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ERCOT ends 8 hours of rotating blackouts in Dallas-Fort Worth

February 2nd, 2011 . by TexasFred
ERCOT ends 8 hours of rotating blackouts in Dallas-Fort Worth

Texas’ longest period of rolling blackouts ended around 1:30 this afternoon, eight hours after the power outages began across the state.

The rotating blackouts affected a broad swath of Dallas-Fort Worth starting at 5:30 this morning, snarling commutes and leaving residents in the dark during the area’s coldest weather in 15 years.

The planned outages, which lasted up to 45 minutes, were triggered when more than 50 power plants, including a few owned by Dallas-based Energy Future Holdings, stopped working Tuesday night because of the cold weather.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas said 7,000 megawatts of generating capacity tripped Tuesday night, leaving the state without enough juice. That’s enough capacity to power about 1.4 million homes. By rotating outages, ERCOT said it prevented total blackouts.

Full Story Here:
ERCOT ends 8 hours of rotating blackouts affecting thousands across Dallas-Fort Worth

When we woke this morning, woke to a rolling electrical BLACKOUT, because it’s *too cold*.

Can you believe that stuff?

Didn’t the eggheads at ERCOT watch the news for the last few days? Don’t they pay attention to the weather forecasts? It’s not like we didn’t have ample warning that this ice storm and intense cold was coming.

Most folks that DID pay attention went to the store and stocked up on staples like milk, bread and so forth. We gassed up our cars and trucks. We prepared in every way we possibly could, but unless every home in Texas happens to have a generator on the back porch, there’s not too much we can do when the power goes out.

Dallas, and Dallas County both want to be the window to the world, a destination, a Super Bowl City, and our energy companies can’t keep the power on. But they will preserve Jerry World, and the NFL experience at ALL costs. They did NOT lose power. They’re exempt.

Jerry World and this NFL debacle sucks up untold amounts of electricity, gotta keep Jerry World warm you know, but hey, *the little people*, the working stiffs that can’t afford to go to Jerry World, oh well, “let them eat cake“.

Incredible.

It’s not like Texans are demanding something for FREE, there is NO entitlement mentality at work here, we PAY dearly for our electric power.

Cuellar said neighborhoods might experience repeated rotating blackouts until the power plants are back online. She said the downtown areas of Dallas and Fort Worth are exempt, as are hospitals, fire stations, police stations and other emergency responders.

That exempts the Dallas Convention Center, the site of the NFL Experience, and City Hall, the location of the Emergency Operations Center for Super Bowl week.

As I said above, Jerry World and the NFL can’t be bothered, lets just freeze the little people.

My big question is; WHY are the power plants in Texas so unprepared for an event like this? You would think that as HOT as it gets here in Texas in the summer, the Texas power grid would be prepared for any eventuality.

Not so it appears.

We have power outages in the summer too, and we get the same lame-assed response from TXU and Oncor then, that we are getting right now, ‘the power system is just overloaded and there’s nothing we can do about it until power demands go down.

This is from Ken Paxton, Texas House Republican representative from McKinney, Texas.

Power Emergency Updates - Mid-Afternoon Update

Mid-Afternoon Update: ROTATING OUTAGES DISCONTINUED BUT CONSERVATION STILL NEEDED

ERCOT has issued a notice that rotating outages are no longer needed at this time; however, there is a strong possibility that they will be required again this evening or tomorrow, depending on how quickly the disabled generation units can be returned to service.

Please note that some consumers are still out of power due to the winter storm conditions.

Energy conservation is still critical during peak demand hours this evening between 6 and 10 pm.

We will continue providing these updates when new information is available.

Update regarding rotating power outages

Some of our State Representatives are on the ball and are at least getting messages out to their constituency. Our Mayor Pro Tem here in Rowlett, Mr. Todd Gottel, has also put out the same message. Thank you Todd.

From the original story:

The outages left thousands of homes in darkness starting at 5:30 a.m. and slowed or stopped Dallas Area Rapid Transit trains.

The blackouts left many people angry and frustrated. Cuellar said Oncor’s call center has been overwhelmed with about 60,000 calls an hour.

Ralph Isenberg, managing partner of the Bank Tower at Oak Cliff, said the building had five separate power outages Wednesday morning, ranging in duration from about 15 to 40 minutes.

