Jump to content

2020-21 Winter weather; bring it on


Parliament

Recommended Posts

Hey you-- that summer talk belongs in the hell-scape fire-dome thread.
Maybe a week ago, I thought I read someone who said it looked like we were going to get another polar blast a couple weeks from now.  Was that just a feverish dream brought on by sleeping in a freezing house for 3 nights?
 
 

Better not see anything like last
Link to comment
Share on other sites

53 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Hey you-- that summer talk belongs in the hell-scape fire-dome thread.

Maybe a week ago, I thought I read someone who said it looked like we were going to get another polar blast a couple weeks from now.  Was that just a feverish dream brought on by sleeping in a freezing house for 3 nights?

 

 

 

38 minutes ago, Trey3216 said:

I wouldn't be surprised if we did to be honest.   Once a major polar blast hits like it did last week, another one will hit a bit later on.  May not be as major, but it's definitely a possibility. 

31143188.jpg

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, Storm the Field said:

Ate lunch outdoors today and it was a balmy 77. Exactly one week ago at this time, I was warming my numb, frozen fingers over a burner on my stove while it was 17. 

Just 17?  I'm pretty sure it was quite a bit lower than that in Big D.  

Also, just got my "Ambit Energy Alert."  According to them, I used 194kWh last week, compared to 153 the week before and should have a fairly moderate monthly bill.

Either I am having a complete brain cramp as to the last time I reupped on a fixed rate plan (unlikely), or I am on a pretty normal-type default retail variable rate plan.  I think we've established that those variable rate plans vary by the month, not the week, day, or hour.  Just in case anyone was wondering about that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Trey3216 said:

I wouldn't be surprised if we did to be honest.   Once a major polar blast hits like it did last week, another one will hit a bit later on.  May not be as major, but it's definitely a possibility. 

According to what? A gut feeling? Come on, man. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

In Amarillo this afternoon

75 degrees, calm, no clouds.

Blizzard Warning for northwest Panhandle and OK panhandle from 1AM tonight through 7PM.

Snow accumulation only 1-4".  Winds up to 60MPH.  Whiteout conditions possible.

Damn...that's quick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

something, something...fast blowing white loads accumulating on your mom's panhandle.  

Nothing like Amarillo, but will get cool again for next few nights in Austin until Saturday.  Was looking forward to that time of year where you don't have to run heat or A/C (we did enjoy that last couple of weeks), but will probably have to turn on upstairs heater for the girls at night.  But that looks like it's it until A/C season in month +.  which is good, because then it's time to flush the lines with vinegar solution, clean evaps and condensers, and see what it's pulling on amps, and then pressure.  Easy enough to do during the A/C season, I just like when I know nobody is gonna go fucking with the thermostat while I'm up in the attic and I'd really like to see our downstairs unit make it one more summer before needing replacement.  But those furnaces lasted us well during the ice storm, while they had power anyway.  They could use a staycation. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/travis-county/travis-countys-winter-storm-death-toll-more-than-doubles-since-last-dshs-update/

Quote

In its latest update Tuesday, the Texas Department of State Health Services increased the death toll from February’s winter storms to 210 people.

The agency moved the statewide death toll up from its May update of 151 as it “continues to reconcile information about causes of death.” Confirmed deaths happened from Feb. 11 to March 5, the agency said.

Quote

DSHS says it tracks the deaths attributed to the storm three ways:

  • Medical certifiers submit a DSHS form specifying that a particular death was related to a disaster.
  • Medical certifiers flag a death record as disaster related.
  • DSHS epidemiologists match public reports of disaster-related deaths to death certificates.
Quote

Most of the deaths have been from hypothermia, DSHS says on its website, but deaths have also been from car crashes, carbon monoxide poisoning, exacerbation of chronic illness, falls and fires.

 

 

Edited by atomheartbevo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

KHOU: Report finds companies were paid to cut off power during February storm

Dozens of mostly natural gas facilities, including some directly supplying fuel to power plants around the state, were paid to have their electricity cut off in an emergency like February’s devastating winter storm, according to a report released Tuesday by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin.

The UT researchers said that 67 sites, mostly gas refining and pipeline infrastructure locations around Texas, were allowed to sign up for a voluntary “emergency response” program coordinated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, which runs the state's power grid.

Of those 67 locations receiving payments from ERCOT, at least five sites “later identified themselves to the electric utility as critical natural gas infrastructure,” according to the UT researchers.

Most power plants in Texas use natural gas for fuel. A key cause of the February blackouts was power plants not being able to get the fuel they needed to operate.

Natural gas companies were widely criticized after February’s winter storm for not designating parts of their systems' critical infrastructure so that they would not be cut off in an emergency.

The revelation that some of them voluntarily took money so that their power could be cut off alarmed some experts.

“It does seem counterintuitive from a reliability aspect that locations that are associated with getting fuel to power plants would be allowed to be turned off during the times when they are needed the most,” Joshua D. Rhodes, a research associate in mechanical engineering and one of the co-authors of the report said.

Rhodes said Tuesday that the state did not provide them the names of the companies that own or control the 67 fuel sites that were taking payments in exchange for being on the cut-off list. “We do not know who they were, or necessarily where they were,” he said.

