Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #TexasBlackouts

Most recents (9)

Why I don't think there will be power outages this week, a thread:
1) It'll be ~10° warmer than Uri w/no snow/ice so:
- peak demand will be lower
- shouldn’t be nearly as many issues for gas supply & power plants
2) Peak demand @ 10am instead of overnight
#txlege #txwx 1/
Peak demand forecast is 69.5GW. Peak during Uri was between 76-82GW. However, the power went out in the early morning hours of Feb 15 at ~69.5GW, so that is very high demand. *But* the peak hitting at 10am instead of 1am is a massive difference. #txenergy 2/
There is little to no expected snow or ice so at 10am:
1) we'll have lots of solar production (more on that below) and
2) workers can get to sites where there are freezing issues. In many cases, they couldn't during the Uri #texasblackouts 3/
Read 16 tweets
Work session at the @PUCTX on rolling outages, load shedding, and transmission starting momentarily. I'll tweet some of the major takeaways here.
You can watch here: texasadmin.com/tx/puct/work_s…
Speaker slides here interchange.puc.texas.gov/Documents/5226…
Agenda below
#txlege #txenergy #energytwitter Image
@AEPTexas said they had 11 critical load customers before the storm in Feb, 171 now. 160 facilities didn't fill out a 2 page form pre-Feb. Wow.


This adds new detail to this from @byjayroot @jblackmanChron @Dexinvestigates #txlege houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas…
@TNMP had 2 gas facilities registered as critical infrastructure before the storm. Now has 177. This really is stunning. They're a small player but have a significant Permian footprint.
#txlege #txenergy #TexasBlackouts Image
Read 12 tweets
Meant to tweet this yesterday. As #txlege enters the home stretch, @statesman's @bob_sechler does a great job documenting how oil and gas lobbyists have been working to remove any requirements for weatherization of gas infrastructure.

#txenergy #SB3

statesman.com/story/business…
This despite the fact -- yes, it is a fact -- that large portions of the oil and gas infrastructure were offline BEFORE the outages began. @IHSMarkit said 13% of gas production was down on Feb 13, more than 24 hours before power outages.

#txlege #txenergy 2/
@EIAgov economist Stephen York said "the bulk of the declines in natural gas production in Texas resulted from freeze-offs at wellheads or gathering facilities. At least initially, the declines 'were mostly unrelated' to electricity generation by power plants."
#TexasBlackouts 3/
Read 7 tweets
The @PUCTX meets @ 9:30CT today. The 1 Cmsr left is feeling lonely after a rough Senate hearing yesterday.

I'll post a link to agenda and video below but also want to focus on the need for the PUC and other agencies in TX to work with the public.

A thread
#txlege #txenergy
The video will be here at 9:30CT and the agenda is there, too.
texasadmin.com/tx/puct/open_m…

In @PUCTX proceedings, interested parties file comments. In Texas, #txlege set it up many years ago that anyone can file comments. In many states, you must have a lawyer. Not here
#txenergy
To view the comments, go to this site and enter the control number shown in the agenda:

interchange.puc.texas.gov

For example, for the filing by the Independent Market Monitor discussed so vigorously in both House and Senate yesterday, enter 51812 where it says control number
Read 27 tweets
I'll tweet this morning on the Tx House State Affairs hearing starting now. You can watch here:
house.texas.gov/video-audio/ #txlege #txenergy

Also US Senate Energy Cmte has a hearing at 9CT on enegy resiliency, esp interested to hear @patwood3 energy.senate.gov/hearings/2021/…

#TexasBlackout
They'll hear from @PUCTX Chair D'Andrea and undoubtedly have lots of questions about the $16b in charges to customer facing retailers, munis, and co-ops Feb. 18-19 that have been the source of much contention lately. Great coverage by @James_Barragan here: dallasnews.com/news/politics/…
They're taking up bills first. List is here: capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/87R/sc…
Read 52 tweets
Huh. The PUC chair just called into question the "market design" of the deregulated power system. Said she wonders whether an "energy-only" market is still the way to go.
(Just tuned into the Texas Senate hearing on the #TexasBlackouts.)
PUC chair DeAnn Walker now throwing ERCOT under the bus, claims that ERCOT deliberately ignores PUC input.

Sen. Whitmire: "I've got you down as a pretty powerful person," adds that just her position allows her to call attention to problems via the governor, the press, etc.
Read 12 tweets
Hey #energytwitter, if you want to tune in to the Senate and House hearings on the #TexasBlackout, links are in next tweet. I'll tweet on it throughout the day on this thread.

Please tweet using #txlege and #txenergy, esp. if you have relevent info that could help going forward
Joint hearing House Energy Resources and State Affairs house.texas.gov/video-audio/

Senate Business & Commerce
senate.texas.gov/av-live.php
First witness in Senate is Bob Rose, meteorologist with @LCRA #txlege #txenergy
Read 223 tweets
Wow, this graphic from a new @ERCOT_ISO report on the #TexasBlackouts shows how close the ERCOT grid was to a cascading failure that could have easily blacked out the whole system. ercot.com/content/wcm/ke… 1/
Going into the night of Valentine's Day, February 14th, a new winter peak demand of 69,222 MW was set at 7:06pm. By 1:23am in the middle of the night on February 15th, frigid temps had left more than 35,000 MW of generating capacity offline. 2/
Faced with greater demand & diminished generation capacity, ERCOT, the grid operator, ordered transmission utilities to start disconnecting millions of customers. The initial order was to shed 10,500 MW of demand. This grew to a height of 20,000 MW by the end of Feb 15th. 3/
Read 11 tweets
It takes a lot of gall -- or deliberate ignorance -- to see widespread failures of gas wells, pipelines, & power plants resulting in days-long loss of ~28,000 MW of thermal power plants, mostly gas, and say, "this proves we need more gas and coal plants!"
Some facts on the #TexasBlackouts for @KimStrassel and others peddling false narratives that do nothing but mislead and distract from the key steps Texans need to take.

1. ERCOT news release confirms 28,000 MW of thermal plant outages (mostly gas) ercot.com/news/releases/…
2. "nearly half of the state’s natural gas production has screeched to a halt due to the extremely low temperatures, while freezing components at natural gas-fired power plants have forced some operators to shut down."

texastribune.org/2021/02/16/nat…

#TexasFreeze #TexasBlackout
Read 7 tweets

Related hashtags

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!