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ERCOT, PUC, and deregulation got us here

cactusflinthead

By cactusflinthead
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bolverk

bolverk 29695

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5 minutes ago, F250 said:

This is critical infrastructure and a lot of this information should not be shared publicly. So, Bolverk will never really know what, when or why. However, yes there should be auditors armed with big regulatory sticks that can find out this information and issue out significant financial punishment that will force owners to keep their infrastructure reliable.

To your point, critical infrastructure maybe shouldn't be operating in a deregulated marketplace where maximum profit is achieved at the expense of what we all depend on for our basic health, safety, and welfare. Besides, an unreliable grid seems like it would be bad for bidness.

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cactusflinthead

cactusflinthead 27601

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7 hours ago, F250 said:

This is critical infrastructure and a lot of this information should not be shared publicly. So, Bolverk will never really know what, when or why. However, yes there should be auditors armed with big regulatory sticks that can find out this information and issue out significant financial punishment that will force owners to keep their infrastructure reliable.

 

 

So, it's a security issue?

We can't have a working list of who's going offline any given day?

Nothing to see here. Move along.

Yeah, I have a problem with that.

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 46000

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Speaking of security, it sure would be nice if officials would come out and say for sure this wasn't a criminal act.  Sure, maybe an unusually large number of Texas power plants went offline in the middle of June by coincidence.  Maybe not.

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SydneyCarton

SydneyCarton 48134

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6 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Speaking of security, it sure would be nice if officials would come out and say for sure this wasn't a criminal act.  Sure, maybe an unusually large number of Texas power plants went offline in the middle of June by coincidence.  Maybe not.

This is a great point I haven't even considered. A statement saying "This isn't a ransomware event" would be nice. Then again, maybe not give the hackers any fucking ideas considering how shaky the grid is in general. 

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 46000

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4 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

This is a great point I haven't even considered. A statement saying "This isn't a ransomware event" would be nice. Then again, maybe not give the hackers any fucking ideas considering how shaky the grid is in general. 

I hesitated to post it, because I tend to reflexively reject conspiracy theories.  Occam's Razor and all that.  The problem is, in this case, I'm not exactly sure what the most probable explanation is.

Had all the offline plants previously been online, or were some still under repair and maintenance?  It wouldn't surprise me if February caused damage beyond what they normally deal with maintaining plants as they move into the summer season.

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MonkeyDoughnut

MonkeyDoughnut 10330

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ERCOT said all the plants offline are from mechanical issues requiring repair.  Combined with wind producing less than normal and load being record high they are asking for conservation.  After the tough year and weather event in February, it's not surprising that more system have broken, just the number at the same time.

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SydneyCarton

SydneyCarton 48134

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1 minute ago, jimmyjazz said:

I hesitated to post it, because I tend to reflexively reject conspiracy theories.  Occam's Razor and all that.  The problem is, in this case, I'm not exactly sure what the most probable explanation is.

Had all the offline plants previously been online, or were some still under repair and maintenance?  It wouldn't surprise me if February caused damage beyond what they normally deal with maintaining plants as they move into the summer season.

I mean, considering we've had multiple high profile ransomware events recently and it's been escalating for years now, I don't think questioning this qualifies as a conspiracy theory. We should be asking that question every time something like this happens now. 

I dont know man, I don't look into this stuff unless something goes bonkers. But my general experience in watching this stuff as well as the communication from ERCOT and other government agencies is that it's just incompetence 95% of the time. Incompetence in understanding and informing folks what is happening. 

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Captainant

Captainant 27689

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50 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

I mean, considering we've had multiple high profile ransomware events recently and it's been escalating for years now, I don't think questioning this qualifies as a conspiracy theory. We should be asking that question every time something like this happens now. 

It bears reminding though, none of the ransomware attacks have impacted operational technology. They've all been attacks against the information technology surrounding it that impacted the business's profits but not the stability of the infrastructure itself

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 46000

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5 minutes ago, Captainant said:

It bears reminding though, none of the ransomware attacks have impacted operational technology. They've all been attacks against the information technology surrounding it that impacted the business's profits but not the stability of the infrastructure itself

OK, but it still led to a massive disruption of gasoline supply to the east coast.  

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Pescado_Rojo

Pescado_Rojo 19427

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11 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

This guy said it better than me. 
 

 

Duh! Everyone knows you use the blockchain to secure your safe full of bitcoins. Texas is going to be the Ft Knox of Bitcoins! Send us your Bitcoins and know they are safe because the building will be secured with blockchains! 

