Great State of Texas Energy Crisis

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What the heck is going on with Texas and their electricity problems. I remember 2021 was a big problem for my sister in San Antonio and here we are again in Austin.

I guess too many Californians moved to Texas and there isn't enough electricity for them:confused:
 
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I remember 2021 was a big problem for my sister in San Antonio and here we are again in Austin.

I guess too many Californians moved to Texas and there isn't enough electricity for them:confused:
Texas governor avers that recent outages are not the fault of the supply but that ice-laden trees and limbs have fallen across transmission lines.
Folks are reportedly moving into the area at the rate of 1,000 per day. The infrastructure struggles to keep up. Despite road work going 24/7, traffic is a nightmare. Lake Travis, which supplies water to much of the Austin area, is 46 FEET below average levels.
Those worries aside, I have to wonder where all the new doo-doo will go?
 
Crazy, and as the country moves from coal, things will get worse. In the Carolinas, rolling brown outs over a cold snap, solar does not work well when cloudy. And TX, yes indeed, ice is a major problem for our power lines in the midwest, and we build for it.
 
Lake Travis, which supplies water to much of the Austin area, is 46 FEET below average levels.
Those worries aside, I have to wonder where all the new doo-doo will go?

Our largest reservoir in Colorado the Blue Mesa was drained long ago to supply water and power for the entire southwest. It's 73 feet below whatever level it should be at in Spring. Won't be launching our boat once again. California just refused to cut back on their water usage. The new doo-doo is that New York hedge funds are purchasing property around here to obtain water rights. Water is king. Creates electricity. Without water there's no agriculture, no food, and no more worries. Too many people dependent on the Colorado River within a semi-desert to desert climate.

CRBMap.jpg
 
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Crazy, and as the country moves from coal, things will get worse. In the Carolinas, rolling brown outs over a cold snap, solar does not work well when cloudy. And TX, yes indeed, ice is a major problem for our power lines in the midwest, and we build for it.
Sadly Texas bought into the green energy methods even as the state has experienced numerous ice related winter storms as long as the state has been in existence . T Bone Pickens lost millions when the fad to provide energy from wind got up to speed in earnest. The cleanest energy is still nuclear . Natural gas is another one. Both do not destroy our farmland like the solar in particular.

While people chuckle at the Texas power issue, we have watched what has taken place in California, which gets a pass with their rolling black outs and deliberate power shut downs by the power sources.

The only people that notice this is the citizens in the state. Most just say, "oh well". Ice storms have historically taken down power lines even without tree limbs falling on them. Some of the grids have converted to underground cables in a lot of the new construction communities . This has helped in ice prone regions as long as the main sources are in tack.
 
If you get significant freezing rain it will take out trees and power lines anywhere. The worst that I have ever seen by far was when we lived in Denver, CO.
 
I guess too many Californians moved to Texas and there isn't enough electricity for them:confused:
Don't blame CA for that... Texas has been actively pursuing our population as well as our businesses for years... Be careful what you wish for...
I have a friend that lives in Fort Worth, that used to brag to me about his cheap electricity bills... Maybe some of that $ savings should have gone into the infrastructure?
While people chuckle at the Texas power issue, we have watched what has taken place in California, which gets a pass with their rolling black outs and deliberate power shut downs by the power sources.
I have lived in SO CA for most of my 74 years, and have experienced no rolling blackouts or brownouts... Most of power outages are because of wildfires, or the threat of winds sparking wildfires that destroy the infrastructure in rural areas..
CA isn't the blame for every problem the rest of the country has... Even as much as everyone loves to point fingers this way... :) ...
Butch
 
The big difference is most of CA has a mild climate. People don't die if they lose electricity in the winter. Texas like the rest of the Midwest can have temperature drops of 44* in one hour. You'll notice most of these extreme weather events happened 100 years ago before fossil fuels were an issue?
 
I'm not making light of the cold problem (I felt very bad for my friend in FW that was without power for 2-3 weeks in that last cold spell), and I'm not going to get in the "Green" debate... I just get a little tired of CA getting to be the scapegoat to any problems the rest of the country has... Sure we have plenty of issues, but so do other states... And we didn't cause them all...
Butch
 
One of the reasons Texans fare so poorly in the cold is they don't build for it and most Texans are unaccustomed to preparing for cold. We have a friend outside of DFW and she had so many horror stories after the last cold snap. It cost her thousands and thousands of dollars in repairs.

