Community Chat

[patbz]

@granddi :  When I lived in Ridgecrest CA (Mojave desert) I had the thermostat override on my AC and WE LOVED IT!  It only affected our AC and 90% of our cooling was Swamp Cooler (water over straw pads with a fan pushing it throughout house).  Only works in very low humidity but it is much cheaper than AC.  We only maybe used AC when humidity was higher ( that seldom happened).

[Spurt]

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@Trailrun23 wrote:

I am so frustrated with ERCOT! The snowmageddon we endured last winter should have been the huge wake-up call they needed to know they were far from up to the task. We  have been staying inside, trying to manage at 78 degrees with the ceiling fans going, and doing the dishwasher late at night and a load of laundry at 7am. Am using only the micro and toaster and we have been eating mostly cold foods. Keeping the shutters closed to keep out the sun and using as few lights as possible. They should just be asking everyone to conserve until this awful heat wave is over, not just the one or two days that they have.  I am horrified at losing power, especially since DH has several health issues and the extreme heat could be problem for him.  Pray that the extreme heat ends soon...it should be back up to 105 again in a few days and triple digits with no end in sight except we were happy to get a short shower today. This is the longest, driest,  and hottest stretch I can recall in years. 

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@Trailrun23 

Actually even taking in projected temperatures this weekend and all next week, this summer would only rank as the 3rd in most 100 degree days...of course by summer's end it should break the record....They said 2011 was bad but I dont even remember it....do you????

[Spurt]

@hckynutjohn 

But as to #4 Texas was going to get help with power to help Texas with the artic front from Oklahoma, Missouri, and Arkansas so there must be a way to transfer energy....BUT these States started having their own issues and blackouts so they were unable to help Texas.....

.......with winter storm warnings posted for most of the Gulf Coast region, Oklahoma and Missouri.

[tansy]

@Spurt.  I remember hearing some expert say that other states could not transfer power to the Texas grid 🤷‍♀️

[Spurt]

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@tansy wrote:

@Spurt.  I remember hearing some expert say that other states could not transfer power to the Texas grid 🤷‍♀️

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@tansy 

This is from the Texas Tribune newspaper fromlast year-

Texas relies on a separate power grid from the two larger national grids and is in most respects not subject to federal regulation. The state can draw a very limited amount of power from out-of-state sources.  

And this from a recent article----2/15/22

Pat Wood was the chair of the Texas Public Utility Commission from 1995 to 2001 before becoming the FERC chair for four years. He said the PUC could authorize connecting the state grid to the national system without the Texas Legislature having to pass a law first. According to an analysis by the American Council on Renewable Energy, each additional gigawatt of transmission capacity connecting the Texas power grid with neighboring states could have saved nearly $1 billion and prevented blackouts in around 200,000 Texas homes during Winter Storm Uri last year.

[DrBabs]

@Lucky Charm   There were some unexpected mechanical failures at a few traditional power generating plants this week, less wind for supplement. and this created yellow conservation alerts. Puffery by govt officials re: the grid is holding up blah blah to lessen/deflect criticism.

[geezerette]

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@Spurt wrote:

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@tansy wrote:

@Spurt.  I remember hearing some expert say that other states could not transfer power to the Texas grid 🤷‍♀️

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@tansy 

This is from the Texas Tribune newspaper fromlast year-

Texas relies on a separate power grid from the two larger national grids and is in most respects not subject to federal regulation. The state can draw a very limited amount of power from out-of-state sources.  

And this from a recent article----2/15/22

Pat Wood was the chair of the Texas Public Utility Commission from 1995 to 2001 before becoming the FERC chair for four years. He said the PUC could authorize connecting the state grid to the national system without the Texas Legislature having to pass a law first. According to an analysis by the American Council on Renewable Energy, each additional gigawatt of transmission capacity connecting the Texas power grid with neighboring states could have saved nearly $1 billion and prevented blackouts in around 200,000 Texas homes during Winter Storm Uri last year.

