On Thursday, ERCOT officials said that the Texas power grid was “seconds and minutes” away from a catastrophic failure that could have left Texans in the dark for months. They should know: ERCOT is the entity that operates the power grid that covers most of the state.


https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/texas-was-seconds-and-minutes-complete-disaster

They should round up who ever is in charge of ERCOT and do a public hanging

Yepper............China almost took TX out for a long time. I assume no refineries would have worked if that had happened also???

Congratulations. You almost started another doomsday thread.

You gored my Ox

Well ERCOT "Electric Reliability Council of Texas" sure did not live up to their name did they

Didnt read article. I understand the domino effect of grid failure.

I am not, repeat not, against capatalism. We build 2500 and 3000 square foot home for two people. Swimming pools often have an electrical and natural gas mechanical load comparable to a small home. We foam insulate our homes but build a walls of windows. We are climate controlling our garages like occupied spaces.

We just keep adding loads.

Was talking about that the other day. In the 50's and 60's the average house was around 1000 sqft, one bathroom, two to three small bedrooms and appliances amounted to a gas heater, stove, refrigerator and a TV. Even then my Pop was constantly running around the house turning off lights. Most families only had one vehicle at the time. We had central heat and air but the air was a swamp cooler.

Yep, saw zero hedge and kept scrolling

Well, we don't live in grass huts, for sure. Nor should we. Nor will I feel guilty for not doing so.

That said... ERCOT was and is responsible for having the grid in operable condition in just such an emergency.

If we were seconds away from having permanent blackouts, as they say, then they are really admitting their own failure.

This is Texas.

FIX IT!

Literally thousands of people have been moving to Texas on a daily basis for years. The grid has not grown to keep up with the influx of people. Drive around any suburb, they are throwing up strip malls, apartments etc. as fast as they can pour the concrete.

Yep

I posted a graph in another thread that showed where the power loss was and where the increased power came from, all I'll say is thank GOD for natural gas. It also clearly showed what we need to do for the future. Multiple small gas turbine generators can be placed in the area about the size of a football field and with our abundance of NG throughout the state we could easily install enough to provide for any extremes.NG saved our bacon this time but even it had some problems, more turbines solve that problem. I'm not so sure we couldn't build portable units that could be moved around to area's most in need.

Yep.... and my dad freaked out, at a $11.00 elec bill...........
water and trash, was $2.00..........
NG, bill was $6.00 bucks in the winter..........
gas was .9 cents a gallon.........
My parents paid 10,500, for a brand new, three bed room/ bath and a half brick.........(fenced)
oh yea, one car attached garage.......
1962, White Settlement.............
First house, I ever lived in that had, central air............
And my father, still stuck a swamp cooler in the window.... Said the central cost too much
to run...........
My mother, was a car hop....(Old Coral,restaurant) My father, was an airman, in the USAF..........
But, that was back when bologna, was really good...........

You do know if the grid didn't crash, Ercot did its job. They are in there hitting buttons and pulling levers to make sure it doesn't crash.

And how many homes, and business' lost power? Try again!

If your truck doesn’t crash does that mean you did your job?? No, it could mean you never left the house.

I really hope your comment was sarcasm but I feel it wasn’t.

If my truck wasn't loaded is it my fault the store don't get product?

Umm...

ERCOT = Electric Reliability Council Of Texas.

Their job is to insure it doesn't get to that point.

Fail...

As Hwy Man said, the NG sources we have, combined with the technology we have now, there's no excuse.

I have seen Marathon Oil build their own electric grid throughout the Eagle Ford run on NG from wells, right on the central facility pads. The electric companies were overwhelmed, and electric was months if not years away. But Marathon solved it.

https://www.globalpwr.com/products-page/natural-gas-generators/waukesha-4mw-power-plant/

I didnt say feel guilty. I dont feel guilty when I hit the remote button on my electric gate opener.
I am just commenting we keep adding loads to our utilities, water and electric. Small cities see the build boom good for the tax base. Some areas seem to do a better job of planning. Some don't. I dont have an answer. I am just telling my opinion.

I have been on remodel additions, when we started the equipment, the transformer on the pole blew. Not the fuse, the transformer.

In some cases, maybe planners should say not yet. All anove my pay grade .

Power plants need some work, which they knew before, but didn't do anything about....... this goes from Ercot board, to the rail road commission, to the state. Where the motion failed last time I dont know, but it needs to get all the way through this time.

Agree.

They know loads are increasing.

If they don't fix it, it will continue to get progressively worse. In fact it is getting much worse, every time it happens now.

I just heard this morning on News Max that five of the top officials in ERCOT don’t even live in Texas. WTF

I was told here yesterday that fact doesn't matter......exactly, WTF are foreigners doing on that board.