2020-21 Winter weather; bring it on

[staboner 4957]

goddamn yall homies be good and warm and all. here's to some good fucking. 

 

[Hagbard Celine 10757]

5 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

At what point can they take over (can they?) and just do what is right on a human being level?

during the '13 cobblestone ice storm after 48 hours down i started driving around and discovered trucks from alabama assembling in a theater parking lot.  i followed a supervisor's truck back down in to plano to a hotel, found a hardhat (fletch kitchen style) and wandered in to the war room.  after figuring out who was in charge i went out, changed coats, ditched the hat, went back in, walked up to the honcho, and asked to see the blueprints of the grid to understand where my house was.

the best way i can describe their reaction was NATIONAL SECURITY.

there are parts of the grid that run pumping stations for water and sewer and the power industry and (what's left of our 3rd-world) governement do not want the public to know this information.

so to answer your question, they have to let people pets and pipes freeze and die, or civilization breaks down.

[Hagbard Celine 10757]

5 hours ago, The Ace of Aces said:

Checking in from Pennsylvania. You guys be safe and help each other. We all know Texans are the best humans on earth - you guys can survive this disaster. We survived Charlie Strong. 

And hell should rain down on the utilities. This is 100% unacceptable. 

"the utiltiies" is no longer an accurate description for "the power industry"

[Nice Guy Eddie 13411]

2 hours ago, Michael Knight said:

at least the power companies won't suffer 

 

 

I’m a believer in the free market but the free market has a tendency to break in extreme or rare events. Private business doesn’t want to retain too much excess capacity that is rarely (never) needed. Makes great business sense. But when you have 4m without power when weather is below 20 degrees everywhere, something fundamental is broken.

[SimonBolivar 10915]

Oncor say we should have power by 5:30. I hope they're right because even with the wife, dog, blankets, and fireplace it's too cold. At least it's something to look forward to at this point.

[Hagbard Celine 10757]

3 hours ago, bluto said:

Dare I say it but there’s actually some solid insider perspective of what’s going on from a couple Texags posters. Gotta sort thru a mile of texags idiocy and bullshit but poster ‘gone maroon’ is dishing some intel on ercot and their mismanagement of the grid.

https://texags.com/forums/16/topics/3182697/

scrolled through pages 1-5

only dished intel is "vistra" was allowed to take winter outage by ercot, and 10000mw of "thermal" outages, whatever the fuck any of that means to people without power for 25 hours in single digits who are going to die before sunrise

[Telegraph_it 3354]

I’m still not having fun. I feel like this would have be more fun before I had kids or I was a property owner. Damn growing up and having responsibilities. 

[Message Board User 12389]

Not sure who is to blame, but this is just a colossal embarrassment.  It's unfathomable to me that we're going to have significant loss of life and property because of...high demand for electricity?

 

[Message Board User 12389]

My sense is that the blame game for this fuckup will look something like this - 

[Constant 6722]

Hit the 24hr mark. Unbelievable. 

[Telegraph_it 3354]

27 here! I think I get a centerpoint artic mug if I hit 36 hours. 
 

Question: when all the faucets in my house have become a slow trickle that probably means the water pressure from the main is low?

Water temperature in house are still reasonable. I’ve managed to keep the interior between 64-66. 

[Guest Lobo]

If only we had natural gas in Texas, we could help more people stay warm. Alas, we have to import it from Vermont.  

Always fun to wake up extra early to run faucets, move space heaters, etc. and have a deluge of texts from friends and business colleagues up North saying basically the same thing, "It's all over the news about Texas.  You guys can't make enough power during a little snowstorm.  Thought you guys had all the natural gas, oil, and your own electric grid...or at least you couldn't shut up about having all that shit.  What gives?"  

Y'all stay warm.  I'm going to the liquor store at 10am if anybody needs anything.  And oh yeah...Happy Fat Tuesday.

Edited February 16, 2021 by Lobo

[bluto 4889]

Looking at oncor map looks like it’s about 30-35% of their customers are out across the main 4 counties of DFW. Unreal

[Constant 6722]

3rd world country shit. 

[Bookman 4610]

I haven't had any power outages but I get my water from Shavano Park and apparently we're not supposed to use water.

Fortunately I only drink bottled water (grew up in a colonia) and I have plenty.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10145]

Looks like ERCOT has lost about 40% of total generation capacity at this point. Without a quick warming I have a feeling this is going to go into Thursday. The question is whether they can actually accomplish some rolling outages to give some relief to those without or if the grid is too unstable (is currently) they won't risk having the whole thing collapse. 

