Whats your weather right now?

[gggGary]

@Team Junk great to hear an opinion from on the ground, wonder if 2m will add to this when he gets back on the grid.
figger the truth lies somewhere twixt Fox and the rest of the pack's "reporting".
Wonder what was the gas plant hold back? we've got a lot of gas turbines here now, they just announced our local coal plant is shutting down by 2025 the last wisconsin coal plant.

 

[gggGary]

Have long thought natural gas electric cogen for the home heating would make a lot of sense here in the great white north. I pay much more in a monthly line fee for the privilege of having gas to the house than I do for actual gas consumption.
Think Co gen is popular in Australia? Honda makes cogen plants. with IC engines.

 

[MaxPete]

The big issues with gas turbines are noise and part throttle efficiency - aside from acquisition cost.

If they run full-out, they're not too bad but throttled to part load, they are big drinkers.

 

[Team Junk]

I was busy starting a fossil fuel fire in my wood stove so I could emit a bunch more carbon dioxide so hoping to speed along this global warming thing. It's frigen cold.
As I was building my fire I was thinking about the war in the pacific I should mention our neiobors to the north played a big hand in that. Thanks guys
Texas is producing so much natural gas we burn off a lot of it at the well head to prevent the collapse of the gas market.There are a lot of towns in Texas that the residents get free gas for the right to run pipelines through the town.
Co-gen with gas is easy. A lot of the back up gens you see advertised run on natural gas. To be even more effect putting the radiator in the heated space increases the efficacy greatly .

Everybody stay warm.

 

[Team Junk]

I worked in the construction industry in the 70'-80's suppling aggregate to build the STP and provided concrete design for several refineries co gen project including working with Bechtel building a 600 foot stack for a coal go-gen plant that provided power and heat for a large gasoline refinery on the channel. along the ship channel. I poured concrete in virtually every plant along the channel in Houston and then with the bust in the 80's provided network support for a large industrial electrical contractor that wired a lot of the channel industries and worked on the STP so I know a little about the grid here .

 

[Jim]

Funny that... blaming the windmills for freezing up and tying that to how horrible the "Green New Deal" will be for America. Fox News playing politics with a natural disaster. I'm shocked I tell ya. And Gov Abbott giving an interview on Fox claiming the same... only to walk that back a few hrs later in another interview... yeah.... no shenanigans there.
Did the wind farms freeze up in... say, Iowa? How 'bout Norway? I been there in the Winter. Guess what... it get friggin cold there. Perhaps ERCOT shouldn't have ordered the "fair weather" version that only works when it's above freezing? Think I strained my eyeballs on that last one.
According to ERCOT, wind was supplying 33% of the power to the grid on Tue. Looks like if anything else, they're over performing.
How about the rest of the country? Did the polar vortex did just jump across the rest of the country and settle in Texas? All other power grids fared much better. Looks like there's some serious questions need answering at ERCOT and Austin when this is all over.... and I don't think blaming all this on the Green New Deal and "warm weather" windmills is gonna fix ERCOT's grid and prepare for the next time.

Link.

 

[Team Junk]

Sadly windmills don't rotate all the time in Texas .They were sitting dead still when they worst ice storm in Texas history hit them. The last time this happened I was stuck in Pecos Tx and the windmill out my my window did' not budge for over 24 hours frozen in ice. A front came through and the gusts busted it free . The front dumping snow on me now did the same thing. These windmills are in Texas are not located in mountain passes or next to the north sea. They operate on pretty low speeds and when the wind don't blow hard enough. Your trying to compare apples and oranges. .Now they are producing a good percentage of the power here tomorrow who knows. I can tell you my solar isn't putting out shit right now

 

[Team Junk]

Your graph proves my point. When the wind don't blow a third of the power goes away. The new green deal at work. That graph is shit anyway. It does not show the power from the STP or Glen Rose plants which are back online ending the rolling blackouts and the lack of power the solar grid is not producing.
Like I say Fake News

 

[Jim]

Your trying to compare apples and oranges.

Not me comparing. ERCOT stated a few days ago that up to 10% of the wind turbines weren't producing. Fox news ran with that one as well as the esteemed Governor blaming the problem on wind turbines. That couldn't be further from the truth. Per ERCOT: Frozen wind turbines were a factor, too, but Woodfin said wind shutdowns accounted for less than 13% of the outages.
So what we have here is a non-issue. Fully 87% of the outages were from sources "other than" wind. So, tell me again.... why are we picking on wind power?

Like I say Fake News

The graph is quoting ERCOT's figures. How is that fake news?

 

[Jim]

When the wind don't blow a third of the power goes away.

I lived on the west Texas border for 2 yrs. The wind always blows there. Enough to drive you batty, it is.

 

[gggGary]

I live on the west Texas border for 2 yrs. The wind always blows there. Enough to drive you batty, it is.

or at least grumpy.

 

[gggGary]

Wasn't KC experiencing rolling power outages also?

 

[Mailman]

I pay much more in a monthly line fee for the privilege of having gas to the house than I do for actual gas consumption.

All of my Missouri farming relatives have a big ol propane tank on their property, usually one fill up before winter gets them through the whole season. Heating and cooking and all. Is that even an option for you?

