heat getting to the electric grid in Texas

[ensho]

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php


It's another blistering day and Texas' power grid entered a Level 1 emergency Friday afternoon. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which oversees the high voltage distribution system for about 85 percent of the state, has started to pull in power from neighboring grids and is asking for conservation until 7 p.m. Friday. It's the first stage of the state's four-stage energy emergency systemis activated when reserves drop below 2,300 megawatts. About 4,800 megawatts of power plant capacity are offline for unplanned maintenance, according to Kent Saathoff, vice president of system planning and operations for ERCOT. Thursday about 5,000 megawatts of power plant capacity were offline, more than 7 percent of the state's total capacity, pushing the state to the verge of rolling blackouts.More mechanical breakdowns occur during prolonged periods of hot weather, according to power plant operators, as units tend to run for longer hours. Peak demand is expected
to reach 67,794 megawatts today. Thursday's peak was 66,815 megawatts between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., but demand was lowered by two power two power management programs. ERCOT pulled in 1,033 megawatts of generation from neighboring grids Thursday, including Mexico. Wind power accounted for about 1,400 megawatts of supply during the peak hours.
--------------

[hobbit709]

1. Round 2 of the BS they pulled last winter. Enron redux

[NutmegYankee]

2. Here in New England we had the second highest usage ever last month.

ISO New England had to pull in power from Quebec to keep the grid going on July 22, when much of the region was hit with the 100 degree heat. That was brutal heat without AC in most of the house. It was so humid a house fan just couldn't do much at night.

[bluestate10]

3. Turn your running fan toward a wall or a wall/ceiling juncture.

That move dramatically increases cooling efficiency. Set the blade speed to medium, or low.

[End Of The Road]

4. ERCOT is doing OK, so far anyway

They have a list of mostly large industrial customers who have volunteered to have their power cut off (in exchange for lower rates) when the grid gets close to maxing out. I don't think they've had to do that yet this summer... maybe once.

They claim that they've fixed some of the rolling black-out problems experienced last winter. I hope that's true, because I was in one of the areas where we got 15 mins of power and then 45 mins off. It was supposed to be the other way around.

I am most concerned about the Sun's activity and its possible effects on a stressed-out electric grid. There were at least three coronal mass ejections last week that hit earth. Only one of them was of any size -- M-9.3 -- and I don't know if that's big enough to worry about. No doubt many of you know a lot more about this than I.

[Old and In the Way]

5. With all that sun down there, you'd think decentralized solar generation would be a no-brainer.

Guess when Big Oil owns the politics, that's not a solution.