Not Just 2011 - Near Collapse Of Electrical Grid In 2014 By Biggest TX Utility Produced No Changes

[hatrack]

Ed. - It's also worth noting that ERCOT has nine seats, including alternates. Eight are occupied by representatives of energy traders, utilities and generators. One represents ratepayers.

In January 2014, power plants owned by Texas’ largest electricity producer buckled under frigid temperatures. Its generators failed more than a dozen times in 12 hours, helping to bring the state’s electric grid to the brink of collapse. The incident was the second in three years for North Texas-based Luminant, whose equipment malfunctions during a more severe storm in 2011 resulted in a $750,000 fine from state energy regulators for failing to deliver promised power to the grid.

In the earlier cold snap, the grid was pushed to the limit and rolling blackouts swept the state, spurring an angry Legislature to order a study of what went wrong. Experts hired by the Texas Public Utility Commission, which oversees the state’s electric and water utilities, concluded that power-generating companies like Luminant had failed to understand the “critical failure points” that could cause equipment to stop working in cold weather. In May 2014, the PUC sought changes that would require energy companies to identify and address all potential failure points, including any effects of “weather design limits.” In comments to the commission, the company said the requirement was unnecessary and “may or may not identify the ‘weak links’ in protections against extreme temperatures.”

Luminant argued against the proposal. “Each weather event [is] dynamic,” company representatives told regulators. “Any engineering analysis that attempted to identify a specific weather design limit would be rendered meaningless.” By the end of the process, the PUC agreed to soften the proposed changes. Instead of identifying all possible failure points in their equipment, power companies would need only to address any that were previously known.

The change, which experts say has left Texas power plants more susceptible to the kind of extreme and deadly weather events that bore down on the state last week, is one in a series of cascading failures to shield the state’s electric grid from winter storms, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found. Lawmakers and regulators, including the PUC and the industry-friendly Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil and gas industry, have repeatedly ignored, dismissed or watered down efforts to address weaknesses in the state’s sprawling electric grid, which is isolated from the rest of the country.

EDIT

https://www.propublica.org/article/power-companies-get-exactly-what-they-want-how-texas-repeatedly-failed-to-protect-its-power-grid-against-extreme-weather

[HarvestMoon]

1. It goes even further back to 1989 (can't imagine)

I found this article a few days ago and dropped it into a couple of threads. It touches on the crisis from 1989 then 2011 and again in 2021. Now one from 2014 as well. Warnings went unheeded. Robber Barons do whatever they want to if allowed to... (My emphasis added)

Texas power outages: How the largest energy-producing state failed in freezing temps
By Jason Whitely (WFAA)
Feb 15, 2021, 8:28pm EST

"The experiences of 1989 are instructive, particularly on the electric side. In that year, as in 2011, cold weather caused many generators to trip, derate, or fail to start. The [Public Utility Commission of Texas] investigated the occurrence and issued a number of recommendations aimed at improving winterization on the part of the generators.”

“These recommendations were not mandatory, and over the course of time implementation lapsed. Many of the generators that experienced outages in 1989 failed again in 2011," the investigation discovered.”

“Fast forward a decade and here we are again.”
https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2021/02/15/dallas-winter-storm-freeze.html

Thank you for posting. Texas needs people in office who want to fix problems and not just raid the coffers.

[Dustlawyer]

2. Sadly, you can go down the list of the other state regulatory agencies and find the same conduct.

The state board of insurance is pretty much run by the insurance industry. Two days after hurricane Harvey hit, new regulations passed the Spring before went into effect, which greatly helped windstorm insurance companies at the expense of their insureds.

The oil companies “self report” their mistakes because the state and federal agencies do not have the budget/manpower (or will) to inspect the refineries.

Everything in this state, from wages to public health, takes a backseat to corporate interests.

[HarvestMoon]

3. Agreed

+1

[tclambert]

4. Why would they fix anything when they made so much money off the way it is now?

[ThatJustHappened]

5. What DEMs must finally grok

Is that none of this will change any GOP votes -- ever.

Because not only are GOP voters unteachable. They are irredeemable.

Nothing will change their vote -- ever. Not the TX disaster, not the CoVid disaster. Nothing.

GOPs are irredeemable virtue of selfishness malignant narcissists. Which is why they identify with Trump.

If they, themselves, are still alive, then in their disturbed minds, all other deaths are merely collateral damage -- "the price of free dumb"

DEMs must once and for all finally grok that only newly registered voters will ever make a difference -- a la Stacey Abrams. Which must be repeated in all red states, to turn them first purple and then blue. And in all purple states to turn them blue. And in all blue states to keep them blue.

Since GOPs unfortunately continue to breed, this is the only viable progressive future. Period.