Where is that blazing Texas sun when you need it. Bundle up, stay warm.

[Hpara759 1777]

Glad all the car dealerships along I-35 are lit up like the 4th of July during this week of record breaking sales🙄

[Deej 76561]

3 minutes ago, Hpara759 said:

Glad all the car dealerships along I-35 are lit up like the 4th of July during this week of record breaking sales🙄

"I'm a veteran and veterans are always welcome to freeze to death so Capital Chevrolet can keep its lights on."

[SimonBolivar 10915]

1 hour ago, SimonBolivar said:

Oncor say we should have power by 5:30. I hope they're right because even with the wife, dog, blankets, and fireplace it's too cold. At least it's something to look forward to at this point.

And there goes 5:45 without even a flicker. 24 something hours and counting. Appreciate the false hope Encor.

[MNLonghornFUKM 8799]

200 less posts this night shift compared to Sunday nights... don’t think that’s a good thing. Or maybe they’re getting some decent rest

[Knoxtnhorn 5929]

2 hours ago, bolverk said:

I've got a gas stove but it won't ignite without power, which is nice, I guess.

Was in the same boat.  I turned on the gas then used my bbq lighter to ignite.  

[Telegraph_it 3354]

Keeping the infant warm. I think he is the only one that’s content. Until I have the pick him up to bring to mom to nurse again and change his diaper on the frigid changing table. 
 

[Message Board User 12389]

 

 

[Message Board User 12389]

Sadly, we're going to hear more of these stories across the state.  😢

SUGAR LAND, Texas — A man and three small children died in a house fire in Sugar Land early Tuesday morning, a city spokesman confirms to KHOU 11 News.

Firefighters were called to the 3200 block of Vista Lake, in the First Colony area, where a woman and her friend were found outside a burning home. Both suffered burn injuries.

Inside the home, the man and three elementary school-age children were found dead.

Police believe one of the women found hurt outside the home is the mother of the children who perished.

The neighborhood where the fire occurred had been without power for about eight hours.

Currently, the cause of the fire remains under investigation, but it is just one of multiple deadly incidents overnight as the community tries to keep warm during the frigid weather and lack of electricity.

Earlier in the evening, a woman and little girl died in a carbon monoxide poisoning incident as they tried to keep warm using a running vehicle, Houston police said.

[Guest Lobo]

Dear Lord.  This should not be happening in the most energy abundant state in the history of mankind.  What a horrible tragedy. 

Ice on power lines is going to happen and crews work tirelessly to repair them.  But what is this chaos causing 80% of the outages?  

What a godawful story to start the day.  

[CleverNickname 1292]

I apologize for laughing at yhe bodies in frozen trees quips. 

[Shaddie 1638]

Deregulation is all fun and games..............

Until you allow private companies to choose between customers or profits. 

[Grade of D as in David 13253]

78758. Looks like I lost power sometime around an hour ago. 

[Message Board User 12389]

4 minutes ago, Lobo said:

But what is this chaos causing 80% of the outages?  

here's one explanation, for what it's worth.

“The ERCOT market design is fatally flawed,” said Ed Hirs, the University of Houston energy fellow. “It was never a matter of if it would fail. The only question was when.”

Hirs is a highly-regarded source on energy markets and distribution who -- in 2013 predicted grid failure would occur in Texas if the market wasn’t redesigned.

Hirs said ERCOT, which acts like an air traffic controller and manages the power grid for 85% of Texas customers, has no mechanism to penalize the companies that actually generate the power. Hirs said those generators typically focus their efforts on the summer months -- when they expect their power plants to have high demand.

Not so in the winter.

“They leave them turned off,” he said. “They’re not winterized, there’s no antifreeze, they’re not oiled, they’re not staffed. They’re not ready to respond in a short term emergency like this.”

As a result, Hirs said the generators had no incentive to ready additional power plants ahead of this arctic blast. With more people continuing to move to our state, Hirs believes the system is unsustainable.

“The solution’s going to be to restructure the entire electricity market for Texas,” he said. “This has been a fool’s errand since it was passed into law 20 years ago. And it just totally needs to be revamped.”

[Homercles 10205]

Power finally back on after 12 hours in brushy creek.  Marks 17 of the past 24 without, feel awful for you guys going thru much worse.  
 

And reading about the unique circumstances of our grid structure is slightly infuriating, all in the name of avoiding federal over site?  Do I have that right?  And now despite the house freezing for 2/3rds of a full day, I expect to have a massive bill because the bulk prices on the market need to reflect scarcity of supply...along with worries about frozen pipes, my kids constantly stressed, not being able to work, no cell service, etc.  

