I didn’t pull “this is planned” from this particular article. The article states that wind has actually over-produced during this winter and competing demand for natural gas still doesn’t fully explain the systematic power grid failure that occurred at a critical demand time on Monday night. I guess you could say this author alludes to something more behind the scenes but it will be weeks before we get any clarity. But I have lost all faith in any government ordered investigation so there’s that.
As of now, ERCOT is saying the “uncontrolled blackouts” could last up to a month.
That's base load power though. It's not enough. You cannot run a grid on base load power because it is insufficiently responsive.
The way it works is that as demand goes up supply has to as well, and as demand goes down, supply has to go down. If supply and demand are not matched you'll get brownout or over-voltage events, and those damage equipment. But peak demand is very variable, so peak demand has to be met with peak supply, and that has to be either renewables (when weather helps) or gas (because it can be brought online and off trivially).
Repeat after me: you cannot run a grid on base load power only. Things will break, and you'll have to roll blackouts if you try.
I didn’t pull “this is planned” from this particular article. The article states that wind has actually over-produced during this winter and competing demand for natural gas still doesn’t fully explain the systematic power grid failure that occurred at a critical demand time on Monday night. I guess you could say this author alludes to something more behind the scenes but it will be weeks before we get any clarity. But I have lost all faith in any government ordered investigation so there’s that.
As of now, ERCOT is saying the “uncontrolled blackouts” could last up to a month.
Nuclear power plants and coal power plants should be running just fine.
From which the vast majority of the state's power is gotten.
My mom works for a major coal company... Texas bought much less coal last year so the coal plants are probably keeping output low due to low supply
That's base load power though. It's not enough. You cannot run a grid on base load power because it is insufficiently responsive.
The way it works is that as demand goes up supply has to as well, and as demand goes down, supply has to go down. If supply and demand are not matched you'll get brownout or over-voltage events, and those damage equipment. But peak demand is very variable, so peak demand has to be met with peak supply, and that has to be either renewables (when weather helps) or gas (because it can be brought online and off trivially).
Repeat after me: you cannot run a grid on base load power only. Things will break, and you'll have to roll blackouts if you try.
Rolled blackouts is what they have been trying, but their Indian software expert can't get it to work.
The allusions are important. They always tell the truth between the lines, with weasel words, ...