Who is confident that ERCOT has the Texas Grid ready?

[Geezy Rider]

…

[MikeyG]

my bet is on my 36kw generac. Like insurance, it's a waste of money until you need it.

[Bone Thug]

I doubt there will be any power outages but I’m prepared if so.
I’ve got the generator on stand by with plenty of ethanol free fuel on hand. We will be warm and well fed either way. We have a gas furnace, gas stove and gas water heater.

I have it worked out where the generator can run the electric blower on our gas furnace, refrigerator, freezer, lights, internet and TV.

So I’ll be ready to engage “Operation ERCOT Sucks” if need be. Lol

[CaptainDave]

Nothing wrong with being prepared, at least for the possibility of not having power for a couple days and it being cold. However, the hype on this is over the top. Even down in Houston, people act like a deep freeze expected for 2 nights is some type of extreme event. I mean, it happens at least once just about every year. Heck, it happend 2 days before Christmas in 2022, which is just over a year ago. My wife was in Costco yesterday and said it was through the roof. For the life of me, I don't understand why people all of a suddenly think they need 60 rolls of toilet paper and 5 cases of water for an event like this.
Got the generator ready, but probably won't even use it unless absolutely necessary. As long as the natural gas service is reliable, our gas fireplace heats up the den good enough. We also have a few power banks charging for cell phones, Ipad, etc. if it comes to it. We always keep some non-perishable foods around as well as a spare case of water.
Guess we will all see how the grid holds up.

[91cavgt]

There is now a winter weather watch for tomorrow through midday Monday for an area that stretches from San Antonio up to D/FW.

[rebelbow]

"individual power companies are responsible for clearing their transmission lines" - uhm.....the lines are all connected- hence the grid.
I can see keeping lines clear in your own switchyard- but once it leaves from there it's joined up to lines that are Centerpoint controlled (in the Houston area anyways)
The power company / plant I work for has 5 feeders leaving our switchyard and we durn sure don't trim any trees.

Not true on the no new plant part. I know of at least one- an 8-unit peaker being built outside of Baytown right now, looks to be nearly complete.
I've been told these will pump nearly 100 mw's each- so there's 800 mw's that will be ready to join in when needed (once complete).
For those of you getting your deer processed at Juniors in Highlands, you saw it- but might not have recognized it.



I saw in the news a year or so ago where Abbot was signing some sort of law / executive order allowing for low cast loans to companies willing to build gas plants inside the state.
Evidently "Pro Energy" took them up on it.

never said power plants , i said power companys. ie oncor, aep ,rea ,centerpoint etc. the companys that own and operate the transmission lines are responsible for maintenance. 800 mw coming online? a drop in the bucket to the 4500 mw lost when the bigger coal plants were shutdown. will the peakers be used to help balance shortfalls in the grid? or just fired up when prices are high.
been at a power plant for 23 yrs and go to ercot training every year so i'm well aware how the grid operates

peakers perform a valuable function,but we need more gas fired combined cycle plants or nuclear plants to provide the bulk of our electrical needs. and transmission lines need to be improved to carry the load. if incentives exist to promote this, great! but we are behind in the race. combined cycle gas plants take 3 yrs to complete, nukes 5 ++.

[Greenheadless]

Greenhead- I read an article on what the % of power that had to come from alternative energy and it had all of the States listed. It had to do with Fed funding and had major monetary penalties. I was hoping someone in the know would clarify if this included storm events or if the Feds backed off on it during storms etc?

Link to article?

[DaveC]

never said power plants , i said power companys. ie oncor, aep ,rea ,centerpoint etc. the companys that own and operate the transmission lines are responsible for maintenance. 800 mw coming online? a drop in the bucket to the 4500 mw lost when the bigger coal plants were shutdown. will the peakers be used to help balance shortfalls in the grid? or just fired up when prices are high.
been at a power plant for 23 yrs and go to ercot training every year so i'm well aware how the grid operates

peakers perform a valuable function,but we need more gas fired combined cycle plants or nuclear plants to provide the bulk of our electrical needs. and transmission lines need to be improved to carry the load. if incentives exist to promote this, great! but we are behind in the race. combined cycle gas plants take 3 yrs to complete, nukes 5 ++.

Fair enough. I'm on year 26 but have only been to Ercot seminars twice (that I can recall).
My knuckles drag too low for much more than daily activities.
I can pull a mean chain valve though.