In Texas, they do things like put their water softeners outside. Uninsulated. They run water pipes in outside walls and in attics. They put water heaters in their attics as well. (What?!) Things like winterizing sprinkler systems for gardens/landscaping are unheard of.

When it comes to keeping the energy on, let's all remember that utility companies operate on capitalism, and with the benefit of government-authorized monopoly status. They could get in front of these problems, but they don't...
 
Most of power outages are because of wildfires, or the threat of winds sparking wildfires that destroy the infrastructure in rural areas..
CA isn't the blame for every problem the rest of the country has... Even as much as everyone loves to point fingers this way... :) ...
Butch
True, but CA wildfires have been increasing for 40 years. The pollution is close to the levels caused by ICE vehicles. People snickered when it was suggested CA adopt forest management. It would seem more beneficial not only for CA but the whole US to divert some of that federal alt energy money to it.
 
If you get significant freezing rain it will take out trees and power lines anywhere. The worst that I have ever seen by far was when we lived in Denver, CO.
It's not uncommon for our power company to fly around with a plastic pole hanging from bottom of helicopter slapping huge power lines and the ice falling off, especially in rural areas..
 
People snickered when it was suggested CA adopt forest management. It would seem more beneficial not only for CA but the whole US to divert some of that federal alt energy money to it.
CA is pretty aggressive on wildfire management... Maybe more can be done.. But no one, anywhere, seems to want to spend tax dollars on it... Every one has an agenda, everyone want's their money to go to what ever is important to them.. Some are in favor of the "alt energy' money going where it was designated to go, but if some one is not in favor of "alt energy", then they say spend it elsewhere...
Butch
 
My comment about the number of Californians moving to Texas having an impact on the electricity demand was tongue in cheek;)

I actually know many of my ex coworkers that moved to Texas for job opportunities when some manufacturing jobs moved. They would come to CA for meetings and brag to us about their 4000 sq ft houses that they were buying for $400k (this was years back). After a while many were back in CA asking for jobs to bring the family back except they couldn't afford to buy in CA. My neighbor Doug, moved when Toyota moved as he was close to retirement and couldn't quit. He rents out his home while he earns his retirement. 5 years ago, his house was worth $900k, now it's worth about $1.4m - I doubt he could do that in Texas. My sister in San Antonio had a new home build about 15 years ago and they paid about $230k for a nice home in a development, I just checked prices and Zillow has it a $323k. Just saying......
 
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Some of Los Angeles, California's electrical power comes from out-of-state such as the coal plant in Delta, Utah. Don't know of any Texas power plants in other states.

It sounds like LA is trying to get out of the coal business.... I'm sure LA gets a lot of it's resources from elsewhere, just like any major other city does... If Texas needed more power, I'm sure they would come knocking...
Butch
 
I have lived in SO CA for most of my 74 years, and have experienced no rolling blackouts or brownouts...
I guess you must have missed a few years! We spent the winter at Toro Regional Park near Salinas both 2000/2001 and also 2001/2002 and both times we did experience brownouts due to the lack of available electricity. From the Department of Energy. "Although California's population increased by 13% during the 1990s, the state did not build any new major power plants during that time."
One of the reasons Texans fare so poorly in the cold is they don't build for it and most Texans are unaccustomed to preparing for cold. We have a friend outside of DFW and she had so many horror stories after the last cold snap. It cost her thousands and thousands of dollars in repairs.
Texans seem to have short memories. We lived in Ft. Worth from 1989 to 2000, Smith Co. from 2012 to 2019 and since that in Mesquite (Dallas suburb) so we have seen it many times. The frost free outside faucets used in other areas are not available here but they use foam cups to cover them and usually that is enough. It is pretty common to see water lines in outside walls and attics. You probably mean the February 2021 freeze and there were a lot major problems from it. The problem seems to be that it happens so seldom that people and even government agencies hesitate to spend the money that is considered normal in places farther north. We tend to get lulled by winters such as the present one when our lowest temperature has been in the 20's.
 
I guess you must have missed a few years! We spent the winter at Toro Regional Park near Salinas both 2000/2001 and also 2001/2002 and both times we did experience brownouts due to the lack of available electricity. From the Department of Energy
Nope… I was here then, and we in SO CA had no proble..


. "Although California's population increased by 13% during the 1990s, the state did not build any new major power plants during that time."
well since everyone is moving from CA to Texas, that trend must be reversing… Soon we’ll be in great shape… ;) ….
 

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