Not really. That was the case five years ago…much has been learned and fixed although there is probably more to do.
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Energy Discussion
- Thread starter Treetop Flyer
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When you read reports on what it takes to fully exploit nuclear, renewables, energy storage (batteries, hydro) etc., and to service energy sinks like EVs and data centers, they are all pretty much in agreement that we need a 2x or 3x increase in grid capacity, along with in general an increase in technology used (superconducting transmission, DC transmission, extremely high power electronics switching,...)
Googling on "Superconducting grid power transmission" is always interesting.
Are you insane?
The article refers to disruptions of electricity delivery due to weather related failures/damage. The too hot
/too cold reference is related to capacity to deliver over a nominal grid.
Rather than calling Chuck names, I'd like to ask how Texas has improved their grid, as in dollars, and actual completed infrastructure.
I have a buddy who works at the Western Area Power Administration (former SWO). He explained to me the uniquely isolated Texas grid and how it contributes to their past problems with reliability. I expect changing that would be extremely costly and time consuming.
Their proud go it alone approach to not integrating with the rest of the national grid is kind of dumb.
We end up with places with excess power capacity at the same time that Texas undergoes a severe windstorm followed by plummeting temperatures. The power is there to share, but the wires to share it aren't.
A supergrid, analogous to the internet or the interstate highway system, that would allow any source in the country to sell power to any sink essentially instantaneously, would enable an incredible economy.
Shack. I have always found it strange that we have such a divided grid, especially as alternative energy has sprouted up everywhere. I'm amazed that nobody has made a serious crack at fixing that- electricity is everything if we want to continue competing economically. I can only presume it's competing special interests and protectionism at its finest.
Because you people can’t pronounce it correctly
This is a good primer for what failed during Ted Cruz's Cancun trip the Texas grid failure.
WHen I was in Kingsville I enjoyed that I could give my $ to the electric company of my choice. It was strange that the company I was giving money to (the wind energy company out of Corpus Christi) wasn't providing me the power that I was using. A lot of people complained that there was a separate distribution charge on top of the electric charge. Little did I know that I was buying into the system that helped the failure.
WHen I was in Kingsville I enjoyed that I could give my $ to the electric company of my choice. It was strange that the company I was giving money to (the wind energy company out of Corpus Christi) wasn't providing me the power that I was using. A lot of people complained that there was a separate distribution charge on top of the electric charge. Little did I know that I was buying into the system that helped the failure.
Maybe we're talking past each other but the "too cold" part was not solely due to delivery capacity, but was contributed to substantially by actual equipment failure due to a lack of winterization - i.e. the weather itself.
It's one issue if the grid failed because the cold weather caused excessive demand, but another issue if the cold weather caused natural-gas-powered generating stations to not be able to produce electricity during a period of heightened demand.
Governor Abbott initially tried to blame renewables, but as they say in Texas (and by that I mean movies) that dog didn't hunt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Texas_power_crisis#Immediate_weather_and_power_plant_failures
By having its own electric grid and pipelines within its state boundaries, it likely provides a measure of protection against federal government directives.
After seeing the effect this quest for net zero has on Europe, will be curious to see if states such as New York and California learn from this or double down on carbon bans.