 

[gggGary]

All of my Missouri farming relatives have a big ol propane tank on their property, usually one fill up before winter gets them through the whole season. Heating and cooking and all. Is that even an option for you?

had one got rid of it when NG line came through and propane was stupid high, NG was cheap. Then they started charging a "network" fee. This fee is related to solar panel power buybacks. (Really)
Have NG furnace, dryer, stove, and water heater but seldom use more than $10 a month of gas, fixing the "problem" is low priority.

 

[Raymond]

Struggling to reply as have no internet access at the moment -- hope to be back on line in a few days Raymond

Well, that has been a long eight days!

We lost our internet connection. Mrs deals with buying our phone and broadband, shopping around for best deal to suit our needs. We were with TalkTalk, the package ended 11th February, best package she found was also TalkTalk so she went ahead on that.

On 11th Feb, we found . . . no internet. No phones. Nada. Used her mobile to call the company. 'Oh, that's right, your new package kicks in today. Leave it till midnight (!) at the latest and all will be back to normal.' They said.

But that was bollocks. Next day, still nothing. So she called again. And very reasonably asked, how has renewing our package led to no connection? They had to think about that one. Lots of irrelevant questions. Have you ever had the internet? Have you used that PC/ those devices before? Irrelevant suggestions - try using a different electric socket.

It was the next day again before she spoke to somebody with a bit more sense. Apparently the new package was offered by TT as an 'upgrade'. We would benefit from super-dooper-fast-fibre-optic broadband.

Mrs pointed out that we ain't got fibre down our street. Oh, but our system shows that fast fibre is available in your postcode.

Uhm, it comes into our village, but only goes to the Local Authority HQ. Goes past the end of our street. Nobody in this village has fast fibre to a private address. Can we go back to what we had before?

Apparently, No. I don't know why, there was no comprehensible explanation. But we cannot go back from our 'upgraded' package to what we had before.

Eventually, they decided that they would send us a new router. Is that designed for fast fibre? Yes. Will it work on a copper network? Don't know. Hopefully, yes.

Then there's the weekend. Then they post the new router. Which arrived in our street yesterday. But the delivery driver couldn't find our house.

Today, at last, we have the new router. Well, it seems to work . . . but I digress.

The weather here? Much warmer, the snow has melted, rivers very high as expected.

 

[rsor]

Things are looking up here.

Converted to Fahrenheit.

Maybe an early start to the socially distance golf season is on the way!

 

[Jim]

Wasn't KC experiencing rolling power outages also?

It was. From what I've read, it was due to excess demand, not loss of supply.

 

[jetmechmarty]

Things are looking up here.

Converted to Fahrenheit.

Maybe an early start to the socially distance golf season is on the way!

View attachment 185230

A tropical heat wave! All I know of your part of the world is -30F!

 

[Mailman]

Then they started charging a "network" fee.

Here in sunny Arizona, rooftop solar electric panels are all the rage, you see them absolutely everywhere. The way they are marketed here is pure snake oil. They really do work and they are marvelous inventions, but what they advertise is “Free installation!” “Never pay for electricity again!” “Makes more electricity than you need and the power companies will pay you for the surplus!”
But here’s the reality, that free installation might indeed be free, but most of these systems are payed for on 20 year loans, how much interest are you gonna pay over 20 years, what will that make the total cost of the system?
And if you ever want to sell your house, you have to either pay off that loan or convince the buyer to assume the debt. ( That would be a deal killer for me looking to buy a house.)
Never pay for electricity again.....not true, there is no battery storage, half of every day it’s dark outside, so you’re paying for electricity. Another thing they don’t tell you is if you put solar panels on your roof and your electric bill goes down....the electric company charges you a hefty grid maintenance fee every month.
The power company will pay you for your surplus...What they don’t tell you is , they will indeed pay you...pennies on the dollar compared to what they charge you for it.
The solar panel companies are also very shifty about selling you way more panels than required to run your household during the day, they come in and cover most of your rooftop. You pay for way more than you need and you won’t make that cost back by selling your excess electricity to the power company.
And now that your roof is covered with panels, what are you gonna do when it needs a new roof, or it leaks.
And one last thing that most people get surprised by, birds love to build nests under them, especially pigeons. So most people wind up paying some pest control company to come out and put wire screen all the way around your panels.
I’m not against solar panels per se, if I lived out in the country I might be inclined to buy them, or if I wanted to live off the grid, but they would be ground mounted.
Just don’t believe the hype and the empty promises that the companies selling them will tell you. Most people I know here that have them, say that between the loan payments and the grid fees, they are spending just about the same as before they bought the panels.

 

[650Skull]

And the reason that Texas is on it's own grid dates back to when the U.S. had to come save Australia and New Zealand from having to learn to speak Japanese.

Wow..............i guess this was after sitting on your thumbs and watching Europe and southeast Asia burn until the Japanese decided to invite you into the war

The new green deal at work.

talk about Fake news.............there is no new green Deal.............progressive are after one but......

Hang on..... did one get implemented in the last 4 years????

I thought all references to "Global warming" and "climate change" was removed from the EPA in the last 4 years............so when did the New green deal get implemented??