On 2/16/21 4:22 AM, John Sage wrote:
On 2/15/21 10:02 PM, Mark Tinka wrote:
On 2/16/21 07:49, Matthew Petach wrote:
Isn't that a result of ERCOT stubbornly refusing to interconnect with
the rest of the national grid, out of an irrational fear of coming
under federal regulation?
Yes. This has been widely documented in numerous articles, both very
recently and previously.
As one example only, of many:
"What went wrong with the Texas power grid?"
Marcy de Luna, Amanda Drane, Houston Chronicle
Feb. 15, 2021
Updated: Feb. 15, 2021 9:23 p.m.
"Dan Woodfin, ERCOT’s senior director of system operations, said the
rolling blackouts are taking more power offline for longer periods than
ever before. An estimated 34,000 megawatts of power generation — more
than a third of the system’s total generating capacity — had been
knocked offline by the extreme winter weather amid soaring demand as
residents crank up heating systems."
. . .
"Ed Hirs, an energy fellow in the Department of Economics at the
University of Houston, blamed the failures on the state’s deregulated
power system, which doesn’t provide power generators with the returns
needed to invest in maintaining and improving power plants.
“The ERCOT grid has collapsed in exactly the same manner as the old
Soviet Union,” said Hirs. “It limped along on underinvestment and
neglect until it finally broke under predictable circumstances."
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Wholesale-power-prices-spiking-across-Texas-15951684.php
- John
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