Texas Freeze Raises Cost Of Charging A Tesla To $900

[TheLastStarfighter]

I find this so weird. I'm sitting here in Nova Scotia, in February, and we just had our latest round of freezing rain. I can see a 50 MW wind farm from my house. It's cruising along without issue...

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[Crissa]

I find this so weird. I'm sitting here in Nova Scotia, in February, and we just had our latest round of freezing rain. I can see a 50 MW wind farm from my house. It's cruising along without issue...

Well, as I pointed out, their transmission lines are out in the open and they just got a nasty thunderstorm that was sleeting. Pretty hardcore for a place that rarely gets that sort of weather. Like a frozen hurricane.

-Crissa

 

[TheLastStarfighter]

Well, as I pointed out, their transmission lines are out in the open and they just got a nasty thunderstorm that was sleeting. Pretty hardcore for a place that rarely gets that sort of weather. Like a frozen hurricane.

-Crissa

For sure. I understand that us northerners are much tougher. I just don't see turbines as being especially vulnerable. Feels like media spin.

 

[Crissa]

For sure. I understand that us northerners are much tougher. I just don't see turbines as being especially vulnerable. Feels like media spin.

Well, you need to prepare for the cold, don't you? If you don't have a jacket, can you go out in -30? Well, same is true of turbines, be they gas or wind.

-Crissa

 

[firsttruck]

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Four nuclear power plant units in Texas for total capacity of 6,000 Mw.
One unit failed making 1,300 Mw unavailable.

So nuclear power plants that are claimed to be so super reliable and must have for base-load were down 22%.

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One of the two reactors of the South Texas Nuclear Power Station in Matagorda County shut down, knocking out about half of its 2,700 megawatts of generating capacity. On Monday, Unit 1 went offline cold weather-related issues in the plant’s feedwater system, said Vicki Rowland, lead of internal communications at STP Nuclear Operating Co.

Unit 2 continues to operate normally, providing more than 1,300 megawatts of electricity, according to Rowland. Crews are working to promptly return Unit 1 to the grid, she said.


Houston Chronicle: Bitter cold deepens state's power crisis
By Marcy de Luna and Amanda Drane Updated 6:54 pm CST, Tuesday, February 16, 2021
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/bu...oss-Texas-winter-storm-blackouts-15953686.php

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Does Texas have nuclear power?
There are two operating nuclear power plants in Texas. The South Texas Project (STP) (2 × 1,300 MW) is in Matagorda County near Bay City, about 90 miles southwest of Houston. Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant (2 × 1,700 MW) is in Somervell County near Glen Rose, TX, about 40 miles south of Fort Worth. Both have twin reactors.

Nuclear Energy In Texas | StateImpact Texas
stateimpact.npr.org › texas › tag › nuclear-energy-in-texas


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[Bigvbear]

This is what happens when you thumb your nose at federal regulations and turn everything over to for profit companies. but it's the wind turbines fault!

 

[TruckElectric]

Behind the Scenes of February's Texas Power Grid Disaster


SAN ANGELO, TX — State leaders starting with Governor Greg Abbott are wanting answers. How can the state known for its leadership in energy have its power distribution system fail so badly that it put lives in jeopardy?

Sunday night, temperatures hovered in the single digits measured in degrees F. However, the weather turned cold last Tuesday, Feb. 9. By 8 a.m. that day, temperatures stayed right at freezing, 32 degrees, and dropped lower each day of last week. By Monday almost a week later, temperatures didn’t rise above 7 degrees in the north Texas Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. The trend followed across the state and practically all of Texas endured single-digit temperatures and snow.

Sunday night the Electric Reliability Commission of Texas, or ERCOT, announced the electricity drain on the grid would force them to begin rolling blackouts. Those blackouts have left many residential and commercial customers without electricity — and heat — while temperatures remained below the freezing level across Texas.

