ERCOT CEO Interview

[orchard]

Okay, so I just watched this on KHOU. Basically he put the blame (and maybe rightly so) back on the state legislature. I understand that these guys are basically air traffic controllers. They can't make a power company have spare capacity.

So my question is.....what regulations/incentives have we put in place to bring more producers on the grid or take them off?

[Killer]

The PUC and Ercot don't care where a megawatt comes from. If you really want to drive to the source of the problem, it starts with people who want more renewables and start the political movement towards the shift to a fairly new technology. They demonize the old technology "fossil" before their new one is ready to stand on it's own legs. Then banks who invest in these utility companies place pressure on the utility to expand their renewable portfolio along with new environmental regulations making it uneconomical to invest in their older assets. Texas expands it's renewable portfolio and shuts down fossil plants at the great delight of people who pushed for this change. Again, Ercot and PUC just want to be promised Megawatts. But when this storm was on the precipice, ERCOT should have had the foresight that it was going to lose renewable generation and started bringing on more gas units when startup would have been easier before the freeze.

I say all this because i am currently at a coal plant and have been trying to keep it running and get it started back up and have been sleeping in my office for the last 2 days. It wasn't a lack a preparation, but it was a historic storm and our facilities are built to run in our standard climate not arctic climates. Being a deregulated market, we don't have endless Capital to invest in being prepared for a once a century storm. We invested 100's of millions of dollars in capital after the last major winter storm which hit February 2011.

I'm probably preaching to the choir, but this problem ultimately resides in people wanting renewables, which in turn drives politicians and their lobbyist to make a push for it and enact legislature, which in turn drives the market and investors in that direction also. This should serve as a wakeup call to the people that we should ask for a more balanced market and not retire so many assets. This could very well push the PUC and ERCOT into considering a Capacity Market where plants get paid to be available whether they run or not.

Off another thread on here.

[BiggieSmalls]

FWIW, ERCOT does pay for utilities to have certain units available. They also pay to have certain plants upgraded if they see a need for the unit in the future vs decommissioning it.

[Dusty Britches]

Want to know how to fix this?

Get rid of the wind turbines and switch to reliable energy - gas, coal, and nuclear. Mostly nuclear. It is by far the cleanest most reliable energy source in the world.

[hpdrifter]

Want to know how to fix this?

Get rid of the wind turbines and switch to reliable energy - gas, coal, and nuclear. Mostly nuclear. It is by far the cleanest most reliable energy source in the world.

until it isn't, then it's the most deadly

[47]

until it isn't, then it's the most deadly

Except this isn't the 70's or 80's

[Dusty Britches]

Actually, hpdrifter, the fact is nuclear is the cleanest safest power generation in the world.

World Nuclear Association Safety of Nuclear Reactors

3 accidents in 60 years from 18,500 reactors is a record any company would be proud to have.

• Three Mile Island - contained without harm to anyone
• Chernobyl - an intense fire without provision for containment
• Fukushima - Massive tidal wave severely tested the containment, allowing some release of radioactivity.

[Benno]

I think they should just call themselves ECOT. That would take away the confusion.

[WItoTX]

They all set this up so no one would be to blame. Everyone can point fingers at one another. Nothing happens, maybe a sacrificial termination. That's it.

[texansfan]

Want to know how to fix this?

Get rid of the wind turbines and switch to reliable energy - gas, coal, and nuclear. Mostly nuclear. It is by far the cleanest most reliable energy source in the world.

Nowhere is any person in a INSIDE position of power of saying this so where are you getting this from?

Nobody in senior management from any angle is saying renewable resources are the issue.
So why are you saying it?

[Benno]

Nowhere is any person in a INSIDE position of power of saying this so where are you getting this from?

Nobody in senior management from any angle is saying renewable resources are the issue.
So why are you saying it?

Who needs to say it? Who do you need to hear what from to make something true? Frozen windmills don’t produce electricity (fact). Snow covered solar panels don’t produce electricity (fact). I don’t need anyone to tell me these things for them to be true. Gas, coal and nuclear work in the cold. I don’t think the windmills are the reason for our outages, but they **** sure ain’t helping.

[zub789]

Who needs to say it? Who do you need to hear what from to make something true? Frozen windmills don’t produce electricity (fact). Snow covered solar panels don’t produce electricity (fact). I don’t need anyone to tell me these things for them to be true. Gas, coal and nuclear work in the cold. I don’t think the windmills are the reason for our outages, but they **** sure ain’t helping.

The Texas windmills that are frozen are because the windmill owner was too cheap to include a $5k motor heater with the purchase of the $1M windmill. In other states and countries, even Antarctica, windmills work fine in the cold because they have a motor heater. Wind, gas, coal, and nuclear can all work well in the cold but some owners cheap out and dont want to pay extra to design and build cold weather resilent systems and include cold weather components like motor heaters.

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[texansfan]

The Texas windmills that are frozen are because the windmill owner was too cheap to include a $5k motor heater with the purchase of the $1M windmill. In other states and countries, even Antarctica, windmills work fine in the cold because they have a motor heater. Wind, gas, coal, and nuclear can all work well in the cold but some owners cheap out and dont want to pay extra to design and build cold weather resilent systems and include cold weather components like motor heaters.

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This sounds so incompetent to me
Like the "press conference at the four seasons" in Philadelphia situation

[hpdrifter]

Actually, hpdrifter, the fact is nuclear is the cleanest safest power generation in the world.

World Nuclear Association Safety of Nuclear Reactors

3 accidents in 60 years from 18,500 reactors is a record any company would be proud to have.

• Three Mile Island - contained without harm to anyone
• Chernobyl - an intense fire without provision for containment
• Fukushima - Massive tidal wave severely tested the containment, allowing some release of radioactivity.

get the full story before bragging.

https://timeline.com/arco-first-nucl...t-f16ec1105b9c

[rtp]

The Texas windmills that are frozen are because the windmill owner was too cheap to include a $5k motor heater with the purchase of the $1M windmill. In other states and countries, even Antarctica, windmills work fine in the cold because they have a motor heater. Wind, gas, coal, and nuclear can all work well in the cold but some owners cheap out and dont want to pay extra to design and build cold weather resilent systems and include cold weather components like motor heaters.

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If this true then shame on the regulators for allow it. You either have reliable power or you don’t.


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