Texas Privatized their Power Grid

[GMDino]

(02-22-2021, 01:37 PM)Nately120 Wrote: Ted Cruz and the power companies being able to pull of this sort of thing in the state where everyone has guns really makes me doubt any sort of uprising is ever going to occur.

Unless Trump tells them to. 

[GMDino]

People are resigning...though I won't say they are taking any responsibility because they'll get huge golden parachutes (probably).

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/02/24/ercot-board-members-resign-texas-power-outages/4572169001/

Quote:5 board members of Texas utility grid operator ERCOT quit. They all live out of state.

Madlin Mekelburg
Austin American-Statesman


AUSTIN, Texas – Five members of the board of directors at the entity that operates the state's electrical grid resigned from their posts Wednesday, according to a notice posted to the Public Utility Commission website.
Board Chairwoman Sally Talberg, Vice Chairman Peter Cramton and members Terry Bulger, Raymond Hepper and Vanessa Anesetti-Parra will  leave the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT. None of them lives in Texas.

ERCOT has come under fire for its handling of widespread blackouts that left millions of Texans without power and water as the state faced subfreezing temperatures, snow and ice. The storm was part of an icy blast across the Deep South that resulted in more than 80 deaths, roughly half of which were in Texas.

In a joint resignation letter, Talberg, Cramton, Bulger and Hepper acknowledged "the pain and suffering of Texans during this past week" and cited objections to their residency as a motivating factor for their resignations.

Anesetti-Parra did not sign the joint letter, but a notice sent from ERCOT to the Public Utility Commission noted her intention to resign from the board.

Winter storm blackouts plagued Texas in 2011, too. Recommendations made afterward went unenforced.
'An electrical island':Texas has dodged federal regulation for years by having its own power grid
"Our hearts go out to all Texans who have had to go without electricity, heat, and water during frigid temperatures and continue to face the tragic consequences of this emergency," the letter reads. "We have noted recent concerns about out-of-state board leadership at ERCOT. To allow state leaders a free hand with future direction and to eliminate distractions, we are resigning from the board."

Craig Ivey, who was set to fill a vacant position on the board, said in a separate letter that he was withdrawing his candidacy "to avoid becoming a distraction" over his out-of-state residency.


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Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who charged state lawmakers with making changes at ERCOT after the outages, said he welcomed the resignations.

“When Texans were in desperate need of electricity, ERCOT failed to do its job and Texans were left shivering in their homes without power," Abbott said in a statement. "ERCOT leadership made assurances that Texas’ power infrastructure was prepared for the winter storm, but those assurances proved to be devastatingly false.”

A month ago, operators at ERCOT offered a positive assessment about the preparedness of Texas power plants for winter storms, according to the Austin American-Statesman, part of the USA TODAY Network.

When the intense storm hit the state, major generation units failed, and operators at ERCOT ordered a series of rolling blackouts intended to protect the electric grid from catastrophic failure.

Instead of rolling blackouts, more than 4 million people were left without electricity for days.  

State officials criticized ERCOT amid the blackouts and state lawmakers scheduled legislative hearings for Thursday and Friday to discuss the outages.

“We look forward to working with the Texas Legislature, and we thank the outgoing Board Members for their service," reads a statement from ERCOT.

Talberg, who lives in Michigan, and Cramton, who lives in California, were elected to their posts as board chair and vice chair, respectively, on Feb. 9 during a board meeting where leaders at the electric grid operator spent just 40 seconds discussing the upcoming storm.

Bulger lives in Wheaton, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, and Hepper lives in Maine. Anesetti-Parra lives in Toronto.
There are a total of 16 members on ERCOT's board, which appoints officers who manage the grid manager's day-to-day operations.



