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Old 03-02-2021, 02:37 PM   #19
FreshJive
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Originally Posted by Thespiralgoeson View Post
I mean... everything. The entire energy infrastructure in the state of Texas. You say "plants" as if that's one small, specific thing. People have tried to blame one source of energy or another for political reasons. It's because the wind turbines froze... It's because natural gas pipelines froze etc.... It was every form of energy, and the infrastructure around them (i.e. the grid) failed on a spectacular level. "It was solely that the power plants couldn't produce enough power." Which plants exactly? You mean... all of them? That's... pretty much everything.

You said it had nothing to do with "the grid," and only that it was solely "the plants." A power grid generally refers to the entire energy producing system and infrastructure. That generally includes the plants that produce the power. If you're simply trying to argue that the plants are not part of "the grid"... A: I'm not entirely sure that's true, and B: even if it is, like, who the hell cares? That's a meaningless technicality. And it's also simply not true to say that the crisis was solely due to the plants not producing enough power. It was the entire infrastructure that broke down- including the inability to move materials and supplies across the state, and perhaps most importantly, the inability to import power from other states or from Mexico, as has been done in the past.

You say it was just that "the plants" weren't winterized, as if that's independent from the grid. WHY weren't the plants winterized? Because Texas has an independent energy infrastructure (one might even be so bold as to call it a grid) that is not subject to federal regulations. Also, ERCOT itself has admitted that the entire grid was less than 5 minutes away from completely collapsing at one point, which would have led to a statewide blackout lasting for several months. I'd say that makes "the grid" very relevant here.

So yeah... it was *everything.*
My definition of the grid was the power transmission and delivery system. It may be wrong. The point of failure was the power plants. Specifically the coal, gas, and nuclear plants. Solar and wind are supposed to be variable, and their outages were within the planned ranges during the event, and they were also brought back up quickly, so they weren’t the culprit. I didn’t see anywhere that there was a structural inability to bring in power from Oklahoma and Mexico. I’ve read the opposite, that they maintain it so they can sell energy to those locations. Maybe you have a source.
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