re: Texas people: ERCOT warning

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Not part of national grid but can still purchase elsewhere. It’s just very limited in amount of connections and capacity of them.

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My point is if we were tied to the national grid, we could import much more and not have these shortages.

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It’s hardly “dry as hell” in the heavily populated parts of Texas. All everyone in Dallas or Austin could ever talk about was the friggin humidity (which was odd since it wasn’t nearly as high as Houston or anywhere in Louisiana).

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now you are just lying.

this is the worst drought Texas has had since 2013.

try again.

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So the power grid is going to crash big time this Summer right about the time Texans get purged off of all social media. Apparently Texas voted to go back to the it’s golden age the 1880s. This is going to be fun to watch from my living room set at 67 degrees, drinking ice cold tea, and playing on social media.

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What in the world

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My point is if we were tied to the national grid, we could import much more and not have these shortages.

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Since ERCOT was formed in 1970 I don’t know benefits or detriments at that time of avoiding federal regulation, but with energy easier to import with unexpected issues/needs being a current benefit are there current detriments to avoid falling under the jurisdiction of FERC? (Just read that avoiding regulation actually started before ERCOT with the Texas Interconnected System).

This avoidance of federal regulation with this started with Democrats running state through a mixture of both to more recently Republicans running it. Also has occurred across multiple Democratic Presidencies and multiple Republican Presidencies including one who was a former Governor of Texas. At least with state politics in past it crossed party lines.

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The transmission grid that the ERCOT independent system operator administers is located solely within the state of Texas and is not synchronously interconnected to the rest of the United States. The transmission of electric energy occurring wholly within ERCOT is not subject to the Commission's jurisdiction under sections 203, 205, or 206 of the Federal Power Act.

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https://www.ferc.gov/industries-data/electric/electric-power-markets/ercot

Edit to add some of its history I just read

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The Texas Interconnected System — which for a long time was actually operated by two discrete entities, one for northern Texas and one for southern Texas — had another priority: staying out of the reach of federal regulators. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Federal Power Act, which charged the Federal Power Commission with overseeing interstate electricity sales. By not crossing state lines, Texas utilities avoided being subjected to federal rules. "Freedom from federal regulation was a cherished goal — more so because Texas had no regulation until the 1970s," writes Richard D. Cudahy in a 1995 article, "The Second Battle of the Alamo: The Midnight Connection." (Self-reliance was also made easier in Texas, especially in the early days, because the state has substantial coal, natural gas and oil resources of its own to fuel power plants.)

ERCOT was formed in 1970, in the wake of a major blackout in the Northeast in November 1965, and it was tasked with managing grid reliability in accordance with national standards. The agency assumed additional responsibilities following electric deregulation in Texas a decade ago. The ERCOT grid remains beyond the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which succeeded the Federal Power Commission and regulates interstate electric transmission.

Historically, the Texas grid's independence has been violated a few times. Once was during World War II, when special provisions were made to link Texas to other grids, according to Cudahy. Another episode occurred in 1976 after a Texas utility, for reasons relating to its own regulatory needs, deliberately flipped a switch and sent power to Oklahoma for a few hours. This event, known as the "Midnight Connection," set off a major legal battle that could have brought Texas under the jurisdiction of federal regulators, but it was ultimately resolved in favor of continued Texan independence.

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https://www.texastribune.org/2011/02/08/texplainer-why-does-texas-have-its-own-power-grid/

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Increased carbon dioxide in the air is a good thing.

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Now THAT is a stupid statement.

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But I'm for more nuclear reactors which are rarely talked about anymore.

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They are being talked about a whole lot! The EU relabeled nuclear power as a green energy about 7 or 8 months ago. In the US, politicians left and right are forming a consensus on going nuclear - Biden just authorized $6 billion to keep some nuclear plants open.

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Now THAT is a stupid statement.

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Why? CO2 is plant food, and with our growing population, we need higher crop production.

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ERCOT is asking Texans to conserve power this weekend

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Then conserve power this weekend.

The end.

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With the temps so far outside the average this weekend, and outages already scheduled at plants, it puts a strain on the system. Most warnings you see are simply calls to conserve.

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This heat was forecast a few weeks ago and ERCOT ordered plants not to shut down for scheduled maintenance last week. The question is, why did 6 plants shut down anyway?

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Now if Texas was part of the national grid, we could get energy from out of state. But as it stands, our politicians won't allow us to join the national grid.

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Where did you get the talking point from? Texas has several grid ties.

They are actually exporting over half a gigawatt of power to the Eastern Interconnection.

LINK


There is also an emergency high volume grid tie in Houston that will full connect Texas to the Eastern interconnect.