"power plants do annual maintenance in April. That takes thousands of megawatts offline, making it harder for the grid to handle a burst of heat..."
It wasn't particularly hot in Texas in April, but the electricity grid was strained.. "Thanks to crypto mining, data centers, electric vehicles, manufacturing, and more people moving to the state," plus global warming.
looking at the #ERCOT charts, I have not seen the huge spikes in demand predicted, and I also wonder if they canceled the preventative downtime mentioned in these stories.
"ERCOT issued a Watch for a projected reserve capacity shortage with no market solution available for Tuesday, January 16, 2024 For HE 08, which causes a risk for an EEA event." #ERCOT#TXwx#freeze#PolarVortex
@phwolfe940 funny how it looks tighter depending on what #ERCOT screen you look at. Yours has origin at 0, but ERCOT mobile app has origin at 56k, making it look just fine.
TXANS Update—January 15, 2024: ERCOT has issued a Conservation Appeal for today, Jan. 15, from 6 – 10 a.m. CT due to continued freezing temperatures, record-breaking demand, and unseasonably low wind. We ask that Texas businesses and residents conserve electricity use, if safe to… https://t.co/x8A6tn7o7m
The quote “Lack of preparation on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine” does not apply to #ERCOT because everyone in #texas must pay - sometimes very highly and not only with money, sadly - for the constant lack of preparation in this state for any weather…regardless of the season. #txwx
Looks like Oregon seeing some power outages this morning. 157,824 without power there. Texas is on the map, but only 12,335 customers out at the moment. https://poweroutage.us#PolarVortex#power#grid
@ai6yr#ERCOT grid itself is in good shape at the moment; whatever outages we have now are local transmission related. 7am-noon CST tomorrow is gonna be dicey.
I have seen more road prep including chemical application to the surface in the last month (and particularly the last few days) than I have ever seen in my life.
Amazing how #Texas is more concerned about keeping the roads going than it is about energy conservation and grid reliability.
“Oh we’ve worked hard to ensure the robustness of the #ERCOT grid.” “So, Mr Politician, what specifically have you done to ensure the grid is reliable?”
…crickets
Headed to store. This is my usual scheduled trip. Hoping my timing is OK. Don’t need bread. Ok with milk for several days. Just stay away from my usual stuff…and cat food. I need cat food. And cat litter. Leave cat litter for me. #ERCOT#NTXWx#TxWx
TXANS Update—January 12, 2024: ERCOT has updated the Weather Watch to include January 14, due to the cold weather moving in earlier. The ERCOT Weather Watch, now for January 14-17, was issued due to extreme cold weather across the ERCOT region, higher electrical demand, and the… https://t.co/zi5lxBgKaZhttps://t.co/J6AKTNnYAv
I know #ERCOT claims everything will be fine with the electrical grid and the freezing temperatures #Texas is supposed to get next week, but I'm still preparing as if everything is going to go down like it did in 2021. Extra batteries, battery powered chargers, food that doesn't need to be cooked, a straw that filters out impurities from drinking water, hot water circulator on for as long as we have power, running all taps, winterizing outdoor pipes, etc etc. It's always better to overprepare!