Contributing: The Associated Press
More news on the Texas power outages:
As some Texans see electric bills skyrocket, most should be spared pricing spikes
Family sues Texas utility companies for $100M after 11-year-old boy died amid power failure
Texas politicians saw electricity deregulation as a better future. Years later, millions lost power.
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[Belsnickel]

(02-24-2021, 02:54 PM)GMDino Wrote: People are resigning...though I won't say they are taking any responsibility because they'll get huge golden parachutes (probably).

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/02/24/ercot-board-members-resign-texas-power-outages/4572169001/

Eh, board members don't necessarily get big checks. Honestly, the thing that I would find most irritating about this is that these people weren't even living in Texas.

[GMDino]

(02-24-2021, 04:03 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: Eh, board members don't necessarily get big checks. Honestly, the thing that I would find most irritating about this is that these people weren't even living in Texas.

"probably" because when does someone leave a board their buddies voted them on to and then they leave after screwing up that they DON'T get rewarded? 

But of course they weren't living in Texas.  One wasn't even living in the US.

[masonbengals fan]

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/02/the-great-texas-power-crash/

https://www.turbomachinerymag.com/who-is-to-blame-for-the-texas-grid-outages/?

Couple more articles on the Texas power failures.

[Mickeypoo]

Not trying to derail this thread, but I was curious, are there any "clean" energy solutions that could really work or that are in development?  For example, I have read just a tiny bit on Hydrogen fuel cells.

Anyway, I was just curious if there are any real solutions being tested now or on the horizon that could actually solve our energy problem?

[Belsnickel]

(02-25-2021, 12:05 PM)Mickeypoo Wrote: Not trying to derail this thread, but I was curious, are there any "clean" energy solutions that could really work or that are in development?  For example, I have read just a tiny bit on Hydrogen fuel cells.

Anyway, I was just curious if there are any real solutions being tested now or on the horizon that could actually solve our energy problem?

There is no one solution that will solve everything. We will always have to have a mixture of options to include solar, wind, nuclear, etc. In fact, we are getting closer and closer to harnessing the power of nuclear fusion which could be huge.

[Au165]

(02-25-2021, 12:09 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: There is no one solution that will solve everything. We will always have to have a mixture of options to include solar, wind, nuclear, etc. In fact, we are getting closer and closer to harnessing the power of nuclear fusion which could be huge.

Nuclear is really an amazing option but the general fear it elicits from people is holding us back from embracing how great it could actually be. I agree though, anything we do needs to be a layered approach as to not end up too reliant on something when things go wrong. 

[Mickeypoo]

Thank you for the responses.

[Belsnickel]

(02-25-2021, 12:26 PM)Au165 Wrote: Nuclear is really an amazing option but the general fear it elicits from people is holding us back from embracing how great it could actually be. I agree though, anything we do needs to be a layered approach as to not end up too reliant on something when things go wrong. 

The only thing I dislike about nuclear energy currently, and this is a HUGE problem, is what to do with the waste. This is why I'm really looking forward to the upcoming fusion testing. Fusion, once we actually get a net gain from it, would be a game-changer.

[Stewy]

(02-25-2021, 12:09 PM)Belsnickel Wrote:  In fact, we are getting closer and closer to harnessing the power of nuclear fusion which could be huge.

Links?  

As a scientist, I have been obsessed with fusion, but haven't heard anything about significant progress in years.

What I have heard is that once we achieve real fusion (assuming the reaction doesn't run out of control and fry the entire atmosphere), it will take 50-100 years to harnesses it in a meaningful, effective way to be commercially viable.

Achieving fusion is the first step, but I doubt it will happen in my lifetime.

[Belsnickel]

(02-25-2021, 03:28 PM)Stewy Wrote: Links?  

As a scientist, I have been obsessed with fusion, but haven't heard anything about significant progress in years.

What I have heard is that once we achieve real fusion (assuming the reaction doesn't run out of control and fry the entire atmosphere), it will take 50-100 years to harnesses it in a meaningful, effective way to be commercially viable.

Achieving fusion is the first step, but I doubt it will happen in my lifetime.