“Am I saying we’re being picked on? Yes, I am,” he said. “I understand the need for rolling blackouts. But there’s other places in town, and this should be shared.”

I am going to be contacting my Texas House Representative, Joe Driver (TX-113) and I will be asking him WHY we haven’t heard from him directly. And then I want to know what exactly is the Texas House going to do about the way our power services in Texas are allowing the citizens of Texas to suffer because they, the power companies, are not keeping up with demand for electricity. Electricity that we PAY for.

Maybe our officials need to attend the Super Bowl. They could ask the guys from Green Bay how is it they keep electric power in extreme winter conditions. One thing that OUR guys need to consider though, this is extreme for us, but pretty much a normal occurrence for our neighbors to the north.

I think there is something to be learned from them in this instance.

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12 Responses to “ERCOT ends 8 hours of rotating blackouts in Dallas-Fort Worth”

  1. comment number 1 by: Bloviating Zeppelin

    Fred, let me just throw this out there:

    YOU in TEXAS are SUPPOSED TO HAVE the BEST electrical network grid in the nation. You have roughly the best economy with roughly the best overall infrastructure.

    Yet, with some COLD, your electrical grid essentially FAILED.

    You and I both know your energy systems are some of the BEST in the entire nation.

    I would submit: SOMEONE is trying to make a statement.

    There is more here than meets the eye. I would expect you will delve into this topic with both feet and guns blazing.

    This completely stinks. If Texas “fails” under a little stress, than what can the rest of the nation expect? Note the “quotes” please.

    BZ

  2. comment number 2 by: TexasFred

    BZ — Not a doubt in my mind, a statement and manipulation IS being played out here, and the Texas House is about to be inundated…

  3. comment number 3 by: Bloviating Zeppelin

    So where do you think it’s going? Someone, somewhere, is about to proclaim that Texas is “energy poor” when — and correct me if I’m wrong — it ISN’T??

    BZ

  4. comment number 4 by: extex_cop

    I agree with you Fred….with the heat in Texas and the demand it has on the electric grid would seem to be more of a problem than this little cold snap.

    At least I didn’t freeze here. I bought a generator a couple of years ago. Mostly for those bad storms during the Spring that knock out power lines. I did get a little cold when I had to set it up on the back porch. I pulled the breaker for my central heat and powered that line with the generator. It was enough to power the fan ( and a couple of lights ) and with gas heat I was able to stay warm with good warm airflow. So a couple of hours of just listening to the radio wasn’t too bad…at least I was warm.

    I hope everyone makes it through all this OK.

  5. comment number 5 by: TexasFred

    BZ — Texas is NOT energy poor, I am afraid the true problem is the power infrastructure and the assholes that run them lining their pockets as opposed to maintaining the grids and equipment..

    And as much as I hate government regulation, maybe it’s time for the Texas House to launch a totally impartial investigation, IF such is possible..

  6. comment number 6 by: Bloviating Zeppelin

    Because — check this out — even FORNICALIA hasn’t been gripped in energy blackouts and brownouts, even last summer.

    And Fornicalia is THE Poster Child for INCOMPETENT.

    BZ

  7. comment number 7 by: minuteman26

    No blackouts in Corpus Christi.

  8. comment number 8 by: HoosierArmyMom

    I think it sounds pretty fishy. I had about and inch of ice coating my car and about 3 inches coating the drive, this morning and high winds all night and only had 3 short power outages (lasted about 3 minutes) yesterday evening. If Indiana kept power up and even the places where it was out have had it restored, what is wrong with ERCOT??? I do feel sorry for em, because the will have Fred all over their stupid butts!

  9. comment number 9 by: Bob Mack

    One more thing for which to thank the tree-huggers.

  10. comment number 10 by: Bloviating Zeppelin

    The failure of Texas is all over the net, as opposed to the other states having encountered the freezing conditions.

    What’s up with the focus on Texas? I don’t hear or read about the energy failures of other states. Only Texas.

    The focus is there on Texas. Why is that?

    BZ

  11. comment number 11 by: Bloviating Zeppelin

    And the fact that Texas asked MEXICO to help out with electrical power and — Mexico REFUSED.

    BZ

  12. comment number 12 by: TexasFred

    People expect a lot more from Texas I guess…

    As to Mexico and electric power, I say we help the Mexicans start a nuclear program, deliver several megatons to the bastards and be done with it…

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