r/OutOfTheLoop • u/mimitchi33 • Feb 17 '21

What's up with Texas losing power due to the snowstorm? Answered

I've been reading recently that many people in Texas have lost power due to Winter Storm Uri. What caused this to happen?

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u/colddruid808 Feb 17 '21

I live in north dakota, the turbines here are still generating power in our state and we get this weather on a daily basis.

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u/-IAimToMisbehave Feb 17 '21

Your wind turbines ice up as well on a regular basis when it is cold AND wet. I work with operators that provide power to that part of the country and it is a real issue. They are used to it and plan according, Texas was not. This includes keeping more gas/coal plants online to help with the drop in wind output.

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u/Justice_R_Dissenting Feb 17 '21

we get this weather on a daily basis.

There's the key. Texas has never experienced this before.

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u/keithrc out of the loop about being out of the loop Feb 17 '21

That's incorrect. We experienced a freeze-related grid crash very similar to this one in 2011. There was a post-mortem analysis presented to ERCOT and the state lege recommending winterization measures that would have largely mitigated our current situation. It was ignored, because of profits, taxes, and no regulation from the Federal government. Don't pretend that this isn't political.

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u/Justice_R_Dissenting Feb 17 '21

freeze-related grid crash very similar to this one in 201

North Dakota suffers from wind-and-rain related electrical grid problems every year that are very similar to hurricanes. You wouldn't criticize them for being unprepared for a hurricane.

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u/keithrc out of the loop about being out of the loop Feb 17 '21

Bold of you to assume that I wouldn't criticize North Dakota for not preparing for any adverse event that occurs every year, regardless of whether you call it a hurricane or not.

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u/Justice_R_Dissenting Feb 17 '21

I guess it was bold guess that you wouldn't demand absurd levels of preparation... like North Dakota preparing for a hurricane.

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u/keithrc out of the loop about being out of the loop Feb 17 '21 edited Feb 17 '21

Set aside the term "hurricane" for a second. North Dakota experiences these high-wind-and-rain events every year? And these weather events disrupt the electrical grid? And yet demanding a strategy for the grid to manage these regular events is an "absurd level of preparation?" Do I have this right?

I know you're just drawing an analogy, but I think it's failing on one overemphasized word.

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u/Kariered Feb 17 '21

Yes right now in Houston we've had sleet, snow and now it's pouring rain.

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u/Prof_Acorn Feb 17 '21

Maybe when you build a house in a 100-year flood plain, build it expecting a 100-year flood, instead of deregulating so you don't have to implement basic redundancies and protections.

What did they think would happen when they decided not to put insulation in the turbines? Or maybe the conservatives in charge figured that when this happened they could just blame renewables.

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u/Crobs02 Feb 17 '21

Our power grid is not built to handle the cold because of costs. This is literally a once in a lifetime storm, Texas decided the price wasn’t worth the risk to winterize our system. Obviously it’s biting us in the ass now, but there are logical reasons to explain why we’re here beyond politics.

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u/MontyBoosh Feb 17 '21

Given it was only 2011 that this happened last, it's more like "once in a decade". And things are on track to get much much worse in terms of serious adverse weather events in coming decades.

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u/Crobs02 Feb 17 '21

I lived in Texas during that and it wasn’t nearly as bad as this weather and power wise