Texas Big Freeze Aftermath

[Volkonski]

Legislature holding hearings today. Trying to pin the blame on anyone but themselves.



Taylor Goldenstein
@taygoldenstein
Replying to
@taygoldenstein
(On a sidenote, lawmakers have been asking a lot of basic questions about how the system works. What ERCOT does. What PUC does. Makes you wonder how much preparation was done before today...)

[Slim Cognito]

Do it live.png (423.25 KiB) Viewed 8489 times

[Volkonski]

Lauren McGaughy Glowing star
@lmcgaughy
Lawmakers yelling at power companies to tell them who is responsible for turning *their* power off when they wrote the laws that set up the system we have.

Just sayin'.

[filly]

Meanwhile, our next door neighbors only have water in their pipes due to a long garden hose attached to our outdoor spigot. Scores of homes around us have 12 ft. high piles of debris on their lawns from their flooded homes. Most of them are elderly. IOW, this event is not over for millions of Texans.

[AndyinPA]

https://www.nbcdfw.com/investigations/e ... s/2562592/

ERCOT: Texas Was 4 Minutes and 37 Seconds Away From a Blackout That Could Have Lasted Months

/snip/

ERCOT’s weather data shows the Dallas/Fort Worth area was at or below freezing for more than 140 hours. That’s 40 hours longer than the 2011 winter storm that caused rolling power outages.

[Volkonski]

It seems from the hearing today that Texas state legislators from both parties don't know much about the deregulated electric power market that they created.

[Volkonski]

Very cold weather is a problem for Texas. When it gets very cold buildings demand more gas and electricity for heating.

Much of TX electricity is generated using gas. So the demand for gas increases greatly and suddenly.

When the demand for gas exceeds contracted supply users turn to the spot market driving prices up.

At some point the capacity of the gas infrastructure becomes the limiting factor.

In summer the electric power generating system is the limiting factor because there is plenty of gas available since no one is using it for heating then. In winter the natural gas system seems to be a limiting factor.

The Texas power generating system is designed for summer peaks. Winter peaks are something relatively new.

Handling winter peaks is going to require significant investments. Will be watching with interest to see where the money is found.

[AndyinPA]

Can't be true! I heard Abbot himself blaming the wind turbines.

[Volkonski]

Taylor Goldenstein
@taygoldenstein
·
7m
Wow, this from Curt Morgan, CEO of Vistra Corp, on Texas power failure:

"I was a big proponent of this market, and my faith has been shaken. I think we have to look a something that is more stable than this. This is just not befitting of the state of Texas."

Morgan, Vistra Corp CEO (con't): "We let you down, we all let ourselves down ... And like I said, I used to tout this as being the best market and everything else, I think it is, but it didn't work in this situation, and in a big way. And we've got to revisit it."

Vistra Corp is a power generating company that owns TXU Energy, Homefield Energy, Dynegy, and Luminant.

[Slim Cognito]

Has anyone blamed AOC yet (today)?

[AndyinPA]

The day's not over yet.

[zekeb]

It seems from the hearing today that Texas state legislators from both parties don't know much about the deregulated electric power market that they created.

Why the need to know? Private industry will make it perfect and a the most competitive price.

[raison de arizona]

It seems from the hearing today that Texas state legislators from both parties don't know much about the deregulated electric power market that they created.

Why the need to know? Private industry will make it perfect and a the most competitive price.

Exactly. And have ALEC write all your laws as long as you are at it.

[Volkonski]

Texas winter storm costs could top $200 billion — more than hurricanes Harvey and Ike

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-wint ... =112149581

As winter storms swept across much of the country last week, they shuttered oil and gas production, food processing facilities and manufacturing plants while plunging millions of people into darkness for days on end. Now many homeowners are dealing with burst pipes and other property damage from the unprecedented snow and cold.

The Perryman Group, a Texas-based economic research firm, projected that Winter Storm Uri could end up costing a total of $195 billion on the low end and as much as $295 billion. Those figures include lost income as well as long-term reduction in economic output stemming from factories and businesses that closed during the storm.

"In a worst-case scenario, it could be a little worse than Harvey. Best-case scenario, it's almost as bad as Ike," Ray Perryman, president and CEO of the Perryman Group, told CBS MoneyWatch.

Hurricane Harvey, which slammed Houston in the summer of 2017, ranks with Hurricane Katrina in 2005 as the most destructive storm in U.S. history, causing $125 billion of physical damage in Texas and Louisiana. Hurricane Ike, which hit nine years earlier, was the second-most destructive, causing $30 billion in damage in Texas and Louisiana.