[tps7742]

"individual power companies are responsible for clearing their transmission lines" - uhm.....the lines are all connected- hence the grid.
I can see keeping lines clear in your own switchyard- but once it leaves from there it's joined up to lines that are Centerpoint controlled (in the Houston area anyways)
The power company / plant I work for has 5 feeders leaving our switchyard and we durn sure don't trim any trees.

Not true on the no new plant part. I know of at least one- an 8-unit peaker being built outside of Baytown right now, looks to be nearly complete.
I've been told these will pump nearly 100 mw's each- so there's 800 mw's that will be ready to join in when needed (once complete).
For those of you getting your deer processed at Juniors in Highlands, you saw it- but might not have recognized it.



I saw in the news a year or so ago where Abbot was signing some sort of law / executive order allowing for low cast loans to companies willing to build gas plants inside the state.
Evidently "Pro Energy" took them up on it.

It’s good to see new plants are being built and coming online in the future. All around the Houston area is exploding in the suburbs and I am sure the extra capacity will definitely be needed.

[tps7742]

“My knuckles drag too low for much more than daily activities.
I can pull a mean chain valve though.

”

lol On your comment above. Nothing wrong with beIng in operations, you are where it makes it happen. A person can make a good living in these fields and especially if a person doesn’t mind working OT. I was in operations for 34 years. Retired in 2015 and am back on a part time gig now at the plant, so semi retired I guess in the meantime. We appreciate the 24/7 folks sacrifices y’all make to keep us supplied in the comforts of home.

[100%TtId]

As of now, 8700 MW of reserve capacity.

[DaveC]

”

lol On your comment above. Nothing wrong with beIng in operations, you are where it makes it happen. A person can make a good living in these fields and especially if a person doesn’t mind working OT. I was in operations for 34 years. Retired in 2015 and am back on a part time gig now at the plant, so semi retired I guess in the meantime. We appreciate the 24/7 folks sacrifices y’all make to keep us supplied in the comforts of home.

Appreciate it.
They do pay me well; I'm on my 14th year as a shift lead and I've made my share of OT- coordinating over 20 outages through the years+ hurricane and winter storm ride outs.
My wife's recent cancer struggles have opened my eyes or altered my vision as far as purposely working until near death goes....., I'm no longer a fan and will be sniffing a way out sooner than I previously planned.
I'm burned out as far as this plant goes and sometimes envy those punching a clock outside of the plant life world not worried if their host plant will come offline ($500k penalty) because of an incorrect decision they, or someone on their shift made or knowing they could get exploded due to an event next door out of their control...... (the plant I'm in is inside of a chem plant).




Back to the freeze.....

As far as ERCOT and the grid, we (power plant personal) are leaned on hard to make sure we are ready for freeze events.
The only way to know if the preparations are adequate or not is to live through a sub-freezing event then correct any exposed flaws.
This has been done following each freeze event to the point the list of problem items shrinks each time.

Lack of natural gas flow would knock us offline and is controlled upstream- therefore out of our control.
3 different suppliers help to mitigate the chance of a total loss, so there's that.

[Bone Thug]

Appreciate it.
They do pay me well; I'm on my 14th year as a shift lead and I've made my share of OT- coordinating over 20 outages through the years+ hurricane and winter storm ride outs.
My wife's recent cancer struggles have opened my eyes or altered my vision as far as purposely working until near death goes....., I'm no longer a fan and will be sniffing a way out sooner than I previously planned.
I'm burned out as far as this plant goes and sometimes envy those punching a clock outside of the plant life world not worried if their host plant will come offline ($500k penalty) because of an incorrect decision they, or someone on their shift made or knowing they could get exploded due to an event next door out of their control...... (the plant I'm in is inside of a chem plant).




Back to the freeze.....

As far as ERCOT and the grid, we (power plant personal) are leaned on hard to make sure we are ready for freeze events.
The only way to know if the preparations are adequate or not is to live through a sub-freezing event then correct any exposed flaws.
This has been done following each freeze event to the point the list of problem items shrinks each time.

Lack of natural gas flow would knock us offline and is controlled upstream- therefore out of our control.
3 different suppliers help to mitigate the chance of a total loss, so there's that.

We definitely appreciate you and all who work in this field.

[Smart]

Glad to wake up this morning to everything working…As much fun as it is to use our mechanical
toys and feel like any prep was worth it, I’m glad so far the alarmists and FB linkers are wrong ….

[tps7742]

Glad to wake up this morning to everything working…As much fun as it is to use our mechanical
toys and feel like any prep was worth it, I’m glad so far the alarmists and FB linkers are wrong ….

Glad all is good in the Smart house hold and I agree it’s better to prepare ahead of time to keep our comforts of home going.