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2020-21 Winter weather; bring it on

Parliament

By Parliament
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HOOKEM4

HOOKEM4 5020

Posted
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1 minute ago, burntorangebongos said:

I don't think a burst pipe will be able to gush or drip to cause a flood. It is when it is warm enough to thaw that you have to worry about that.  Somebody with  frozen pipe knowledge make sure I'm not lying to this poster.  

If it bursts, it will likely start leaking. I have had two neighbors flood today. It is possible it could break and not leak but I wouldn't rush that. Kill the supply and sort it out later while you are present.

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SubliminalHorn
SubliminalHorn

Power back on. 109 hours. I almost want to cry a little 

Machinator
Machinator
BradInATX
BradInATX

I've actually been turning my heat up a degree every time a new Surly member loses power on this thread. It's a nice balmy 94 in here.

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UTexasFight

UTexasFight 9380

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49 minutes ago, BradInATX said:
1 hour ago, UTexasFight said:
Finished a structure in the backyard a couple of months ago topped with sunbrella fabric. Did not have clearing snow before it melts and turns to a block of ice on the radar as something I’d need to do as part normal maintenance.
0CBB8746-7D57-44BB-A8C6-45C5BBE30FDE.thumb.jpeg.fc1c04270b1cc79e7d47f13e50638028.jpeg

Is that stuff fully water repellent? Building a covered pergola as my next project. I want to weatherproof it with some sort of roof. Been looking both at metal and fabric options

Yes, it’s waterproof

I recommend Dismukes Awning

not sure if they cover your area though 

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Anastasis

Anastasis 23395

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1 hour ago, BradInATX said:
1 hour ago, UTexasFight said:
Finished a structure in the backyard a couple of months ago topped with sunbrella fabric. Did not have clearing snow before it melts and turns to a block of ice on the radar as something I’d need to do as part normal maintenance.
0CBB8746-7D57-44BB-A8C6-45C5BBE30FDE.thumb.jpeg.fc1c04270b1cc79e7d47f13e50638028.jpeg

Is that stuff fully water repellent? Building a covered pergola as my next project. I want to weatherproof it with some sort of roof. Been looking both at metal and fabric options

Check out topgal polygal roofing. 

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Francisco 2.0

Francisco 2.0 32334

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https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/02/texas-power-grid-crumples-under-the-cold/

 

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Monday morning, as a jet stream brought frigid air south to the central United States, Texas residents found themselves facing rolling blackouts as the statewide grid struggled to meet demand amid a large shortfall in generating capacity. As the day wore on, many saw these blackouts extend for ever longer periods of the day, and grid authorities are expecting problems to extend into at least Tuesday. As of noon local time on Monday, the Southwest Power Pool, which serves areas to the north of Texas, also announced that demand was exceeding generating capacity.

The shortfalls appear to be widespread, affecting everything from wind turbines to nuclear plants. One source of trouble may be an increased competition for natural gas, which is commonly used for heating in the United States.

 

Spoiler

Texas is unusual in that almost the entire state is part of a single grid that lacks extensive integration with those of the surrounding states. That grid is run by an organization called ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, a nonprofit controlled by the state legislature.

According to a statement released today by ERCOT, the grid entered a state of emergency shortly after 1am on Monday, meaning it could no longer guarantee enough power generation to meet customer demands. This is because roughly 30 gigawatts of generation capacity has been forced offline.

While some early reports indicated that frozen wind turbines were causing significant shortfalls, 30GW is roughly equal to the entire state's wind capacity if every turbine is producing all the power it's rated for. Since wind generally tends to produce less during winter, there's no way that the grid operators would have planned for getting 30GW from wind generation; in fact, a chart at ERCOT indicates that wind is producing significantly more than forecast.

Power supplied by wind (green) is coming in ahead of forecasts.
Power supplied by wind (green) is coming in ahead of forecasts.

So while having Texas' full wind-generating capacity online would help, the problems with meeting demand appear to lie elsewhere. An ERCOT director told Bloomberg that problems were widespread across generating sources, including coal, natural gas, and even nuclear plants. In the past, severe cold has caused US supplies of natural gas to be constrained, as use in residential heating competes with its use in generating electricity. But that doesn't explain the shortfalls in coal and nuclear, and the ERCOT executive wasn't willing to speculate.

 

With generation failing to meet demand, ERCOT was left with no other option other than to cut off customers' access to power. "About 10,500 MW of customer load was shed at the highest point," as the company put it. In a graph posted on ERCOT's homepage, you can watch a sudden plunge in demand occurring at the time the emergency started, indicating that many customers likely saw their electricity cut off at this point. And at two points in the day since, demand experienced an additional plunge when it threatened to exceed supply, indicating further cuts.

In Texas, electrical demand (green) has had to be cut due to critically constrained supplies (red).
Enlarge / In Texas, electrical demand (green) has had to be cut due to critically constrained supplies (red).

Note that the projected demand for later in the day is far, far higher than the expected supply, indicating that Texas is in for a very difficult evening.

