Texas is on it's own Grid and not even federally regulated. In fact we are on our own grid because we didn't want to be federally regulated and subject to California style rolling blackouts. What we witnessed was a perfect storm regarding power generation. Wind mills froze, gas compression stations froze. I suspect we will find out that there were a lot of standby units undergoing routine maintenance because it is winter in Texas and demand is expected to be low. <<<if that is indeed the case heads do need to roll at ercot for not coordinating that downtime among the private generators.
I agree that the optics aren't the best for Cruz but some of the networks seem to be holding him personally responsible for power failures and for not fixing it. He is a US Senator. He's not the Governor and he's not an electrical engineer or even a generator mechanic. What exactly would anyone have him do to fix the problem?
Cruz has gotten hours of coverage even after saying it was a mistake and Cuomo get's a pass on msm while being investigated by the FBI for lying to the feds about death tolls because of his policies and then doubling down on it.
Originally Posted by boardman
what's crazy about wind power and Ercot's preparedness is there is a simple procedure to keep windmills running below 32, and it's called simply "winterizing." Ercot declined to do it because, why again? oh, because it costs a few dollars? how many people have died in Texas due to lack of electricity? and because Ercot decided to save a couple bucks?
does anyone know if you can winterize natural gas producing electricity? i'm not in the oil field, but i bet it is either difficult or impossible. any experts, fill us in. it appears everything failed, including nuclear and coal. my understanding is that both failed due to having water pipes frozen. if buffalo, ny can provide electricity throughout winter, then there isn't any reason why Texas can't do the same,
with adequate planning and foresight.
as one of the 2 U.S. senators for Texas, there are a whole bunch of things Cruz could have done for texas instead of leave for Cancun. he could have had the Ercot Board on speed-dial and have gotten hourly updates. he could have called for hearings. he could have asked for real-time updates from Centerpoint, TXU, and the other major electricity providers. He could find out what FEMA was doing to help those without water or electric. he could have been in contact with Governor Abbott over what federal resources he needs. There are a million things a U.S. Senator for Texas could have done. But instead he hops on a plane to Cancun. And then he tells a big story which is soon proven false by screen shots from his wife's text messages. It would be laughable except so many Texans have already died from this storm.