I’m a Dem here in Texas. Our wind turbines froze.

[Anonymous]

One of the big overlooked causes for Texas' emergency is that it is an Energy Only Market vs. a Capacity Market. The TLDR is that Texas does not pay money to ensure spare capacity exists.

Most states pay pay providers for a certain amount of generating capacity in addition to the amount of energy consumed. The purpose is to make sure enough spare capacity is available.

Texas is one of two Energy Only markets. In an energy only market, generators only get paid for the electricity that is consumed. And guess what, that means generators only build plants when they are confident they can sell that energy - ie lack of spare capacity.

There is an economic incentive to build above the state's normal capacity, and that is the fact that prices can skyrocket during periods of extreme demand. But those spikes are rare. And with energy prices so low, generators are unable to bet on getting future revenue from those extreme events.

So Texas' assumption that the free market would provide adequate capacity in extreme situations was wrong, because the market did not forsee an event of this magnitude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile eastern NC had an EF# tornado yesterday and three people were killed, 50 homes were damaged or destroyed, and it did not make the news until I saw pictures on a photographer's FB page. They are sitting in the cold and dark in TX while in NC they are cold, it is dark, but they have no homes.





https://www.accuweather.com/en/severe-weather/powerful-ef3-tornado-tears-through-nc-killing-at-least-3/901246

Tornados are awful and terrible. But, they are not unusual. Does every automobile fatality make the news?
I grew up in an area that suffers from tornados. My childhood home was damaged by one (no family at home at the time). They are not rare. The Texas snowstorm is extremely rare--and far more people are dying there because of road conditions and carbon monoxide poisoning in order to stay warm.

The area I come from rarely had snow or ice, but when we did it paralyzed the city. Ice is worse. Power was out for days on more than one occasion (better now, I understand.) No heat or electricity for days can be dangerous when the temps.
This Texas storm is affecting millions, and millions of people. And, sadly, there will be people without homes from fires, fallen trees, etc. And, there have already been deaths.

This isn’t some sort of morbid competition. All of these things can be simultaneously terrible.

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

He should resign because he failed either way. He either let the Texas energy industry do what they wanted without ensuring winter capacity or he let green energy take over Texas (lol) without ensuring winter capacity. Either way it is a failure of management and oversight by the Texas government. Take responsibility, Governor.

[Anonymous]

Lol they have wind turbines working in Antarctica but ok it’s the wind turbines that took down Texas.

Lol.

Republicans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lol they have wind turbines working in Antarctica but ok it’s the wind turbines that took down Texas.

Lol.

Republicans.

The anatomy of a coordinated rightwing disinformation propaganda campaign to deflect their failure:
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/texas-frozen-wind-turbines-john-cornyn-b1803193.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, It’s bad. We have not lost power at my house. One toilet won’t work but the other two are. We have an ice storm tomorrow. I can take care of myself with my COVID extra 10 pounds but am worried about my greyhounds. One is almost 15, others are 10.5, 9 and our new wiggleworm at almost 4. They are so skinny. We do have dog coats and lots of food but...,

Move beds and all living things into one room. Set up a tent in there if you can, or a blanket fort under a table. The smaller the space, the more likely you are to be able to warm it with body heat. Drape the tent or fort with more blankets or rugs to hold in heat.

Heat loss to the floor underneath you is a big problem. Insulate underneath with layers of cardboard, crushed newspaper, or straw if you have it.

[/Manitoban who has had to get through -40 nights without electricity]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wind turbines don't freeze in Iowa. Just sayin'

+1 it was very cool (pun intended) to see the huge wind turbine that powers the campuses of St.Olaf and Carleton Colleges. In MN. In February. Of course, they invested in a heater, so it actually works in sub zero.

Only 10% of The TX power grid is windmills. Even if they all froze, it wouldn’t take the state down.

