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adrianmonk

Here's their news release about it:

http://www.ercot.com/news/releases/show/225151

That links to this PDF which describes their emergency procedures:

http://www.ercot.com/content/wcm/lists/200198/EEA_OnePager_u...

Basically, there are 3 levels of response:

(1) Reserves below 2,300 MW: get more power, including from other grids.

(2) Reserves below 1,750 MW: interrupt power to industrial customers (who've contractually agreed).

(3) Reserves below 1,375 MW: order transmission companies to reduce demand (i.e. rolling blackouts).

The reserves are shown on their main page (http://www.ercot.com/), and when I've checked today, it has been roughly 3,500-4000 MW. So that sort of sounds promising, but the graphs on the same page (projected capacity and demand) don't look as promising.

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edit: Took 15 minutes to go from Level 2 to 3.

"Energy conservation is critical. Rotating outages are underway to reduce demand on the electric system. We urge Texans to put safety first during this time. Traffic lights and other infrastructure may be temporarily without power. 01:25:40 150221"

https://nitter.42l.fr/ERCOT_ISO/status/1361215084010352644#m

(old stuff):

They just went into Level 2:

https://twitter.com/ERCOT_ISO/status/1361211669788176384

"has declared an EEA 2. Consumers are urged to reduce electricity use. Rotating outages may be needed to protect the system. 01:12:06 150221"

Not sure how much load-shedding is available at 1AM...

Manufacturing.

Just went to Level 3:

> has declared an EEA 3. Energy conservation is critical. Rotating outages are underway to reduce demand on the electric system. We urge Texans to put safety first during this time. Traffic lights and other infrastructure may be temporarily without power. 01:25:40 150221

https://nitter.42l.fr/ERCOT_ISO

Rolling blackouts in effect now. https://twitter.com/ERCOT_ISO/status/1361215084010352644?s=2...

Problem is they aren't "rolling": they shutdown specific parts of Texas and leave them down. We've been down for 36 hours. Meanwhile some parts of Houston never suffer "blackouts".

Likely it's the usual "who you know and who you blow (or pay)" that decides. But long term some people are going to get nailed over this situation; it is truly FUBAR.

Uh, were at 1210 mw right now

When I go to that page I see "Operating Reserves: 3,126 MW"

I suspect the person you're responding to is using the featured link (real-time conditions) and looking at the diff between system capacity and current demand, which doesn't match the current operating reserves on the ercot homepage.

1.21 gigawatts? Do you have any idea how much energy that is? The only power source capable triggering that kind of energy is a bolt of lightning. It would have to be a real wall-shaker, big enough to stop a clock!

(I mean this as purely a bit of comic relief. Texas is in dire straits right now, and I wish the people and infrastructure all the best in this time.)

Yeah, real fuckin funny. I've had no power for 8 hours and it's 9 degrees outside.

It's a quote from "Back to the Future": https://backtothefuture.fandom.com/wiki/Jigowatt

I don't care.

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