By around noon local time, similar problems had struck the Southwest Power Pool, which serves parts of 14 states to the north of Texas. A statement released on Twitter said that the organization had started relying on reserve energy at 10am local time and ran out of that shortly afterward. (The company's website appears to be down, though whether that's due to power issues or many people checking its status isn't clear.) "This is an unprecedented event and marks the first time Southwest Power Pool has ever had to call for controlled interruptions of service," said the company's CEO.

Authorities will probably need several weeks, if not longer, to fully understand how so much generating capacity was taken offline at what turned out to be a period of critical demand. But the event drives home the fact that balancing supply and demand on the grid has always been a challenge and prone to failure at times of extreme heat and cold. While the variability of renewable supplies will undoubtedly increase the challenge, the growing emphasis on pairing them with storage may ultimately help smooth out some of the problems in the coming decades.

 

 

 

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FORTY NINE TO ZERO

FORTY NINE TO ZERO 2630

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Posted (edited)

So ive been reading up on ERCOT. They have tied into other grids in the past (including after ike), anyone know if they are doing that now?? 

from my readings (wiki and texas tribune) it seems in general their decision to avoid buying power from other grids is a political, not technical decision. Apparently when they tie in to others they risk bringing down federal oversight.  
 

i swear to god, if this has been made worse due to them fearing federal oversight. Fucking Charges should fly. Fuckers need to be in jail 

 

edit: Texas tribune article i mentioned above  

Edited by Xian
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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 104610

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Not to go full CR but the infrastructure of this country is teetering on third world at this point. I’m half drunk, cold af and dramatic but FUCK!

The dark side of “deregulation.” When all there is is profit....and there’s no profit in building a safety net that won’t get used often...it doesn’t get built. That’s a broad simplification, but decisions were made. And here we are.
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BradInATX

BradInATX 9208

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2 minutes ago, Xian said:

So ive been reading up on ERCOT. They have tied into other grids in the past (including after ike), anyone know if they are doing that now?? 

from my readings (wiki and texas tribune) it seems in general their decision to avoid buying power from other grids is a political, not technical decision. Apparently when they tie in to others they risk bringing down federal oversight.  
 

i swear to god, if this has been made worse due to them fearing federal oversight. Fucking Charges should fly. Fuckers need to be in jail 

 

I'll get hypothermia and freeze to death on my couch watching Netflix on my phone before I'll take any welfare electricity from some queer blue state.

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Captainant

Captainant 27455

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Xian said:

So ive been reading up on ERCOT. They have tied into other grids in the past (including after ike), anyone know if they are doing that now?? 

from my readings (wiki and texas tribune) it seems in general their decision to avoid buying power from other grids is a political, not technical decision. Apparently when they tie in to others they risk bringing down federal oversight.  
 

i swear to god, if this has been made worse due to them fearing federal oversight. Fucking Charges should fly. Fuckers need to be in jail 

Well when has avoiding regulation ever led to rolling, unnecessary blackouts?? 

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Beantown Express 2.0

Beantown Express 2.0 6554

Posted
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1 minute ago, Brisketexan said:


The dark side of “deregulation.” When all there is is profit....and there’s no profit in building a safety net that won’t get used often...it doesn’t get built. That’s a broad simplification, but decisions were made. And here we are.

Well I don’t like these decisions and I would like to speak to the manager.  We have had rolling blackouts all day and the blackouts are getting way longer (hour and a half) compared to the time we have power (30 minutes).  It may have been noted in the thread already but what is up with my cell phones not working either.  When the power goes out and the WiFi is gone I can’t use my Verizon or AT&T LTE data because those aren’t working either.  

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4th&Five

4th&Five 41461

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:


The dark side of “deregulation.” When all there is is profit....and there’s no profit in building a safety net that won’t get used often...it doesn’t get built. That’s a broad simplification, but decisions were made. And here we are.

This is what is making the wife and I ragey. There will be no fallout or consequences or improvements even if 2,000 olds are dead in the morning. 

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89430

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, SubliminalHorn said:

I live on S. Lamar and power has been out since about 2 AM. What’s annoying is I can see the neighborhood right behind us on Manchac all lit up. Just right there. They must be on the circuit that has St. David’s South. 

1 hour ago, Dewey said:

I guess when the temperature gets back to around 70, they'll turn the power back on, assholes. 

"When Austin Energy tells you to conserve power when you haven’t had power since 2am"

"EuSH1jEXEAAqaEG?format=jpg&name=small

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JimmyJames

JimmyJames 12271

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16 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

This is what is making the wife and I ragey. There will be no fallout or consequences or improvements even if 2,000 olds are dead in the morning. 

It’s impossible to predict. I hope it is far far less but a third of the city is without power and it’s gonna get down to 5 degrees. Not good.

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Surly Bevo

Surly Bevo 24696

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We have to start holding people accountable.

LOL. There will be a few days of political bluster. Then the insurance claims will start rolling in and they will be pissed as hell and in turn go to their friends in Austin who will then help them take it out on us. The circle of life will be complete while everybody argues about whether Hollywood Dumbshit Model 8208 should have been canceled or not over some tweet.
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