Sitting at his desk in front of his trading computer, Adam Sinn, an entrepreneurial commodities trader and owner of Aspire Commodities in Houston who specializes in power generation financial instruments, was looking at Genscape on his computer monitor. Genscape PowerRT is a commercial software product that allows those in the energy business to monitor ERCOT’s power grid in real time. Aspire also used software created by Innotap. He could see almost everything, he said.

Others in his office joined him, watching the grid as Sunday night turned into early Monday morning, Feb. 15. At 1:55 a.m. Central Time, Sinn’s colleague, Ramon Bocanega, saw the frequency across the grid drop to 53.308 Hz. Maintaining the frequency within a range at around 60 Hz is imperative to keep all of the power generation plants online and supplying electricity. That 7 Hz drop was enough to cause pandemonium, as the power plants will automatically shut down when out of sync with the grid, Sinn explained.

A graph depicting the drastic frequency drop across the Texas electrical power grid at 1:55 a.m. Feb. 15

When the power plant drops offline like this, it’s akin to a hard shutdown of a computer. It’s pulling the plug, or hitting the power switch to off, Sinn said.

Before the frequency drop, at 1:50 a.m., the statewide electricity load was 62,439 megawatts (MW). When the frequency drop happened, the entire grid shed load by nearly 10,000 MW, to 52,950 MW.

The Panda Sherman Power Project generates 758 MW of electricity using natural gas in Sherman, Texas
Panda Funds

This was a significant drop, Sinn explained. It required the ERCOT operator to continue to shed load, reducing significantly the number of customers in Texas with electricity at all. For example, by 1 p.m. on Monday, the grid was down to 46,281 MW, nearly 20,000 MW in deficit from its 1:50 a.m. high. And this was the middle of the afternoon when most are up and about — and demanding more electricity.

“We may not get that back for a couple days,” Sinn explained. Power plants can’t just turn back on, or “reboot,” without risking permanent damage. Once the plant drops offline, it can take a day to get it back. Sinn said even Tuesday night, none of the coal-firing plants in Texas were producing electricity; all were still offline.

Sinn said the data should lead to questions of ERCOT as to why the state agency was not better prepared for the frigid cold weather statewide.

“They knew last Tuesday they’d be dealing with this,” Sinn said.
Sinn provided more insight. He said he saw that ERCOT had some power plants offline for seasonal maintenance. Before an energy provider can take an electricity generator offline, the operator is required to schedule the maintenance window — usually a few weeks in duration — well in advance. ERCOT approves it. Sinn said about 10,000 MW of electricity generation capacity was offline in February for maintenance as approved by ERCOT.

“Why didn’t ERCOT get those plants back online before the freeze hit? Better yet, why was ERCOT approving maintenance on 10,000 MW of generation capacity in February?” Sinn asked.

Sinn said it takes about 24 hours to fire up a coal plant. Natural gas plants take less time.
“ERCOT knew last week and didn’t prepare for this,” Sinn said.

Frozen wind turbines in west Texas may have been the catalyst for the frequency drop. Sinn theorizes that as the wind energy dropped overnight from Sunday to Monday, that reduced the load on the grid significantly. The operators of the grid have to catch these fluctuations in MW and shed load prior to the anticipated drop or the frequency can get out of sync, he said. That didn’t happen, according to what Sinn saw on his monitor.

The Biden administration’s Department of Energy gave ERCOT a waiver to exceed EPA pollution guidelines to run power plants at full capacity. Sinn said the waiver is disingenuous because the waiver appeared to only apply to two power plants that generate a paltry 13 MW each. Texas needs 20,000 to 30,000 MW more to creep out of this crisis, Sinn said.

Questions Sinn raised could become the focus of the governor’s order to reform of ERCOT as an emergency item on the agenda for the Texas Legislature that is currently in session.

