open coffee mugs while they drive

Same. You aren't a serious coffee drinker if you carry it around in an open mug. Get a Yeti for your coffee.

 

[Bcacali24]

I don't trust people that drink out of open coffee mugs while they drive

My dad did this every morning on his way to work growing up and I don’t remember him ever spilling

 

[FATHORSE]

Okie North neighbor up here. We are at about a foot so far.

 

[FATHORSE]

My dad did this every morning on his way to work growing up and I don’t remember him ever spilling

You should never trust someone else driving your car with a open carry coffee mug. I do it in my own car, but believe me it was a pass and fail learning experience. Ive spilled coffee in my car, on my pants, and in my face. lol.

 

[lobbs611]

We've been have controlled black outs since Monday. Our grid is maxed with this cold weather. The power company is shutting down blocks for 30-60 minutes at a time.

Sponsored