 

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F250

F250 28802

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6 hours ago, cactusflinthead said:

So, it's a security issue?

We can't have a working list of who's going offline any given day?

Nothing to see here. Move along.

Yeah, I have a problem with that.

Yes, it's a security issue. Similar reason why coaches withhold player injury information before a game.

 

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Satchel

Satchel 6938

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What ERCOT doesn’t want us to know:


ERCOT claims it’s a public agency immune from lawsuits, while also claiming it’s not a public entity required to release records

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/investigates/lack-of-government-transparency-in-power-grid-failure-leaves-public-out-in-the-cold/287-b13a9814-b41b-4665-bb39-534291853fa7

 

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JimmyJames

JimmyJames 12271

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4 minutes ago, Satchel said:

What ERCOT doesn’t want us to know:


ERCOT claims it’s a public agency immune from lawsuits, while also claiming it’s not a public entity required to release records

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/investigates/lack-of-government-transparency-in-power-grid-failure-leaves-public-out-in-the-cold/287-b13a9814-b41b-4665-bb39-534291853fa7

 

They’re also a public entity that is supposed to regulate the electric grid in this state while also being a private entity that doesn’t regulate the grid in this state.
 

It’s a pretty cool setup. Thanks Republicans! 

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High Plains Drifter

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On 6/15/2021 at 8:26 AM, MonkeyDoughnut said:

ERCOT said all the plants offline are from mechanical issues requiring repair.  Combined with wind producing less than normal and load being record high they are asking for conservation.  After the tough year and weather event in February, it's not surprising that more system have broken, just the number at the same time.

 

silver lining-- windmill cancer rates are down.

 

 

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54313

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Here's something my awesome state rep, Erin Zweiner, posted:
 

Quote

Let's talk about the grid and the current  Electric Reliability Council of Texas conservation notice.
1st off: #ERCOT's current conservation notice is this:
Conserve electricity during peak hours, most importantly 3pm to 7pm.
This conservation notice will remain in effect through at least Friday.
For my family, this means our thermostat is set at 80, the lights are off unless we absolutely need them, we're not using large appliances, and we unplugged most of our other appliances. All of this saves energy and helps make sure our demand doesn't exceed supply.
Why is that important? Because if demand exceeds supply, our grid starts to fail. And to avoid failure and catastrophic damage, ERCOT would have to order load shed. Which means some of us would experience power outages and we'd risk damage to our electrical infrastructure.
So why did ERCOT need to do this conservation notice?
I joined a briefing with Public Utility Commission and ERCOT this morning. They gave us three reasons for the difficulty they're having meeting demand right now.
1. Unusually warm June = more demand
2. Unexpected number of "forced" outages at thermal generation (i.e. natural gas, coal, nuclear) facilities = less supply.
3. Lower than anticipated wind production = less supply
Any 1 would have been fine, but all 3 is taxing the grid.
A little bit about the forced outages. Forced outage means that something at the facility broke unexpectedly. The bulk of these outages are *not* maintenance.
Why we're seeing so many forced outages right now? We don't know yet. Does it have to do with the blackout? Maybe.
So, when ERCOT started to realize late last week and over the weekend that electricity supply might be tight this week, they began to implement measures to have industrial, large commercial, and government consumers conserve energy.
When they couldn't be certain that that conservation would be enough to protect the grid and prevent brown- or blackouts, ERCOT issued the conservation notice asking everyday Texans to conserve electricity in their homes and their businesses.
I want to note that my impression is that ERCOT is now behaving in a more cautious manner than they did prior to the Texas Blackouts. I'm not certain this situation would have resulted in a conservation notice last year, but ERCOT is exercising caution. This is good.
The other thing that's different about this conservation notice is that they issued it for the entire week. Historically ERCOT has stopped and started conservation notices as needed. This time, they've told the public they anticipate high demand every afternoon all week.
This is a better way of communicating the conservation need with the general public. It would be confusing if they issued a new notice every day. ERCOT was quite rightly criticized for poor communication during the Blackout. It's not perfect yet, but I see progress.
A lot of folks are asking how we're possibly having issues with the grid right after the legislature passed bills to fix it. Two answers to this question:
1. The new laws haven't had enough time to be implemented yet.
2. They don't do enough anyways.
SB 3 is real progress toward improving the reliability of our grid. It mandates weatherization of electric generation and some natural gas infrastructure and makes it enforceable. Not a perfect bill but a step forward.
Unfortunately the bill only dealt with half the problem. SB 3 and other legislation regarding the blackout focus on the supply of electricity. This problem has two components, supply and demand.
We did nothing to improve energy efficiency in Texas, which would dramatically reduce demand. We also did very little to encourage the deployment of "demand response" technology. Demand response technology would allow Texans to be incentivized (i.e. paid) for conserving electricity during times of high demand.
Imagine if instead of ERCOT begging you to save power, your electric company offered you $20 off your bill if you let them remotely turn up the thermostat a few degrees to save electricity. This is entirely possible, but we need to invest in our grid to make it widespread in TX.
Other solution: We make rooftop solar more accessible for Texas homeowners and small businesses. On a sunny day like today where demand is high, distributed generated (i.e. not at a big central plant) from solar panels is keeping the lights on and saving us all $.
How you ask? The ERCOT market charges variable prices for electricity, but generally a power company enters into a flat rate or net metering agreement with a property owner who has solar. That means on a high ERCOT price day like today, the cheapest power is distributed solar.
Unfortunately every electric provider in Texas treats distributed solar a little differently, making it time consuming and confusing for property owners to figure out if it makes financial sense for them to install solar.
This is the point in the thread where I note that I carried House HB 2275, which would have created a grant program to fund resiliency projects for local electric utilities, which could have included energy efficiency, demand response, and distributed generation. We must invest in our local utilities and their resilience to protect everyday Texans.
HB 2275 passed the House with a supermajority. Unfortunately it was never referred to committee in the Senate. We added it to SB 3 in the House, but it didn't make the final version.
However, we'll have a second bite at the apple. This fall, we'll have a special legislative session for redistricting and to spend $16.7 billion of federal money from the American Rescue Plan. I want to put that $ into infrastructure, particularly our electric infrastructure.
Hopefully this time the Texas Senate will be onboard. Our electric grid is flying too close to the sun, and we must make concrete investments to prevent the suffering of millions of Texans.