“The Electric Reliability Council of Texas has been anything but reliable over the past 48 hours,” said Abbott in a press release on Tuesday, Feb 16. “Far too many Texans are without power and heat for their homes as our state faces freezing temperatures and severe winter weather. This is unacceptable. Reviewing the preparations and decisions by ERCOT is an emergency item so we can get a full picture of what caused this problem and find long-term solutions. I thank my partners in the House and Senate for acting quickly on this challenge, and I will work with them to enhance Texas’ electric grid and ensure that our state never experiences power outages like this again.”

The solution demands answers to questions about the power grid. State Rep. Drew Darby (R - District 72) sits on the House Energy Resources Committee. He is already talking to ERCOT commissioners and experts looking for the right questions to ask and to get answers to them about how legislation can prevent this from happening again. The electricity power generation and delivery industry is complicated, involving oil and gas, renewable energy, construction, maintenance, and finance.

Darby is sensitive to the cost of electricity in Texas, particularly for residential customers. He said today that he will not be in favor of raising rates.

“I will not support this -- now is absolutely not the time to increase prices on those who are impacted by a failure beyond their control,” Darby promised.

However, in the deregulated electricity environment that Texas has, one problem is there isn’t enough incentive to add generation because of pricing pressures to keep the rates that consumers pay low.

Darby said he wants an honest discussion about how to build capacity, if needed.
Wind energy will also become a political football. Already, forces are lining up ready to condemn over-reliance on renewables as the cause. The windmills may have frozen, but coal and natural gas plants also dropped offline. Some reports are blaming pipeline capacity and reliability during the sustained freezing temperatures for natural gas to flow unrestricted from the Permian Basin to the power plants across the state.

“We will know the facts at some point, but heads will roll I can assure you,” Darby said.
_
Update: As of 9 a.m. Feb. 17, approximately 46,000 MW of generation has been forced off the Texas grid during this extreme winter weather event. Of that, 28,000 MW is thermal and 18,000 MW is wind and solar, reported ERCOT.

SOURCE: San Angelo Live



Don't blame Texas energy players for blackout, blame the electricity grid's irresponsible game

Chris Tomlinson, Staff writer

Two cold nights without electricity is all Texans need to jump to the wrong conclusions about the state’s electricity grid.

Internet trolls shared photos of helicopters spraying wind turbine blades and blamed renewable energy for the state’s failure to provide light and warmth to 4 million households during a cold snap forecasted more than a week in advance.

That is not what happened.

Angry Centerpoint and CPS Energy customers in Houston and San Antonio railed against the local utilities responsible for delivering energy to their homes.

They are not to blame either.

While we may not know the details for months, the fault lies ultimately with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the grid that supplies power to most Texans. And with the Texas Legislature, which has failed to regulate a wholesale electricity market that prioritizes profit over resilience.

TOMLINSON’S TAKE: Evolving Texas grid marks beginning of the end for fossil fuel electricity

ERCOT operates one of the most innovative wholesale electricity markets in the world, but it’s far from perfect. There are three different segments, each playing a pivotal role and prone to failing if not carefully regulated.

Electricity generators compete to meet the state’s power needs with the cheapest sources, whether coal, nuclear, wind, natural gas, or solar. ERCOT forecasts the expected demand weeks in advance, companies bid to provide the cheapest power, and ERCOT contracts for what it needs the day before.

No prediction is perfect, though, so ERCOT builds in a reserve. The price paid to generators is based on the actual consumption, though, which means Texans do not pay for power they do not use. Other states pay generators to standby if needed, but not ERCOT.

The typical price for ERCOT electricity is about $25 for a megawatt hour. But ERCOT can pay as much as $9,000 to get power providers to generate enough electricity to meet the state’s needs.

The state grants monopolies to companies to maintain the transmission lines. CenterPoint has the contract for the Houston area. Centerpoint is forbidden from owning generating assets or even batteries to store power along their wires.

Electricity retailers manage customers and then buy, sell or trade electricity contracts. Some generators own retail operations, such as NRG Energy, which owns Reliant and other retail brands.

