Statewide power emergency in Texas: rolling blackouts

[BlackSwordsMan]

East side is down.

[RandomGuy]

CPS was ASKED to start the "brownouts" bc other companies couldn't provide power???? WTF! Unless ERCOT has some kinda state authority, (which I don't know if they do) take care of your PAYING customers first.

ERCOT, as the manager of the transmission system does actually have legal authority to order utilities into rolling blackouts to maintain the stability of the entire system.

http://www.ercot.com/

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) manages the flow of electric power to 22 million Texas customers - representing 85 percent of the state's electric load and 75 percent of the Texas land area. As the independent system operator for the region, ERCOT schedules power on an electric grid that connects 40,000 miles of transmission lines and more than 550 generation units. ERCOT also manages financial settlement for the compe ive wholesale bulk-power market and administers customer switching for 6.5 million Texans in compe ive choice areas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electri...uncil_of_Texas

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) formed in 1970, is one of eight Independent System Operators in North America, and is the successor to the Texas Interconnected System (TIS). TIS originally formed in 1941 when several power companies banded together to provide their excess generation capacity to serve industrial loads on the Gulf Coast supporting the US war effort for World War II. ERCOT is one of nine regional electric reliability councils under North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) authority. NERC and the regional reliability councils were formed following the Northeast Blackout of 1965. ERCOT's offices are located in Austin and Taylor, Texas.

The ERCOT region occupies the entire Texas Interconnection, which occupies nearly all of the state of Texas. Unlike the other major NERC interconnections, the high voltage transmission and energy market within the Texas Interconnection is operated by ERCOT as essentially a single power system instead of as a network of cooperating utility companies.

[mrsmaalox]

Supposedly no one should have more than 4 black/brown outs today. Haven't had any here at my house yet.

[FalleNxWiZarDx]

no black outs yet so far here in stone oak

[Viva Las Espuelas]

stone oak

y'all won't be affected. trust me

[mrsmaalox]

Also, the traffic lady on KENS 5 is saying that traffic lights are out around town because of the blackouts. There isn't a way to control those separately or have them on a back up system? I can understand if they are out because of the wind and weather, but for the rolling blackouts? That's too dangerous...

[mrsmaalox]

no black outs yet so far here in stone oak

That's where I am too. A friend of mine told me her kids' daycare in this area was out but so far it's the only outtage I've heard of. Coincidence I guess.

[Viva Las Espuelas]

maybe CPS should relay that to SAPD?

[RandomGuy]

Supposedly no one should have more than 4 black/brown outs today. Haven't had any here at my house yet.

There will probably be some areas with actual unplanned blackouts as well. Heard some scuttlebutt about places with prolonged blackouts.

If everybody expects a blackout, and the power actually goes down due to a downed power line or something, I guess that might not get reported for a while, until people start ing about it.

Our house had a transformer blow in our back yard last night and lost power briefly. We still had the candles around the house with matches at hand from that when they ins uted the rolling blackouts this morning. Good thing, I guess.

[desflood]

I have vaulted ceilings and tons of windows. I have the heat on 72 and it's 59 in here now. It will climb back up to 66-67 and the electricity goes off again and goes down rather fast.

We just had our second outage; lasted half an hour. It took all of 30 minutes for the house temp to fall 4 degrees. I told my husband to pick up some firewood on the way home for the middle of the night, just in case.

no black outs yet so far here in stone oak

I knew it

[gospursgojas]

If there is a decision to start these blackouts knowing that, that would effect traffic lights as well.

Isn't that just a bad bad idea???

[Viva Las Espuelas]

maybe CPS should relay that to SAPD?

[Viva Las Espuelas]

or [email protected]

[MannyIsGod]

Also, the traffic lady on KENS 5 is saying that traffic lights are out around town because of the blackouts. There isn't a way to control those separately or have them on a back up system? I can understand if they are out because of the wind and weather, but for the rolling blackouts? That's too dangerous...

Newer lights come back on when the power comes on but the older ones have to be reset locally.

[SnakeBoy]

They either have plants offline or something is just ed up.

According to CPS there a number of plants around the state were knocked offline by the temps and there isn't enough energy being generated statwide leading to the need for rolling blackouts.

[MannyIsGod]

I hope thats not true. Power plants shouldn't be knocked off line with the temps you're seeing. I can understand if they were down for maintence but not if they went down because of the cold.

[RandomGuy]

We just had our second outage; lasted half an hour. It took all of 30 minutes for the house temp to fall 4 degrees. I told my husband to pick up some firewood on the way home for the middle of the night, just in case.

I knew it

Mythbusters did a bit on this. If you don't have it set up to draw in air from the outside, you can actually make the house colder.

Forum discussion at discovery made some interesting points:

Fire in Fireplace Causes Temperature Drop in Other Rooms

[Shelly]

My power went off twice around 6 am and 6:30 am, and then again around 10:30.

My husband was in the middle of a procedure on a patient when the power went out in his office. He said the emergency back-up lights didn't work Good job, building maintenance.

[RandomGuy]

Also speaking of fireplaces, I remembered something my dad installed in our house in Wyoming that made a big difference.

Imagine a series of hollow tubes under the fire, and a fan blowing air through those tubes out into the room.

Looks a bit like this:


(from ehow's How to Increase Heat from a Woodburning Fireplace)

I remember curling up in front of that thing and snoozing during the deeper parts of winter.

Also, by the by, my brother, who still lives there texted me this morning.

39 below 69 below with wind chill ! burr!

I, for one, shall not be ing about the cold. (much)

[RandomGuy]

My power went off twice around 6 am and 6:30 am, and then again around 10:30.

My husband was in the middle of a procedure on a patient when the power went out in his office. He said the emergency back-up lights didn't work Good job, building maintenance.

People usually never think about this kind of until the power goes out.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

the insane cold bloaded some of the power plants

[Viva Las Espuelas]

I thought doctor's offices, hospitals, and clinics are immune from the brownouts or whatever they're calling them. No?

[Kori Ellis]

We still haven't had any brownouts here in Hill Country Village. Hopefully they skip us

[MannyIsGod]

I thought doctor's offices, hospitals, and clinics are immune from the brownouts or whatever they're calling them. No?

Hospitals but I doubt doctors offices will get the same treatment. (HAHAH PUN ING INTENDED)

[Viva Las Espuelas]

Hmm......
You'd think they'd get the same attention.