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ERCOT Urging For Energy Conservation


Vic Mackey

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3 minutes ago, Captainant said:

There's also a major transmission capacity problem with getting that energy from west TX to east TX, which limits energy storage options as well. IMO I think residential solar is going to be a big factor in reducing overall grid strain and load. It doesn't take any more state-level infra investment to enable, and is putting power right next to where it's needed. I'm also very curious to see what sort of knock-on effects we will see from EV's becoming more common, like if every EV can be a powerwall on wheels like the F150 lightning can

Yep, transmission needs to be improved.  I also agree that decentralized power gen and microgrids will be key for increased renewable penetration. 

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19 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Also porter claimed he never said that we should be burning as much gas as fast as we can... Not quite sure how to square that with what he posted prior lol

Because in terms of long-term resource planning and scheduling, I really strenuously disagree. In fact, I'd argue that this sort of short-term thinking is exactly what's gotten us into our current mess. There's a benefit to having stockpiled resources and backup capacity on hand - it's how you mitigate small problems and prevent them from developing into major systemic issues.

I never said that. You’re taking one comment out of context. Try the whole quote and we can talk honestly. Otherwise you’re trolling. 

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1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

A better summary post for this thread could not be written.

Politics comes first, good policy comes last.  Same as it ever was.

Compare and contrast Texas/ERCOT issues with the federal triumvirate of the admin/ Sec of Energy / Sec of Transportation. 

I know I’ll get criticized for the “but look at the other party” argument and rightfully so, but realize 1) I’m not absolving Texas/ERCOT, and 2) the Biden admin inherited, unknowingly based on who his admin has staffed in these key positions, a supply shitstorm of the highest magnitude not the fault of any prior administration - it just is. Still, the feds have exacerbated the problems, and for decades (generations) we haven’t had a sustainable energy plan. Politics have always played out at the federal level in regard to energy, and no good policy has ever come forth. 

In the last 18 months, ERCOT has displayed the same level of incompetence. This post is meaningless, rambling bitching, but the similarities in the conclusions you and Samson’s Wig draw for ERCOT apply federally as well. 

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4 minutes ago, Porterhouse said:

Compare and contrast Texas/ERCOT issues with the federal triumvirate of the admin/ Sec of Energy / Sec of Transportation. 

I know I’ll get criticized for the “but look at the other party” argument and rightfully so, but realize 1) I’m not absolving Texas/ERCOT, and 2) the Biden admin inherited, unknowingly based on who his admin has staffed in these key positions, a supply shitstorm of the highest magnitude not the fault of any prior administration - it just is. Still, the feds have exacerbated the problems, and for decades (generations) we haven’t had a sustainable energy plan. Politics have always played out at the federal level in regard to energy, and no good policy has ever come forth. 

In the last 18 months, ERCOT has displayed the same level of incompetence. This post is meaningless, rambling bitching, but the similarities in the conclusions you and Samson’s Wig draw for ERCOT apply federally as well. 

If you want me to argue against the proposition that federal policy as it impacts generation resource construction and planning hasn't lurched from guardrail to guardrail based on politics (and varying brands of same) instead of cruising down the fast lane of policy, I'm going to disappoint you.  We don't have and haven't had a coherent and comprehensive energy/generation policy in decades (if ever -- we really didn't need much of one for most of the last century, other than the policy of "hey, maybe we ought find a way to get electricity to all those people who don't have it," which is an entirely different problem than we face now).

Coal bad.

Nat gas not nearly as bad, and necessary for reliability.

Renewables good, but need more reliability and transmission.

Nuclear -- man, I don't know why in the fuck we (and other places, esp. Germany) can't get the fuck over it, and look to more nuclear power, but here we are.

I'd love to see a comprehensive energy policy that took those sort of things into account.  But we won't.  We'll just lurch back and forth between well-intentioned but ill-informed and inexperienced people who love the idea of renewables but know little about the execution, and a FF industry that will exert max pressure to obtain max profit, whether or not that's ultimately good policy for the country.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  We'll get some things right-ish, but it will mostly be accidental.

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56 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

If you want me to argue against the proposition that federal policy as it impacts generation resource construction and planning hasn't lurched from guardrail to guardrail based on politics (and varying brands of same) instead of cruising down the fast lane of policy, I'm going to disappoint you.  We don't have and haven't had a coherent and comprehensive energy/generation policy in decades (if ever -- we really didn't need much of one for most of the last century, other than the policy of "hey, maybe we ought find a way to get electricity to all those people who don't have it," which is an entirely different problem than we face now).

Coal bad.

Nat gas not nearly as bad, and necessary for reliability.

