OT: Power outages plague Texas, other states amid deadly cold, snow

[Jethro_uk]

Really CBA to check, but hearing that TX decided that federal electricity regulation wasn't for Texans, so is basically an isolated grid.

Still, at least they took back control :)

(posted here because of the high number of people that are interested in energy issues ....)

At least 14 people are dead in four states from the effects of a record- shattering cold snap and series of winter storms. In Texas, as the electricity grid struggles to keep pace with record high demand amid a historic cold outbreak, people are turning to unsafe means to heat their homes. A woman and a girl died from carbon monoxide poisoning in Houston after a car was left running in a garage to keep them warm, according to police.

....

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) declared reform of the state?s grid operator an emergency item for this legislative session.

The move urges state lawmakers to investigate the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) in an effort to determine what went wrong during the winter storm and frigid weather of recent days and prevent it from occurring again.

Already, the speaker of the Texas House has called for hearings into the matter.

?Far too many Texans are without power and heat for their homes as our state faces freezing temperatures and severe winter weather,? Abbott said in a statement. ?This is unacceptable.?

About 4.1 million Texas customers were without power Monday afternoon, down slightly from 4.4 million earlier in the day, according to poweroutage.us. The governor said he intends to work with state legislators to ?ensure that our state never experiences power outages like this again.?

[Chris Hogg]

Yep. Athens is blanketed in deep snow also.

It's 'global warming', innit! :-)) (actually, it's La Niña, as has been said here before. You were warned!). It'll be interesting to see just how low the average global temperature for February goes, and whether the media comment on "it's been the coldest February for the last umpteen years", in much the same way as they make similar comments about "the warmest etc..".

[Chris Hogg]

More here

Even the wind turbines have frozen!

[Vir Campestris]

Possibly better to have them freeze solid than to spin. Either they'd chuck lumps of ice about, or just fall over from being off balance.

Andy

[The Natural Philosopher]

Course not.

US answer to gridwatch

3 million without power in Texas..

Look at what the wiki entry on te texas power grid says - rampant spin and total lies

"February 2021, record low temperatures caused large loss of coal, natural gas, and nuclear plants power production and a shortfall of over

10GW of customer demand, and generated rolling blackouts across the state affecting more than 4 million people. Although some wind turbines iced up, wind power produced more overall power than expected for this time of year."

In reality Gas was down and wind was down, but nuclear and coal stayed up

Note the record low temperatures. They couldn't lie their way round that.

[The Natural Philosopher]

ERCOT is desperately trying to claim it wasn't the fruzzed windymills, honest guv!

Some bullshit about nuclear and coal plants having frozen instruments. Crap - ever been inside a coal power station ? freezing it aint!

[The Natural Philosopher]

No, that would be much *better*. It would destroy windmills and create an even better argument for banning them

Never mind, The avjet burning helicopters will be along to spray teh CO2 emitting de icer on them shortly

[nothanks]

Although aircraft propellers rotate considerably faster than turbines (around 2000-2400 RPM in the cruise) prop icing is something to be avoided because of vibration and loss of efficiency. Blades on aircraft that might experience icing conditions either have heating pads or a total loss de-ice system through small holes - parts of the blades are de-iced in stages to avoid asymmetry. The noise made as the ice comes off a twin and hits the side of the fuselage is quite scary. Do these turbines have any form of de-ice or anti-ice?

[The Natural Philosopher]

Both have tip speeds somewhere in the subsonic region. 200mph is pretty optimal in both cases but aircraft props will get up to mach 0.7 or more. And sometimes break the sound barrier

Yes., a helicopter comes along and sprays antifreeze on them

[Chris Hogg]

and

[jon]

This is for the C-130...Each engine is equipped with a Hamilton Standard four-blade, electro-hydromatic, full feathering, reversible-pitch propeller. The propeller operates as a controllable- pitch propeller for throttle settings below FLIGHT IDLE and as a constant-speed propeller for throttle settings of FLIGHT IDLE or above. The major components of the propeller system are the propeller assembly, the control system, the synchrophasing system, and the anti-icing and de-icing systems.

[critcher]

I wonder if there is a temp and coverage that would force the mid states to go into another ice age??

[critcher]

wonder what would be required to tip us all into another ice age?

[Tim Streater]

Time. We are in an interglacial at the minute, but should be heading back into glaciers etc down to London within a few k-years.

The configuration of the continents just now is such that being in an ice-age is the norm, today's temperatures will not last.

[newshound]

Arrhenius did speculate that coal burning might save us from the next ice age. Five metres of sea level rise by the end of the century is relatively easy to cope with. A couple of kilometers of ice marching down from the north rather less so.

[Dave Plowman (News]

But not in countries used to such temperatures? Why would that be?

[Chris Hogg]

Not just temperature, but snow and ice building up on the blades. OOI which countries had you in mind?

[The Natural Philosopher]

[The Natural Philosopher]

Yes., but what has that to do with wind turbines? They diont have that at all

[The Natural Philosopher]

I thought the current rate was 3mm a year? so 30cm by the end of the century

that rate hasn't budged an inch in decades and is not tracking with CO2 at all

Another inconvenient truth For warmunistsas