[Telegraph_it 3354]

Just now, Shaddie said:

Deregulation is all fun and games..............

Until you allow private companies to choose between customers or profits. 

Like the rep says. We fucked around and we found out. 

[Message Board User 12389]

JFC.

 

[Message Board User 12389]

20 minutes ago, Message Board User said:

 

 

At least Dallas had enough sense to turn their downtown off.

 

[Message Board User 12389]

 

[Knoxtnhorn 5929]

We got 30 mins of power at 1:30.  Current temp 10 feet from our fireplace - 44.  

[Message Board User 12389]

 

[Biff Tannen 45492]

1 minute ago, Message Board User said:

 

Those billboards don’t pay for themselves if people can’t see em. 

[Message Board User 12389]

Perhaps foolishly, I have to believe that the rolling blackouts will dissipate today as the temps across the state moderate somewhat, decreasing demand.

Hell, Houston and SA will near freezing - not great, but better than single digits and teens.

San Antonio, TX 10-Day Weather Forecast - The Weather Channel | Weather.com

Houston, TX 10-Day Weather Forecast - The Weather Channel | Weather.com

[bluto 4889]

I’m leaning more than ‘perhaps’ on that foolishly

[Guest Lobo]

Today, Tomorrow, and Thursday are gonna suck.  Godspeed my fellow Texans.  

Violence never solves anything, but when this is all over...somebody doxx somebody at ERCOT and let's beat the shit out of them in a parking lot somewhere.  

[MNLonghornFUKM 8799]

We got 30 mins of power at 1:30.  Current temp 10 feet from our fireplace - 44.  

Fuck that. Texas is the last place on earth this should happen to and frankly the only area in the country I can give a pass this could ever happen to is south Florida.

Texas isn’t invisible. I’ve frozen in your state because mentally in my head it’s supposed to be warm. Dallas gets shit weather every winter and that’s a few hours from Austin and Houston, cutting it a little close to not have any contingency plan other than to say the the turbines froze and welp, good luck-you’re on your own. What’s bad is we could go back 7 days ago when this thread had a measly 700 posts and PHD would be giving posters the update


I have zero experience in the energy sector but that screams maybe we need to get our ducks in a row, deice the wind mills, get alternative energy plant online-instead of waiting until Sunday night.

[Captainant 27448]

Lost power around 5A I think. 

[Telegraph_it 3354]

1 minute ago, Captainant said:

Lost power around 5A I think. 

Today or yesterday?

[Wanker Bob 379]

Rolling blackouts my ass. Power came on at 2 am and started on for only one hour. After not being on for 16 hours straight. Meanwhile while I was driving around town for hours yesterday to run the heater and keep us warm parts of the city and surrounding cities appeared to never lose power. I wouldn't be surprised if this is based on what color your local representatives represent or some bullshit like that

Edited February 16, 2021 by Wanker Bob

[Dewey 3280]

I will not go CR, so I'll just say fuck everyone involved in this failure.  Criminals 

[immamac 42517]

3 minutes ago, Wanker Bob said:

Rolling blackouts my ass. Power came on at 2 am and started on fire only one hour. After not being on for 16 hours straight. Meanwhile while I was driving around town for hours yesterday to run the heater and keep us warm parts of the city and surrounding cities appeared to never lose power. I wouldn't be surprised if this is based on what color your local representatives represent or some bullshit like that

Has more to do with commercial and essential infrastructure than demographics. 

Population density and energy consumption averages probably play in as well. I have property in zilker and it's been without electricity for over 24 hours at this point. 

[immamac 42517]

Just now, Dewey said:

I will not go CR, so I'll just say fuck everyone involved in this failure.  Criminals 

If you feel this way then you need to get with others who feel the same way and organize for a campaign of accountability for those responsible. 

I am firmly in the camp that this is gross negligence by those who are in charge and on the board of ERCOT. I'll gladly create a platform for people to speak out against it. 

[Captainant 27448]

9 minutes ago, Telegraph_it said:

Today or yesterday?

This morning, spring branch area in Houston

[Captainant 27448]

Just checked the NRC reactor status page and one of the two 1.4GW reactors is offline, 0%.

Furk. 

[NorthLoop 14089]

Right now is the first time I've had internet since 2am Monday morning. We've been rolling about 45 min on, 45 min off on power except last night when we got about 2 hours on and 45 off. Sounds like we're on the lucky side. The house heater has managed to keep us above 66 the whole time.