[zekeb]

I can believe that. Will Texas winterize their utilities? Will winterization be enough, considering that energy efficiency isn't built into many homes? Will Texas continue to run their own power grid, requiring a considerable amount of excess capacity? Nah. It's worth the extra cost of being independent.

[filly]

And the $200 billion will be paid by increased homeowner's insurance premiums and federal tax money. The power generators will continue to exist regulation-free and will take their profits.

[Volkonski]

I can believe that. Will Texas winterize their utilities? Will winterization be enough, considering that energy efficiency isn't built into many homes? Will Texas continue to run their own power grid, requiring a considerable amount of excess capacity? Nah. It's worth the extra cost of being independent.

We now know that our Wichita Falls house can stay warm and have unfrozen plumbing when it is -8F outside.

More cold weather events will be a problem further south. Houses in our previous Gulf Coast city typically have water lines that come up out of the ground and then enter the wall about 3 feet up. That design assumes that freezing temperatures will occur rarely and then only for short periods of time. Also it is common there for the washer and dryer to be in the unheated garage. This is especially true for cheaper tract houses which account for most of the garage-having single family homes.

I recall a Christmas down there in 1986 when a 3 day freeze resulted in water pouring out of many garages in the Houston area whose owners were away for the holiday. Many homeowners also discovered then that their heating systems were inadequate to handle freezing weather.

Retrofitting houses for more frequent, colder and longer freezes will cost a fortune. Winterizing natural gas and electricity generating systems will cost another fortune.

Here bottled water distribution continues. Our municipal water system survived just fine but a significant number of folks have burst pipes and so can't access city water while they await the arrival of a plumber on some day in the far future.

Our daughter's school district's buildings survived just fine. It is a small district with only two buildings and the superintendent, the two principals and the custodian had the foresight to drain the pipes on the Friday before the storms. And I mean that the superintendent and principals assisted the custodian in draining the pipes.

Many other school districts had burst pipes in some buildings partly because once it became apparent that this was likely the roads were is such bad shape that custodians couldn't get to the school buildings to drain the pipes.

What is different for this weather event is that it affected the whole state of Texas. Hurricanes are terrible but they affect a limited area along the coast. For the rest of the state it is business as usual. Now all TX legislators are hearing from unhappy constituents. Now is right at the start of the legislative session (which only occurs once every two years). Expect lots of grandstanding. How many useful changes will be made to our laws remains to be seen.

[zekeb]

I would think that Texas homes would benefit from insulation and double glazed windows just as much as the homes in the North. Texans may not be heating their homes as much as we do in the North, but they use much more air conditioning. My last month heating bill was $39. I haven't seen my bill yet for the period during the deep freeze. The highest heating bill I've ever had was for just under $64. My house is built to the highest efficiency standards that were feasible five years ago.

[Reality Check]

Just curious, are they bringing in plumbers from other regions like they do linemen to repair downed power lines after hurricanes? I bet plumbers are making big bucks on OT in Texas right now.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

I would think that Texas homes would benefit from insulation and double glazed windows just as much as the homes in the North. Texans may not be heating their homes as much as we do in the North, but they use much more air conditioning. My last month heating bill was $39. I haven't seen my bill yet for the period during the deep freeze. The highest heating bill I've ever had was for just under $64. My house is built to the highest efficiency standards that were feasible five years ago.

My son's home has double glazed windows and he is in North Texas territory.

[Slim Cognito]

I remember many a sub-zero night back in MO where we left all the facets running a very light stream to keep pipes from freezing, and leaving all the cabinet doors open beneath a sink.

Yesterday I turned the a/c on for four hours.

[Volkonski]

Just curious, are they bringing in plumbers from other regions like they do linemen to repair downed power lines after hurricanes? I bet plumbers are making big bucks on OT in Texas right now.

Yes. Granting temporary licenses.

[zekeb]

I remember many a sub-zero night back in MO where we left all the facets running a very light stream to keep pipes from freezing, and leaving all the cabinet doors open beneath a sink.

Yesterday I turned the a/c on for four hours.

When the forecast calls for rising temperatures in the afternoon, I close the house up once the outdoor temp rises to 72. In many cases I can coast through the entire day without needing to turn on the A/C.

[Phoenix520]

Say, wasn’t ENRON a Texas company? Seems Texans didn’t learn enough about the nature of energy markets + greed.

ETA: Foogs, you put my avatar back! Thank you! *Hug smilie*

[AndyinPA]

Climate change is going to be expensive for a lot of people. The people of Texas aren't the first to see that, and they won't be the last.