Renewables good, but need more reliability and transmission.

Nuclear -- man, I don't know why in the fuck we (and other places, esp. Germany) can't get the fuck over it, and look to more nuclear power, but here we are.

I'd love to see a comprehensive energy policy that took those sort of things into account.  But we won't.  We'll just lurch back and forth between well-intentioned but ill-informed and inexperienced people who love the idea of renewables but know little about the execution, and a FF industry that will exert max pressure to obtain max profit, whether or not that's ultimately good policy for the country.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  We'll get some things right-ish, but it will mostly be accidental.

I’m actually with you all the way to nukes. The beauty of private ownership of mineral rights here is a) unique in the world and b) created immense generational wealth amongst thousands of families. The issue is you have many factions and national policy cohesion is impossible without significant bitching.  However, I wouldn’t have confidence in the federal government determining such plan. Look at the disasters that are NOCs. I’m utterly unimpressed with Aramco. CNOOC, PEMEX and PDVSA are industry jokes. 

Companies are in business for profit and no other reason. Having leadership of a group of majors and large independents spend significant amounts of time developing a national plan, which could ensure their companies’ viability and enrichment for another century - as opposed to geberating as much profit as feasible over the next few fiscal quarters / years - is the fastest way to lose your job. 

The right mix to lead this is a more centrist Democratic admin (and not the current one) that’ll actually engage the O&G industry to lead a comprehensive plan. 

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2 minutes ago, Porterhouse said:

Companies are in business for profit and no other reason. Having leadership of a group of majors and large independents spend significant amounts of time developing a national plan, which could ensure their companies’ viability and enrichment for another century - as opposed to geberating as much profit as feasible over the next few fiscal quarters / years - is the fastest way to lose your job. 

And now you're REALLY on to something -- the sacrifice of every other good on the altar of the next quarter's profits is one of the worst shifts in business/thinking our country has ever seen.  That said, there ARE folks within some of the big players who are working on the alternate plays, because they do at least have SOME vision for a long-term future, and that means a transition from/how we use fossil fuels.  It's something, but still far from the optimal way to approach things.

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11 minutes ago, Porterhouse said:

I’m actually with you all the way to nukes. The beauty of private ownership of mineral rights here is a) unique in the world and b) created immense generational wealth amongst thousands of families. The issue is you have many factions and national policy cohesion is impossible without significant bitching.  However, I wouldn’t have confidence in the federal government determining such plan. Look at the disasters that are NOCs. I’m utterly unimpressed with Aramco. CNOOC, PEMEX and PDVSA are industry jokes. 

Companies are in business for profit and no other reason. Having leadership of a group of majors and large independents spend significant amounts of time developing a national plan, which could ensure their companies’ viability and enrichment for another century - as opposed to geberating as much profit as feasible over the next few fiscal quarters / years - is the fastest way to lose your job. 

The right mix to lead this is a more centrist Democratic admin (and not the current one) that’ll actually engage the O&G industry to lead a comprehensive plan. 

Yeah, those monthly royalty checks can be very attractive. 🙂

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Percentage depletion in excess of cost basis is definitely a subsidy. Also it should be noted that this doesn’t generally apply to the bigger oil and gas players. The production limit to take this is extremely low.

Accelerated depreciation such as IDCs and credits are not equivalent. In a world allowing 100% bonus depreciation and expensing of R&D, IDCs don’t really stand out. Also I would argue that all US businesses should benefit from immediate expensing of its capital as it requires continuing spend to maintain the benefit which drives benefits throughout the economy.

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4 hours ago, Captainant said:

There's also a major transmission capacity problem with getting that energy from west TX to east TX, which limits energy storage options as well. IMO I think residential solar is going to be a big factor in reducing overall grid strain and load. It doesn't take any more state-level infra investment to enable, and is putting power right next to where it's needed. I'm also very curious to see what sort of knock-on effects we will see from EV's becoming more common, like if every EV can be a powerwall on wheels like the F150 lightning can

I think residential solar is worth pursuing. It’s already plugged into the grid. Under appreciated cost of massive solar deployment will be transmission. 
 

 

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3 hours ago, Porterhouse said:

Companies are in business for profit and no other reason. Having leadership of a group of majors and large independents spend significant amounts of time developing a national plan, which could ensure their companies’ viability and enrichment for another century - as opposed to geberating as much profit as feasible over the next few fiscal quarters / years - is the fastest way to lose your job. 

Great, you’ve pinpointed it. Step 2 is washing it out. 

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1 hour ago, Biff Tannen said:

Great, you’ve pinpointed it. Step 2 is washing it out. 

