@abel_hazard That was a general warning they do anytime more than one nuclear power plant was down for maintenance. They do this every year around the same time while they get all the nuclear plants and diesel backups online for summer time, as that is usually when power consumption skyrockets across the state.
In addition, only a handful of counties across the entire state have had any power disruption and many were in much more rural areas, but even still they were only temporary disruptions.
As a texas man, ercot can go fuck themselves. @interesting; no this time it's different.. as the entire fucking populated areas of the state experienced a weird freeze that shut down the grid, which easily could have been prevented, and then those in charge of the grid basically told the state congress they can all go eat a dick.
Should also say, I can forgive the lack of foresight; it was a freak weather event; but they know this is going to happen with greater frequency, and as they have done absolutely nothing to better protect against it in the future, now knowing what CAN happen, even if it means charging more to the customer? Unforgivable. I'd happily pay $5 more a month so my electricity won't go out at, quite literally, the worst fucking time.... rather than save a few bucks and just play the odds on a shitty unregulated grid run by people who don't give a fuck and will openly admit they don't give a fuck.
Brother I'm in Texas, I'm not talking about the once in a lifetime blizzard and all that jazz. What they're discussing right now and what is being reported on are statewide blackouts from the heat... which nothing like that is going on. Also to your point, the weather event in question was primarily an issues because, similarly, several plants were down for maintenance as they're usually not needed in the winter for Texas. Same issue with the diesel backups. I'll also add that there have been billions invested in heat protection across the state infrastructure because that's what historically has made sense for Texas, not a once in a century blizzard. I'm not saying ercot is a saint or that I even like them, but there were a few factors involved in the overall power disruptions during that event.
Meanwhile in Idaho, Jet boat tour guides are mad at the power company for adjusting water/river levels (for hydro-electricity) because its “bad for their business.”
Hydro-electricity is more than half of our States power production.....
Hmm, so solar can't produce at night, nuclear down for repairs and no real backups because aren't building any new ones... water scarcity controls hydro... and wind / geothermal generation is site specific controlling... wooh. If only there were some alternative which could be installed at the dozens of shuttered gas and coal fired power plants across Texas.
Hydro-electricity is more than half of our States power production.....