 

Researchers said that, in total, there’s an annual $50 million cap on payments to companies to incentivize them to participate in the program, which is designed to save electricity when statewide demand for power exceeds supply.

ERCOT responds

“If an entity is considered critical infrastructure, then it should not be offering to participate in the ERS program,” ERCOT said in a statement late Tuesday, referring to the voluntary Emergency Response Program’s acronym.

ERCOT would not reveal which companies are being paid through the program because it said it doesn't know. ERCOT, according to a spokeswoman, doesn’t actually sign up companies or run the program in-house. It relies on an outside contractor to take the money ERCOT allocates for the program and actually pay the companies that sign up. ERCOT itself also does not cut power to the participating companies.

“Since they do not register with ERCOT, we cannot provide customer details," spokeswoman Leslie Sopko said in a statement.

ERCOT has been reluctant to provide detailed information to the public following the February storm, and has been widely criticized for mismanaging the crisis.

In February, about 4.5 million homes lost electricity in one of the most serious winter weather blackouts in Texas history.

In mid-February, temperatures stayed below freezing throughout Texas for nearly a week. By some estimates, hundreds died from the cold and lack of power and potable water which was in short supply because of frozen and burst water pipes.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have 4 nuclear power facilities in Texas, what's to stop us from getting a handful of those new micro-reactor that still generate 300 megawatts and have their "risk island" stop at the facility property line?  They're all over the rest of the world and functioning safely.  Not like Bastrop or Elgin is gonna suffer a tsunami.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have 4 nuclear power facilities in Texas, what's to stop us from getting a handful of those new micro-reactor that still generate 300 megawatts and have their "risk island" stop at the facility property line?  They're all over the rest of the world and functioning safely.  Not like Bastrop or Elgin is gonna suffer a tsunami.  

Now who in Texas could be behind stopping something like that? Who could it possibly be? Yep it’s a mystery.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Captainant said:

KHOU: Report finds companies were paid to cut off power during February storm

Dozens of mostly natural gas facilities, including some directly supplying fuel to power plants around the state, were paid to have their electricity cut off in an emergency like February’s devastating winter storm, according to a report released Tuesday by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin.

The UT researchers said that 67 sites, mostly gas refining and pipeline infrastructure locations around Texas, were allowed to sign up for a voluntary “emergency response” program coordinated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, which runs the state's power grid.

Of those 67 locations receiving payments from ERCOT, at least five sites “later identified themselves to the electric utility as critical natural gas infrastructure,” according to the UT researchers.

Most power plants in Texas use natural gas for fuel. A key cause of the February blackouts was power plants not being able to get the fuel they needed to operate.

Natural gas companies were widely criticized after February’s winter storm for not designating parts of their systems' critical infrastructure so that they would not be cut off in an emergency.

The revelation that some of them voluntarily took money so that their power could be cut off alarmed some experts.

“It does seem counterintuitive from a reliability aspect that locations that are associated with getting fuel to power plants would be allowed to be turned off during the times when they are needed the most,” Joshua D. Rhodes, a research associate in mechanical engineering and one of the co-authors of the report said.

Rhodes said Tuesday that the state did not provide them the names of the companies that own or control the 67 fuel sites that were taking payments in exchange for being on the cut-off list. “We do not know who they were, or necessarily where they were,” he said.

 

Researchers said that, in total, there’s an annual $50 million cap on payments to companies to incentivize them to participate in the program, which is designed to save electricity when statewide demand for power exceeds supply.

ERCOT responds

“If an entity is considered critical infrastructure, then it should not be offering to participate in the ERS program,” ERCOT said in a statement late Tuesday, referring to the voluntary Emergency Response Program’s acronym.

ERCOT would not reveal which companies are being paid through the program because it said it doesn't know. ERCOT, according to a spokeswoman, doesn’t actually sign up companies or run the program in-house. It relies on an outside contractor to take the money ERCOT allocates for the program and actually pay the companies that sign up. ERCOT itself also does not cut power to the participating companies.

“Since they do not register with ERCOT, we cannot provide customer details," spokeswoman Leslie Sopko said in a statement.

ERCOT has been reluctant to provide detailed information to the public following the February storm, and has been widely criticized for mismanaging the crisis.

In February, about 4.5 million homes lost electricity in one of the most serious winter weather blackouts in Texas history.

In mid-February, temperatures stayed below freezing throughout Texas for nearly a week. By some estimates, hundreds died from the cold and lack of power and potable water which was in short supply because of frozen and burst water pipes.

 

I will summarize this for you: if in times of crisis things work as they should (for the end user), you should be surprised.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

those 67 sites, and the most espectially the 5 fucking critical NG infrastructure sites better hope to hell they dont get outed, cause there will be hell to pay if they get outed. 

I doubt it and they won’t even need to pay back that incentive money
  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not like the "shortage" of natural gas enabled them to charge exorbitant and predatory rates leading to 11 BILLION in profits for the NG companies during the freeze. 

... What's that? It did?

Well shucks, at least they increased shareholder value at the low cost of at least 200 deaths. 

Edited by Captainant
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...