Texas power grid problems

killivolt

Joined Jan 10, 2010
835
I have a local dealer, he has big Rolling Tankers, at his office location near the truck storage are 3 pumps, Diesel, and 2 Gas which the first is 100 octane unleaded which I will use a Tank in my Motorcycle just to clean up the system, then run 91 after that nothing below goes in my tank, my Car and Truck both take 91 octane, we also have a choice on the second pump for110 octane racing fuel. My Tiller, Snow Blower, Mower, Weed Trimmer, and Chain Saw all run 100 unleaded, the Boat I gave to my Brother but none need stabilizer when we winter them. Alway been that way since I was a kid, Dad taught us well, you know it when things like the tiller 40 years old still going strong, no maintenance change the oil when needed, filter and spark plug.

If I need the 91 octane it's across the street, I also have a backup if I get low, 100 octane. When my kid would run out of gas he would use it, then put regular in it. I told him never to do it again and that he owed me $16 dollars either in work or money. My mistake was not labeling it as such, therefor it was plausible deniability, he still didn't get out of it he mowed the lawn 3 times for compensation.

kv
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,081
https://www.accuweather.com/en/wint...-plus-degree-temp-swing-in-just-1-week/905385

The temperature in Dallas bottomed out at 2 below zero on Feb 16. With the high temperature soaring to 80 on Feb. 23, Dallas is looking at a big temperature swing of 83 degrees exactly a week later.

Oklahoma City also came in with an 86-degree temperature swing by Tuesday afternoon as the temperature soared to 71 degrees. In Oklahoma City, the mercury plunged to 14 degrees below zero last Tuesday.
 

Reloadron

Joined Jan 15, 2015
7,501
Before we try to figure Texas out and what really went wrong maybe we should look at what happened in Japan.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was a 2011 nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. The event was caused by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. It was the most severe nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

So what happened? The moment the seismic activity was sensed the reactors went into a controlled shutdown. Now figure all of this was mid 1970s design and everything did exactly what it was supposed to to. The large diesel generators came online just the way it was planned and everything was doing just fine right till the part where a 30 foot (10 meter) wall of sea water and mud came along. Nothing in the entire design plan ever figured on a Tsunami making it as far inland as the reactors. The diesel generators immediately went into hydraulic fracture and seized. There went the control. Nobody, no engineer, no scientist ever, in their wildest dreams expected this could happen and it certainly did happen.

The American Southwest has historically been known for hot summers and cool but pleasant winters. Now we had "global warming" replaced by "climate change" and we are seeing new precedents. Call what happened in Japan or Texas an act of God if you choose but what happened certainly did happen. I have argued for years how not just the Texas power grid was weak with no reserve capacity but the entire US network is a collapsing infrastructure. New terms like rolling blackout generally reserved for developing nations were a new way of life in the US. What we need is a bullet proof power grid for starters. We also need to learn from our mistakes.

I would bet we see increased sales of home (private) generators with a stockpile of fuel for them.

Ron
 
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