Well, we made it through another day without having our power cut. Not far away, it is dark, no power. Did some shoveling and ice scraping off the driveway incline, as more snow and maybe a thin layer of ice is expected tonight and through tomorrow. Was 0 degrees this (Tuesday) morning.
I watched ERCOT today, and saw the MegaWatts of generation from morning, building to a peak about 2 PM, then sliding downwards to yesterday's numbers by evening. A lot of that buildup, about 2,000 MW worth, was due to solar generation. There was also some wind generation. From looking through the ERCOT charts, the thermal generation (coal, natural gas, nuclear) didn't increase squat today. So, at the end of the day (really!), the grid supply was back to were it was Monday night. Millions of customer accounts without power.
Much has been repeated, about the "unprecedented" demand due to the cold. But that demand, which is not being supplied!, is less than that of a hot July afternoon.
A local TV station, WFAA ch. 8 in DFW, had an interview with the CEO of ERCOT, the Texas grid operator. The CEO really danced around the issue when he was asked about the 34,000 MW of generation that was off-line Monday, had increased to 45,000 MW off-line Tuesday, and didn't that look like the situation was getting worse?
ERCOT's official position on the shortage that has caused blackouts, now days for some, is that they have no idea when it will end, maybe the weather will get better.
Now there's a confidence-building statement!
In fairness, it isn't ERCOT's job to make sure that power plants do what they should do as far as winterizing and maintenance. That is the power generation companies responsibility. But I don't know if that is ever really going to be fixed, it hasn't so far, this is the third time a mess has happened in winter due to it. It seems it will take governmental requirements for them to do so, doing it on their own isn't cutting it. Will probably have to be through federal level. Already on the state level, it's on it's way to becoming political, as there are some who are pro-coal, and think that leaving more coal plants open, or building more, is the answer to the present problem. Conveniently turning a blind eye to coal plants that are part of the problem now!
For our Texas viewers, here's two links to WFAA stories on the issue, no politics in either link:
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/l...-end/287-6fb9564b-fd08-4ec6-acf5-a022971720ad
https://www.wfaa.com/article/weathe...ates/287-0f232a42-8ad9-4596-86e7-55f70f549089