The exceptions are rural cooperatives and municipally-owned utilities such as San Antonio’s CPS. They can do it all, powerplants, transmission and retail sales.

Ten days ago, ERCOT meteorologists warned powerplant operators the polar vortex could strike. But West Texas winds are weak in winter, and they make up a small proportion of ERCOT’s generation compared to fossil fuels. In winter, ERCOT relies on coal and natural gas peaker plants, because we do not have enough renewables in the right places, such as offshore.

ERCOT publicly reports what generators are offering and how much they actually provide to the grid. These numbers are available both a day-ahead and as it happens. You can also track which source of power—renewable or fossil fuel—is meeting its obligation.

Wind generators did not bid a lot of power due to the ice storm. Plenty of natural gas and coal plants made bids, so it looked like ERCOT was adequately supplied to meet record-high winter demand. Heroics like de-icing blades with helicopters seemed unnecessary.

ERCOT needed a little more than 70,000 megawatts of juice early Monday morning when the fossil fuel plants failed and took 30,000 megawatts off the grid. Wind came within 1 gigawatt of meeting its obligation and then wind and solar outperformed expectations during the day.

TOMLINSON’S TAKE: Batteries begin storing wind and solar energy for the Texas grid

The fossil fuel plants failed because they were not prepared for the cold. Texas could have relied on wind, but operators opted-out of buying cold-weather add-ons used in the Arctic. Texas electricity generators did not want to spend the money to build resilient equipment because it would cut into their profits.

“Power outages in Texas have nothing to do with power generation technology,” said Jim Krane, an energy fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute. “Texas’ unwillingness to regulate turns out to be an unwillingness to buy insurance. Sure, it makes power cheap most of the time. But we wound up with a system designed for making a quick buck under optimal conditions. When something unusual happens, it’s a crisis.”

The Texas Legislature and the Public Utilities Commission could require Texas power providers to better prepare. But even after a similarly catastrophic failure in 2011, Texas regulators have failed to mandate a more resilient power grid.

Extreme weather events like the polar vortexes of 2011 and 2021 will become more common due to climate change, just as heat waves have worsened. If Texans do not insist on a stronger grid, we will spend a lot more time at the mercy of the elements.




SOURCE: HOUSTON CHRONICLE


Why does Texas have its own power grid? Curious Texas investigates

Texas has always operated on its own power grid, but the main motivator was the federal government.

System operators work in the command center of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas in Taylor. About 90 percent of Texas' electric load is managed by ERCOT. (Vernon Bryant / Staff Photographer)
By Nataly Keomoungkhoun
10:06 AM on Jan 29, 2021 CST — Updated at 3:39 PM on Feb 16, 2021 CST


Editor’s note: With millions of customers out of power as Texas grapples with record-low temperatures, interest has been high in the agency that oversees the Texas-only power grid, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. We’re republishing this story, originally published earlier this year, to explain ERCOT’s unique history.

The contiguous United States’ electrical power grid is separated into three parts: Two make up the Eastern Interconnection and the Western Interconnection, and their grids power both sides of the lower 48 states.

The third grid — called the Electric Reliability Council of Texas — is an electrical island that powers Texas, and it remains separate from the other two.

A reader asked Curious Texas: How did Texas wind up on its own electrical grid?
Texas has always operated on its own power grid, but the main motivator was the federal government, said ERCOT president and CEO Bill Magness.

Regional utilities in Texas created limited connections during World War II when the war effort demanded large amounts of power be sent to the Gulf Coast. The connections enabled power to flow from all over Texas to where it was needed most. That grid became the Texas Interconnected System.

In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Federal Power Act, which gave the federal government the authority to regulate interstate power lines. Texas, having created its own grid, decided it wanted no part of the act.

“These entities decided that they wanted to keep their power flows intrastate,” Magness said. “They wanted to keep them all in Texas so they wouldn’t be subject to this new federal power over electricity.”

