NG pumping stations running on electric instead NG. Cant no longer get NG to plant to make electric to power pumps.... They added several points of failure.
They converted natgas pipeline compressor stations from being driven by natgas engines to electric motors. Why? FedGov NOx regulations on those engines made doing something to reliable and sensible a PITA.
Yup, this is dumb. My family got a house that has a fancy fireplace that has catalytic converter and ductwork to go to the whole house to distribute heat. It even has a convection fan to circulate the air, which should just run from the heat of the fireplace. But, they added a stupid electric switch to the fan, so then when the power goes out, instead of being a backup furnace, it's just a normal fireplace.
Yup. In some of these places, the actual processing plants went offline because they were reliant on wind power which froze up. So now it causes a cascading effect down the system. The processing plant shuts down so less gas flowing into the system so your natural gas plant can't operate at maximum power.....
The cold reduced wind production by more than 50%.
The wind energy is processed through the electrical grid, then onto power plants.
The plants can only produce enough power if the various types of energy are available.
Since wind production was down by more than 50%, much higher than typical shipments of natural gas and coal were required.
And demand was up substantially. Transmission for natural gas is limited by existing pipelines. In Texas; coal is commonly transported by rail but the cold also impacted rail service.
Plant operators had to scramble to obtain natural gas and coal to substitute for the lack of wind power. And natural gas companies tend to send supply to households rather than power plants.
Some plants shut down to weatherize; this should have been done as capital expenditures or scheduled maintenance. However, the sexier Green Energy and highly beneficial Federal Tax credits likely delayed these actions.
I also read that the older coal-fired plants were being decommissioning due to stringent EPA regs and would cost too much to retrofit. Also, even the newer clean coal-burning plants are running at lower than full capacity due to stiffer regulations and restrictions on mining.
Meanwhile, they allow other countries to build less restricted coal-burning plants and continue to mine.
It's almost as if our Government wants us to suffer. 🤔
Wow, that's insane. If Trump were in office he would have found out this was the case and declared a disaster and waived all the rules. But JB doesn't give a fuck and is napping the day away after declaring a lid at 8 AM.
Is that why there were outtages at all with fossil fuel plants?
NG pumping stations running on electric instead NG. Cant no longer get NG to plant to make electric to power pumps.... They added several points of failure.
They converted natgas pipeline compressor stations from being driven by natgas engines to electric motors. Why? FedGov NOx regulations on those engines made doing something to reliable and sensible a PITA.
Thanks Obama!
Texas doesn't have to follow federal guidelines their oower grid doesn't cross state borders.
"They knowingly added several points of failure." Fixed that for accuracy
I’m a tradesman and this is just despicable.
Someone said yes when they installed woke on the backup systems.
Why would Texas do this? They have been read for decades.
Omfg. That's kinda what I feared.
I'm learning a lot about heat and power systems during this. Hopefully the people in charge do, too, and they can fix this for next time.
Now involve a bunch of complicated software like they did with the elections.
And make sure it's all connected to the internet!
Yup, this is dumb. My family got a house that has a fancy fireplace that has catalytic converter and ductwork to go to the whole house to distribute heat. It even has a convection fan to circulate the air, which should just run from the heat of the fireplace. But, they added a stupid electric switch to the fan, so then when the power goes out, instead of being a backup furnace, it's just a normal fireplace.
Our gas stove doesn't work when the power is off thanks to a "safety feature".
Fucking imbeciles.
Replace it with a heat powered fan or a DC fan connected to a large UPS battery.
Great idea!
Are you fucking kidding me?!
I wanna see who they hang in the companies. Better be woke middle men.
Yup. In some of these places, the actual processing plants went offline because they were reliant on wind power which froze up. So now it causes a cascading effect down the system. The processing plant shuts down so less gas flowing into the system so your natural gas plant can't operate at maximum power.....
In 2020, 23% of Texas' energy was from wind.
The cold reduced wind production by more than 50%.
The wind energy is processed through the electrical grid, then onto power plants.
The plants can only produce enough power if the various types of energy are available.
Since wind production was down by more than 50%, much higher than typical shipments of natural gas and coal were required.
And demand was up substantially. Transmission for natural gas is limited by existing pipelines. In Texas; coal is commonly transported by rail but the cold also impacted rail service.
Plant operators had to scramble to obtain natural gas and coal to substitute for the lack of wind power. And natural gas companies tend to send supply to households rather than power plants.
Some plants shut down to weatherize; this should have been done as capital expenditures or scheduled maintenance. However, the sexier Green Energy and highly beneficial Federal Tax credits likely delayed these actions.
I also read that the older coal-fired plants were being decommissioning due to stringent EPA regs and would cost too much to retrofit. Also, even the newer clean coal-burning plants are running at lower than full capacity due to stiffer regulations and restrictions on mining.
Meanwhile, they allow other countries to build less restricted coal-burning plants and continue to mine.
It's almost as if our Government wants us to suffer. 🤔
https://tnm.me/news/political/the-disgusting-reason-that-millions-of-texans-spent-the-night-without-power
Wow, that's insane. If Trump were in office he would have found out this was the case and declared a disaster and waived all the rules. But JB doesn't give a fuck and is napping the day away after declaring a lid at 8 AM.
Trump would be down there warming peoples hearts with his presence.
And putting a foot up any ass that needed it to get the situation under control.
Yep, but dems are vindictive cunts... they relish doing all they can to not help and see others who disagree with them suffer.
The attached Bloomberg article is so damning.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-15/pollution-limit-waived-for-texas-power-plants-in-emergency-order