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@Spurt 

I live in one of those neighboring states and I remember our local news coverage of how bad Texas was getting hit at that time.  Our energy companies were having trouble keeping up with our own state's demands; some of the smaller ones couldn't and many of our own people ended up with the same problems you had--just on a much smaller scale.

If we hadn't needed every bit of energy for ourselves, we would have transferred some to Texas.  Our officials were willing, just not able.

A perfect storm.

[Spurt]

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@geezerette wrote:

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@Spurt wrote:

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@tansy wrote:

@Spurt.  I remember hearing some expert say that other states could not transfer power to the Texas grid 🤷‍♀️

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@tansy 

This is from the Texas Tribune newspaper fromlast year-

Texas relies on a separate power grid from the two larger national grids and is in most respects not subject to federal regulation. The state can draw a very limited amount of power from out-of-state sources.  

And this from a recent article----2/15/22

Pat Wood was the chair of the Texas Public Utility Commission from 1995 to 2001 before becoming the FERC chair for four years. He said the PUC could authorize connecting the state grid to the national system without the Texas Legislature having to pass a law first. According to an analysis by the American Council on Renewable Energy, each additional gigawatt of transmission capacity connecting the Texas power grid with neighboring states could have saved nearly $1 billion and prevented blackouts in around 200,000 Texas homes during Winter Storm Uri last year.

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@Spurt 

I live in one of those neighboring states and I remember our local news coverage of how bad Texas was getting hit at that time.  Our energy companies were having trouble keeping up with our own state's demands; some of the smaller ones couldn't and many of our own people ended up with the same problems you had--just on a much smaller scale.

If we hadn't needed every bit of energy for ourselves, we would have transferred some to Texas.  Our officials were willing, just not able.

A perfect storm.

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@geezerette 

Yes, I remember that just as you described it and also that was what was reported 

[Spurt]

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@DrBabs wrote:

@Lucky Charm   There were some unexpected mechanical failures at a few traditional power generating plants this week, less wind for supplement. and this created yellow conservation alerts. Puffery by govt officials re: the grid is holding up blah blah to lessen/deflect criticism.

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@DrBabs 

Yep, if there's no wind, those windmills cant help us and the meteorologist said the high pressure system was keeping the wind away....

[Spurt]

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@Spurt wrote:

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@geezerette wrote:

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@Spurt wrote:

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@tansy wrote:

@Spurt.  I remember hearing some expert say that other states could not transfer power to the Texas grid 🤷‍♀️

---

@tansy 

This is from the Texas Tribune newspaper fromlast year-

Texas relies on a separate power grid from the two larger national grids and is in most respects not subject to federal regulation. The state can draw a very limited amount of power from out-of-state sources.  

And this from a recent article----2/15/22

Pat Wood was the chair of the Texas Public Utility Commission from 1995 to 2001 before becoming the FERC chair for four years. He said the PUC could authorize connecting the state grid to the national system without the Texas Legislature having to pass a law first. According to an analysis by the American Council on Renewable Energy, each additional gigawatt of transmission capacity connecting the Texas power grid with neighboring states could have saved nearly $1 billion and prevented blackouts in around 200,000 Texas homes during Winter Storm Uri last year.

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@Spurt 

I live in one of those neighboring states and I remember our local news coverage of how bad Texas was getting hit at that time.  Our energy companies were having trouble keeping up with our own state's demands; some of the smaller ones couldn't and many of our own people ended up with the same problems you had--just on a much smaller scale.

If we hadn't needed every bit of energy for ourselves, we would have transferred some to Texas.  Our officials were willing, just not able.

A perfect storm.

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@geezerette 

Yes, I remember that just as you described it and also that was what was reported 

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   @geezerette that information that someone else had posted that the two grids cant be connected is incorrect, if the conditions were favorable in the other states the two grids could have connected to help Texas.