I mean, when I say "closer and closer" it is with the understanding that it isn't going to be happening right away. But, there actually is news on this: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00408-1

Quote:A pioneering reactor in Britain is gearing up to start pivotal tests of a fuel mix that will eventually power ITER — the world’s biggest nuclear-fusion experiment. Nuclear fusion is the phenomenon that powers the Sun and, if physicists can harness it on Earth, it would be a source of almost limitless energy.

In December, researchers at the Joint European Torus (JET) started conducting fusion experiments with tritium — a rare and radioactive isotope of hydrogen. The facility is a one-tenth-volume mock-up of the US$22-billion ITER project and has the same doughnut-shaped ‘tokomak’ design— the world's most developed approach to fusion energy. It is the first time since 1997 that researchers have done experiments in a tokamak with any significant amount of tritium.

In June, JET will begin fusing even quantities of tritium and deuterium, another isotope of hydrogen. It is this fuel mix that ITER will use in its attempt to create more power from a fusion reaction than is put in — something that has never before been demonstrated. The reactor should heat and confine a plasma of deuterium and tritium such that the fusion of the isotopes into helium produces enough heat to sustain further fusion reactions.

[Stewy]

(02-25-2021, 03:30 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: I mean, when I say "closer and closer" it is with the understanding that it isn't going to be happening right away. But, there actually is news on this: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00408-1

Yeah just googled that myself

[Belsnickel]

(02-25-2021, 03:30 PM)Stewy Wrote: Yeah just googled that myself

I follow Nature pretty closely, and when I saw that the other day it was very exciting.

[Stewy]

(02-25-2021, 03:28 PM)Stewy Wrote: Achieving fusion is the first step, but I doubt it will happen in my lifetime.

I want to clarify.  I meant achieving TRUE fusion, where you get more power out than you put in.

According to the article Bel linked above, the best they've done is 0.67 (1.0=true fusion), back in 1997 (I think it said).

Good luck to the scientists and safety for all.

[*Nately120*]

(02-25-2021, 12:39 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: The only thing I dislike about nuclear energy currently, and this is a HUGE problem, is what to do with the waste. This is why I'm really looking forward to the upcoming fusion testing. Fusion, once we actually get a net gain from it, would be a game-changer.

Send it to Mars?

[Belsnickel]

(02-25-2021, 03:40 PM)Stewy Wrote: I want to clarify.  I meant achieving TRUE fusion, where you get more power out than you put in.

According to the article Bel linked above, the best they've done is 0.67 (1.0=true fusion), back in 1997 (I think it said).

Good luck to the scientists and safety for all.

Indeed. It's hard, sometimes, when you understand these achievements that seem small to others are actually huge. I mean, they are shooting for 5 seconds of action with this test. Most people would be wondering what the hell the big deal is, but it is a big deal.

[Stewy]

(02-25-2021, 03:44 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: Indeed. It's hard, sometimes, when you understand these achievements that seem small to others are actually huge. I mean, they are shooting for 5 seconds of action with this test. Most people would be wondering what the hell the big deal is, but it is a big deal.

I agree.  They're taking decades of work and fining it down to do new experiments.  They aren't all repeat experiment's, but also new experiments where they only have theoretical results.  Scary and thrilling at the same time.

Thanks for bringing me up to date.  I'll be keeping an eye on it.

[GMDino]

Ted Cruz doesn't even think it's a serious problem for him anymore...

"The family of Christian says their son died... because of the cold after they lost power... The wife of Vietnam vet Tony Anderson says they lost power & her husband died while trying to connect to a portable oxygen machine in his pickup."

Just comedy fodder for the @gop. https://t.co/FfwOxlrvbq

— John Orloff (@johnorloff) February 28, 2021

 

[masonbengals fan]

https://energyathaas.wordpress.com/2021/02/22/the-texas-power-crisis-new-home-construction-and-electric-heating/

Another article on issues that lead to the failures.