I don’t run a large public energy company and have no desire to ever do so. I learned 3 years ago how I wanted to spend the remainder and bulk of my career. I got away from being so tied to a public company. What you build and rely upon for years and years can be removed in an instant. It’s not worth it. 

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Every time I get a notice on my iPhone from CPS San Antonio nagging me to turn my thermostat up I do the exact opposite and crank that shit down a few more degrees.

I will continue to do so. 

I will never reward and enable incompetence.

Edited by Cajun
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didn't see this posted as i scrolled past rex and captainant courting:

Quote

One of the new wind projects announced Wednesday will be developed 24 nautical miles off the coast of Galveston, covering a total of 546,645 acres — bigger than the city of Houston — with the potential to power 2.3 million homes, according to the U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The other project will be developed near Port Arthur, about 56 nautical miles off the coast of Lake Charles, Louisiana, covering 188,023 acres with the potential to power 799,000 homes.

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/07/22/texas-gulf-of-mexico-wind-farm/

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On 7/23/2022 at 2:28 PM, Cajun said:

Every time I get a notice on my iPhone from CPS San Antonio nagging me to turn my thermostat up I do the exact opposite and crank that shit down a few more degrees.

I will continue to do so. 

I will never reward and enable incompetence.

I mean yeah, but i still watch longhorn football and occasionally buy merch.

 

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I don’t go lower than 76.

We just got back from vacation and I looked at the usage numbers. Leaving it at 81 while we were gone verse us at home with 77/76 is a big difference

Luckily we have PEC so the bill is pretty cheap either way. But it was a big difference in usage

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11 hours ago, Saint Tacky said:

Just got my first electric bill with my new and improved ERCOT post-fiasco rate. Holy shit. I'm rewarding and enabling incompetence. I'm about to go full Chuck McGill.

I’ve got a super duper deal on space blankets!

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80 when I'm here by myself each day, 78 when the wife works from home (3 days per week).  Night is 77 with sort of an asterisk.

When the Big Calamity comes and we're completely anarchic as a society Mad Max style and robbing/kiling (and driving cool but dangerously), I will definitely outlive most of you, especially if the temp outside goes above 80°.

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On 7/21/2022 at 6:04 AM, Clackles said:

I haven’t kept up with all the back and forth in this thread but holy hell, what’s the point if this is one side of the argument.  God gave us stuff to light on fire, and we get paid to light it on fire, so let’s light it all on fire!

Follow along. God gave us oil, but wind and the sun were created by Satan in cahoots with the libs. 

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6 minutes ago, SquishMitten said:

Follow along. God gave us oil, but wind and the sun were created by Satan in cahoots with the libs. 

don't forget George Soros.

I've always hated the American desire to keep internal spaces absolutely frigid... we would have Italian friends and family come visit in the summer with sweaters ready to go for the indoors.  

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25 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

75-77 during the day depending on humidity (I have to drop it when humidity is really high). 73 at night. Any colder is just too cold for me, at least when the air is blowing. 

77 when I'm home during the day working or whatever, 74 at night.  That's about as cold as I can stand it.  And that's 77 during the day and on the couch with a light blanket on me.  

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Make sure to pour some bleach down your sink drain(s) that share drainpipe with your condensations pan(s)... 

Forgot to recently and have had 2 trips out from the plumber to clear 2 different sinks as the drain pipes could deal with the amount of water draining from the A/C's due to algae buildup which in turn overflowed the sinks and came to visit us downstairs...  Luckily this happened both times when we were at home...

Had bi-annual A/C checkup before the heatwave and they flushed the lines and added algaecide tablets but plumber was guessing that the amount of condensation coming off due to the extended heat overwhelmed the "system"... The drains were getting a half a gallon of runoff every hour I had to bail from the sink before the pipe got snaked...

My insurance company (and ultimately, my wallet) needs to send my office a thank you for letting we work from home a few days a week...

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8 hours ago, Grimas said:

Had bi-annual A/C checkup before the heatwave and they flushed the lines and added algaecide tablets but plumber was guessing that the amount of condensation coming off due to the extended heat overwhelmed the "system"... The drains were getting a half a gallon of runoff every hour I had to bail from the sink before the pipe got snaked...

I've had to run a lot more vinegar or bleach through my condensation line (it's got access from inside the AC/furnace closet) because we are running our AC so much.

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Lol stumbled across this video in my youtube feed, it's from Australia but has got echoes of this thread and topic overall

"What happened to prices?"

"Yeah."

"Well they doubled, Brian."

...

"Wouldn't an extreme weather event be a fair test to the system?"

"We don't have a system, Brian."

"We have an energy market..."

"We have an energy market. Yep."

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