 

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31512

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On 6/14/2021 at 6:50 PM, SydneyCarton said:

I mean they usually detail it. The nuclear thing was a rumor. But they spell it out fairly clearly:

http://www.ercot.com/news/releases/show/233037
 

what’s happening and why. They’re not planned outages. So, you can’t predict breakage. But if folks want to gripe that this is poor planning ahead of summer season by individual plant operators, well ok. It’s not like the lege has indicated companies will be punished for not keeping shit up to date and primed. ERCOT has limited control over that shit. 

 

Running rotating and other machinery in freeze-ass temperatures without adequate preparation can cause excessive wear and tear, even if they don't fail during the freeze.

I would guess that these are longer-term effects of February.

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JimmyJames

JimmyJames 12271

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1 hour ago, SubliminalHorn said:

Could a failing grid push the state blue next election? 
 

 

 

 

😂

Yes. People forget 2 things. (1) snowcopolpys happened after the last election and (2) so did the insurrection. The suburbs will vote dem in 2022.

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pyrohornIII

pyrohornIII 4817

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1 hour ago, SubliminalHorn said:

Could a failing grid push the state blue next election? 
 

 

 

 

😂

Too many of them are investing in Generac systems for their homes.  

My Trumpkin brother was whining about spending 8 grand on one and I told him to just donate the money to his local democrats, get them in office and let them just fix the system.  I mean what the fuck, are we going to be buying personal maintainers to grade our roads, since TxDot seems to lose more funding every year?  Drill our own water wells?  Put in outhouses or septic systems?  

Already you look at these gomers wanting to carry guns because you can't count on the cops.

Just fund shit to work properly.  Shake my head.

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Nivek

Nivek 16948

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7 hours ago, pyrohornIII said:

Too many of them are investing in Generac systems for their homes.  

My Trumpkin brother was whining about spending 8 grand on one and I told him to just donate the money to his local democrats, get them in office and let them just fix the system.  I mean what the fuck, are we going to be buying personal maintainers to grade our roads, since TxDot seems to lose more funding every year?  Drill our own water wells?  Put in outhouses or septic systems?  

Already you look at these gomers wanting to carry guns because you can't count on the cops.

Just fund shit to work properly.  Shake my head.

That is socialism dude.  

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Bullneck

Bullneck 19185

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18 hours ago, Queen Bitch said:

 

No idea who this is but HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

She got elected to some office or another; not interested enough to dig into it.  She's a CONSERVATIVE WOMAN.  Hates Biden and his climate change stance.  Hates Hunter Biden in spite of alleged baby arm.

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