nanog mailing list archives
Re: Texas ERCOT power shortages (again) April 13
From: "John Levine" <johnl () iecc com>
Date: 14 Apr 2021 12:37:22 -0400
It appears that Stan Barber <sob () academ com> said:
-=-=-=-=-=- I would suggest that the regulation paradigm in Texas does not allow coordinated maintenance scheduling to adapt to supply and load issues (especially in the face of a disaster like the Winter event earlier this year). That would mean a stronger regulatory framework and that smacks of government interference in the eyes of some.
Exactly. It's all about risk shifting. Ercot is run by free market fundamentalists who believe, in spite of considerable evidence to the contrary, that the market alone will always provide all the power people need. This has the effect of shifting the risk of failure onto users who often don't realize that until it's too late. They've known since 2011 that much of the Texas grid fails when it's below freezing but they don't have any inclination, or even the authority, to tell power generators to spend money on weatherproofing and other risk management. They allow the wholesale price of power which is usually about 4c/kwh to spike as high as $9, in the absurd belief that super high prices will magically cause power to appear. This had the effect of dumping giant power bills on users who couldn't pay them, and the costs and defaults are now making lawyers rich. Meanwhile, the politicans are involved in an extensive effort to pin the blame on anyone but themselves, which is where the nonsense about green power comes from. Texas' windmills aren't weatherproofed any better than rest of the system but nontheless were providing slightly more power than Ercot expected while the grid collapsed. So, yeah, if you're in Texas, better make your own arrangments because the state is paralyzed. -- Regards, John Levine, johnl () taugh com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies", Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly
Current thread:
- Re: Texas ERCOT power shortages (again) April 13, (continued)
- Re: Texas ERCOT power shortages (again) April 13 Patrick W. Gilmore (Apr 14)
- Re: Texas ERCOT power shortages (again) April 13 Mark Tinka (Apr 14)
- Re: Texas ERCOT power shortages (again) April 13 Mike Hammett (Apr 14)
- Re: Texas ERCOT power shortages (again) April 13 Brian Johnson (Apr 14)
- Re: Texas ERCOT power shortages (again) April 13 Patrick W. Gilmore (Apr 14)
- Re: Texas ERCOT power shortages (again) April 13 Brian Johnson (Apr 14)
- Re: Texas ERCOT power shortages (again) April 13 Stan Barber (Apr 14)
- Re: Texas ERCOT power shortages (again) April 13 Mark Tinka (Apr 14)
- Re: Texas ERCOT power shortages (again) April 13 Stan Barber (Apr 14)
- Re: Texas ERCOT power shortages (again) April 13 Mark Tinka (Apr 15)
- Re: Texas ERCOT power shortages (again) April 13 John Levine (Apr 14)
- Re: Texas ERCOT power shortages (again) April 13 Mark Tinka (Apr 14)
- Re: Texas ERCOT power shortages (again) April 13 Niels Bakker (Apr 14)
- Re: Texas ERCOT power shortages (again) April 13 Brian Johnson (Apr 14)
- Re: Texas ERCOT power shortages (again) April 13 Mark Tinka (Apr 14)
- Re: Texas ERCOT power shortages (again) April 13 Mark Tinka (Apr 14)
- Re: Texas ERCOT power shortages (again) April 13 Michael Thomas (Apr 15)
- Re: Texas ERCOT power shortages (again) April 13 John Levine (Apr 14)