One step away from the Stone Age

I see a lotta posts blaming unpreparedness...
Is that the individual or the company the individual pays for the product?

Asking for a friend in the Great State of Texas.

For Texans, I'd don't think either can be blamed...

Here in CT, you'd think over the years the utilities would be "prepared" for outages due to wind/snow/ice and they are... but many still lose power for extended periods of time. At the end of the day, when your power is out... does it really matter if the power company "should" have been better prepared? Thus many take action in there own hands and buy a generator for those times.
 
I see a lotta posts blaming unpreparedness...
Is that the individual or the company the individual pays for the product?

Asking for a friend in the Great State of Texas.


In the end it’s up to you how prepared you want to be. Do you have a emergency kit in case of earthquake for example or do you pay a company to provide you one right after the quake hits?
 
While they aren't directly to blame, note the emphasis in that first line: "particularly in the winter", this is because solar output is lower in the winter as are wind patterns.

Also, describing wind (solar truly is a very small segment) of the Texas electricity supply as "just a fraction" is misleading. In terms of installed capacity, Texas has north of 28,000MW of wind, making it the 2nd largest source in the state. And before I get called a liar on that again (happened in another thread), here's a PDF from ERCOT that shows installed capacity for various sources:

While that sheet references exclusively installed capacity (~25,000MW), there is significant wind that's been grid connected but not yet recognized as installed capacity. It IS however factored into the charts ERCOT produces for supply, capacity factor...etc. This bumps overall capacity to north of 28,000MW, or roughly 28%. That's reflected in this chart:
www.ercot.com/content/wcm/lists/197386/Capacity_Changes_by_Fuel_Type_Charts_September_2020.xlsx

However, the blame still falls on the inability for gas gen to do its job to step-in for absent wind capacity as well as primary capacity, but I don't think it fair to ignore that wind's contribution to the event wasn't significant simply because it wasn't expected to show up at anywhere near nameplate in the first place.

This report covers why that is the case:
www.ercot.com/content/wcm/lists/197378/SARA-FinalWinter2020-2021.xlsx

ERCOT only plans on, during the winter demand peak, there being 963MW of wind and solar capacity.
If you go to the 2nd tab, the top table shows average CF for the three different wind areas, which gives a total average anticipated capacity of 6,142MW

This report explains why:



It is typical for cold snaps and heat waves to be accompanied by periods of low wind. This is perfectly normal, which is why planned available wind capacity is so low. But it does highlight an issue with expecting meaningful contribution from wind during high demand periods. The bottom line is that Utilities don't. They plan on using other capacity.

That presents a serious issue if the plan is deep decarbonization with a further reliance on electricity as we push for electrification.
Question for you O/K … I’m going to hand you $50 billion to spend on the Texas grid …
Where would you invest ? GO !
 
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How much do you want to pay to over engineer things?
You just had a 50 or 100 year storm that could not be predicted, so now you will be over engineered for the next one in 50 to 100 years. I mean, who is to blame for that?
SO now you will pay and be hardened for storms that never happened before.
Next question,
While they are at it, do you want to pay for and have the system hardened for a 7.0 earth quake that never happened before too?
Do you want all the gas lines ripped up and earth quaked proofed?
Do you want every bridge in Texas torn down and rebuilt for a earth quake that may never happen?

Profit margins are nothing compared to the costs you speak of in protecting you from a unpredictable natural disaster.
To blame public servants and fault them for events that never happened before is true Snowflake/Sugar Daddy thinking. It sounds to me you are crying because you failed to take upon yourself preparing for a natural disaster. Ever hear of a whole house generator?

and guess what? ... the public until it happens, does not want to pay for needless things that never happened before and no one can deny that is the truth.
Public utilities are not public servants. They are for profit companies that have monopolies on electricity delivery. Freezing temperatures in Texas is not something that was unpredictable. It's happened before and will happen again.
 
In the end it’s up to you how prepared you want to be. Do you have a emergency kit in case of earthquake for example or do you pay a company to provide you one right after the quake hits?
Both. No one person can be 100% ready for a massve quake.
 
Agreed. Solar and wind are part of the solution, not the entire solution. By the way, I love my solar panels.
Blaming them for the Texas crisis is laughable.
Where snow is not an issue you're correct. Looking at my neighbors roof I laugh. OTOH if I lived in Florida or where my son is in CA I'd consider it.
 
Public utilities are not public servants. They are for profit companies that have monopolies on electricity delivery. Freezing temperatures in Texas is not something that was unpredictable. It's happened before and will happen again.
Those for profit companies do things far more cost affective and efficient then any public utility can.
But if not, campaign to have your state government take over the electric system! Good luck with that! Your government will be so efficient of running the system it will cost you double what it does now. So lets lay off the "for profit" stuff *LOL*

Study Long Island NY when the state took over their system. *L*
 
Sure, that's the same here in CT... but many people deal with that by running a generator. Like I said, you live here long enough either you have one or your one of those driving around the state looking for one during an outage.
Oh,. yes! I agree, must have read your post wrong. I get tired of people expecting government to take care of them for rare events that even they never prepared for.
 
Those for profit companies do things far more cost affective and efficient then any public utility can.
Thanks for reminding me I need to go to Publix to get that Tomahawk Ribeye. Beautiful weather in Central Florida for some grilling!...( Can you imagine standing in line at the Division of Drivers License to buy the same....🥴 )
 
Those for profit companies do things far more cost affective and efficient then any public utility can.
But if not, campaign to have your state government take over the electric system! Good luck with that! Your government will be so efficient of running the system it will cost you double what it does now. So lets lay off the "for profit" stuff *LOL*

Study Long Island NY when the state took over their system. *L*
Was looking at a few maps and as recently as 2018 … only 11 states had electric rates as low as Texas … that number of states has grown quite a bit since then … so a mix of energy sources has not done bad …
California and the NE had the highest in all recent years … So yeah, better reasons for solar there …
 
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