ERCOT was formed in 1970, after a major blackout in the Northeast in November 1965.
The agency was asked to manage a regional electric reliability council in accordance with national standards. ERCOT remains out of the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, but it still has to adhere to North American Electric Reliability Corporation reliability standards.

The power grid doesn’t actually cover the entire state, Magness said. ERCOT manages about 75% of Texas’ land area and powers roughly 90% of its residents. Not included are El Paso, parts of northeast Texas (Longview, Marshall and Texarkana) and parts of southeast Texas (Beaumont, Port Arthur and The Woodlands).

Although ERCOT remains isolated, there have been some exceptions to help maintain control of the flow of electricity.

ERCOT has four direct current ties to other grids: two are in the northeastern parts of the state with about 820 megawatts flowing between the grids, and the other two direct current ties are connected to Mexico — one in Laredo at 100 megawatts and the other in McAllen at 300 megawatts.

Magness said the connections in Mexico are minor compared to how much electricity Texans typically use. On a summer day, the demand is well over 74,000 megawatts, he said.
“It’s kind of a drop in the bucket, but there are those minor connections,” Magness said. “That aside, we do operate electrically as an island.”

An event known as the “Midnight Connection” occurred in 1976 after a Texas utility flipped a switch and allowed power to flow to one of its properties in Oklahoma for a few hours. Once that switch was flipped, Texas became subject to federal jurisdiction, setting off a major legal battle that lasted years.

Compromises were struck and Texas remained free from the oversight of the federal government, but it also created those limited direct currents ties to other grids that cross state lines that aren’t subject to the Federal Power Act.


SOURCE: DALLAS MORNING NEWS

 

[cary1219]

Also, the Texas interconnect is built to avoid federal regulation anyhow.

-Crissa

And that's a good thing.

 

[Ehninger1212]

It's FREEEEZIN down in texxasssss.. all the telephone lines are down..

 

[Akgolf]

If electric rates are going up at that rate, there are going to be lots of folks in Texas that won’t be able to afford the new rates.

Nice how they use Tesla in the headline, when that would be a small portion of the overall electric bill.

 

[alan auerbach]

Frozen instruments at power plants, not wind farms, are main factor for power outages in Texas
By Will Wade, Naureen S. Malik, Brian Eckhouse
Feb 16, 2021
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/02...rozen-wind-farms-are-just-small-piece-puzzle/

"... wind turbines froze in the ice storms ...."
How come that doesn't happen in locations that are much colder than Texas?

 

[Crissa]

Nice how they use Tesla in the headline, when that would be a small portion of the overall electric bill.

About two days' worth of energy.

And that's a good thing.

Tell that to the people freezing because of it.

-Crissa

 

[TheLastStarfighter]

"... wind turbines froze in the ice storms ...."
How come that doesn't happen in locations that are much colder than Texas?

That was my thought too. The Texas weather catastrophe is a typical Tuesday in NS. I get their systems not being ready, but I would think Turbine construction is pretty standard.

 

[rr6013]

OP @TruckElectric point remains, $900 to charge Tesla BEV. Maybe Texas is a free market price gouging state. This corner case is a canary.

Elon needs to Plan for Tesla, Tesla owners and Tesla vehicles to maintain BEV grid parity or suffer the cost of arbitrage, rate hikes and tiered charging times in addition to range anxiety. There is already a non-Tesla app to manage much of those dynamics today. It just won’t solve TX or CA corner cases.

By 2035 the tipping point will favor EV ownership. Options few, if any, when EV demand exceeds electric supply - not only during calamity. My ICE would be 38 yrs old then. I hadn’t planned on it being a backup.

 

[Crissa]

Well, during disasters, Tesla usually stops charging for their energy. They also have moving superchargers - they're on trailers - with powerwalls to reduce their point demand on the network. They also work with solar and generators as needed to provide backup power.

A backup generator controlled by the powerwall it's charging gets to use the optimum load level and therefore wastes as little energy as possible.

-Crissa