I guess this isn’t the time to point out that at least windmill cancer rates will be down?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, It’s bad. We have not lost power at my house. One toilet won’t work but the other two are. We have an ice storm tomorrow. I can take care of myself with my COVID extra 10 pounds but am worried about my greyhounds. One is almost 15, others are 10.5, 9 and our new wiggleworm at almost 4. They are so skinny. We do have dog coats and lots of food but...,

Move beds and all living things into one room. Set up a tent in there if you can, or a blanket fort under a table. The smaller the space, the more likely you are to be able to warm it with body heat. Drape the tent or fort with more blankets or rugs to hold in heat.

Heat loss to the floor underneath you is a big problem. Insulate underneath with layers of cardboard, crushed newspaper, or straw if you have it.

[/Manitoban who has had to get through -40 nights without electricity]

wow.. someone who has learned to pull themselves up by the bootstraps.. from a socialist country no less.

[Anonymous]

Are the greyhounds ok?

[Anonymous]

Dan Crenshaw is trying to blame Texas' energy failure on California. This is too rich!

https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/crenshaw-texas-wind-oil-energy-california

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The wind turbines froze, but so did everything else. Thermal plants actually, at least as of yesterday morning, accounted for more of the missing demand than wind. It's not a renewable issue but an overall infrastructure issue.

Wind accounts for less than 20% of TX grid and the Swedes do not have this problem. GOP doesn't want regulation until this happens, then they blame it on Green New Deal. As if.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So sorry, OP. It sounds miserable.

Not sure how you can blame Republicans for not keeping up infrastructure. It sounds like a freak storm causing wind turbines to freeze.

Perhaps we need to move cautiously away from oil and gas until we have the technology for preventing such an event.

You keep up the infrastructure in order to weather freak storms - no pun intended - so yes, you can blame the Texas GOP where they spend more time on anti-choice measures and fighting for low to no taxes. You get what you pay for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So sorry, OP. It sounds miserable.

Not sure how you can blame Republicans for not keeping up infrastructure. It sounds like a freak storm causing wind turbines to freeze.

Perhaps we need to move cautiously away from oil and gas until we have the technology for preventing such an event.

You keep up the infrastructure in order to weather freak storms - no pun intended - so yes, you can blame the Texas GOP where they spend more time on anti-choice measures and fighting for low to no taxes. You get what you pay for.

It was all forseen. The same thing happened in 2011 and the AAR pointed to the lack of basic weatherization along with the lack of backup generation as the problem. ERCOT and FERC issued simple fix reccomendations, such as wind breaks and insulation, which were ignored by the providers. Texas, through its government, chose to save 5¢ yesterday and here we are. The rest of the country pays extra for our electricity to fund the weatherization, interconnection, and emergency backup supply that would have prevented all of this. Texas though chose to take this risk and is now paying for it both literally and figuratively.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, It’s bad. We have not lost power at my house. One toilet won’t work but the other two are. We have an ice storm tomorrow. I can take care of myself with my COVID extra 10 pounds but am worried about my greyhounds. One is almost 15, others are 10.5, 9 and our new wiggleworm at almost 4. They are so skinny. We do have dog coats and lots of food but...,

Move beds and all living things into one room. Set up a tent in there if you can, or a blanket fort under a table. The smaller the space, the more likely you are to be able to warm it with body heat. Drape the tent or fort with more blankets or rugs to hold in heat.

Heat loss to the floor underneath you is a big problem. Insulate underneath with layers of cardboard, crushed newspaper, or straw if you have it.

[/Manitoban who has had to get through -40 nights without electricity]

wow.. someone who has learned to pull themselves up by the bootstraps.. from a socialist country no less.

PP here in follow-up. This is a good video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtFwAR9182M

He points out that you can avoid burning things inside (carbon monoxide risk), but burn outside and heat things to bring in. Stone works well, or brick. Even terra cotta.

Also, he points out that many in Texas will likely have blue tarps from hurricane season. These can be used to insulate, also.