SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
'Unplanned' outages hit Texas power plants in soaring temperatures
Officials with Texas' power grid operator pleaded with residents Monday to limit their electrical usage amid soaring temperatures and a series of mechanical problems at power plants.
The appeal, from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, comes four months after deadly blackouts during a winter storm left millions of people without power — and weeks after state legislators passed a package of measures aimed at fixing some of the problems exposed by the storm.
Officials with the nonprofit group, which oversees 90 percent of Texas' energy production, asked residents to set their thermostats higher, turn off lights and avoid using larger appliances until Friday.
A spokeswoman for the group told reporters that the outages accounted for more than 12,000 megawatts, enough to power 2.4 million homes. Some areas of the state, including Dallas and Tarrant counties, were warned about poor air quality and potentially dangerous heat, with the heat index approaching 110 degrees.
A senior official with ERCOT, Warren Lasher, said it wasn't clear why there were so many unplanned outages. But he said that the group is "deeply concerned" about the plants that are offline and that a thorough investigation is being conducted to better understand the problems.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @10:47AM (13 children)
Looks like ERCOT can only operate in a very specific temperature range and is very delicate. Such a contrast with the image Texas wants to project of itself.
While I'm too fond of Texas, its people deserve better than the years of Republican mismanagement that are culminating in these gross failures.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @11:23AM
Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold,
Pease porridge in the pot, nine days old;
Some like it hot, some like it cold,
Some like it in the pot, nine days old.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by driverless on Wednesday June 16 2021, @11:36AM
It's Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Texas style: "This weather is too cold to generate power. This weather is too hot to generate power. Ahh, this weather is just right. For the moment".
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Spamalope on Wednesday June 16 2021, @02:18PM
Or... it's operating exactly as intended to produce Enron/Ca type windfall outcomes to speculators.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by mcgrew on Wednesday June 16 2021, @03:13PM (6 children)
This is America. We have a vote. If your state government elects incompetent fools, it's your own damned fault. So Fuck the state of Texas AND their idiot populace, they got the crooks and morons they stupidly voted for.
And yes, as an Illinoisian I'm partly responsible for Ryan and Blago, even though I voted against both of them, Blago twice.
A man legally forbidden from possessing a firearm is in charge of America's nuclear arsenal. Have a nice day.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @03:36PM
Are you sure it isn't something Obama did? I'm sure on Fox News this is because of something Nancy Pelosi forced down Texan's throats...
And keep it real, Texans are like Americans everywhere - fat, consumer-tards with consumption related medical problems.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @03:52PM (2 children)
"Your freedom stops where my freedom begins"
It's fine for folks to vote in their own numb-nuts, it's not fine for them to vote in numb-nuts that now affect me.
TX keeps threatening to secede; I say let them. Let's call their bluff...
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday June 16 2021, @08:54PM
TX could become part of Mexico. Build a wall along their Northern, Eastern and Western borders.
The age of men is over. The time of the Orc has come.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 17 2021, @02:10AM
Secession is just hot air for the rubes, and gotta love how well it pairs with their self-image as total patriots. bonkers
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday June 16 2021, @06:58PM
In Texas, it's unlikely that dead (of heat-related causes) people will be able to vote one way or another. I know things work a little differently [youtu.be] in Illinois, so you might want to factor that in to your considerations.
(Score: 3, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday June 16 2021, @07:32PM
Blago was safely sequestered in jail. Apparently to Trump draining the swamp means letting politicians who have been convicted of corruption out of jail.
Trump commutes sentence of former Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich [nbcnews.com]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @07:50PM
"than the years of Republican mismanagement that are culminating in these gross failures."
No, it's the Jews, and both major parties work for them.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by TheMightyChickadee on Wednesday June 16 2021, @09:38PM
But, self-inflicted? Except for the Florida War Criminal former head of the Texas Republican Party.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 17 2021, @07:28AM
What do you expect, they are just a bunch of snowflakes. Need perfect conditions and go where the winds blow them.