The professor has it right. Before the state privatized the grid and made ERCOT, we never had these problems. Every few years, these private companies complain they need a rate hike because they need a grant to ‘beef up’ the infrastructure and it’s granted although we seem to keep having this issue. I’m certain history will continue to repeat itself.
> On Feb 16, 2021, at 06:32, John Sage <js...@finchhaven.com> wrote: > > On 2/16/21 4:22 AM, John Sage wrote: >>> On 2/15/21 10:02 PM, Mark Tinka wrote: >>> >>> >>>> On 2/16/21 07:49, Matthew Petach wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> Isn't that a result of ERCOT stubbornly refusing to interconnect with the >>>> rest of the national grid, out of an irrational fear of coming under >>>> federal regulation? >> Yes. This has been widely documented in numerous articles, both very >> recently and previously. > > As one example only, of many: > > "What went wrong with the Texas power grid?" > > Marcy de Luna, Amanda Drane, Houston Chronicle > > Feb. 15, 2021 > Updated: Feb. 15, 2021 9:23 p.m. > > "Dan Woodfin, ERCOT’s senior director of system operations, said the rolling > blackouts are taking more power offline for longer periods than ever before. > An estimated 34,000 megawatts of power generation — more than a third of the > system’s total generating capacity — had been knocked offline by the extreme > winter weather amid soaring demand as residents crank up heating systems." > > . . . > > "Ed Hirs, an energy fellow in the Department of Economics at the University > of Houston, blamed the failures on the state’s deregulated power system, > which doesn’t provide power generators with the returns needed to invest in > maintaining and improving power plants. > > “The ERCOT grid has collapsed in exactly the same manner as the old Soviet > Union,” said Hirs. “It limped along on underinvestment and neglect until it > finally broke under predictable circumstances." > > https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Wholesale-power-prices-spiking-across-Texas-15951684.php > > > > - John > __
