Phase 1 at least includes such amazing winterization requirements as, "Attest that you repaired everything that broke last February" and "Inspect your insulation". There are more useful requirements like adding temperature monitoring, wind breaks around components, etc, but there is literally no enforcement mechanism yet so it's all basically on the honor-system for now.
Yes, the fix for cold temperatures are insulation requirements and wind breaks, etc. Not exactly exciting stuff but still correct.
Perhaps a tiny stick is more motivation than a much larger carrot for operators that were so unsophisticated as to miss that initial carrot, however.
If you notice the ERCOT press release, "321/324 facilities" passed inspection. Last February over 1,000 generating units failed, and over 600 of these were gas generators. So 320ish generators passed inspection -- it's unclear how many of those were in the 600 that failed last year or how many total there are in the state (e.g. the 320 that passed could have already been winterized?).
And the daily fines are for "repeat offenders" who don't "remedy within a reasonable period of time" deficiencies that are reported to the commission. It's basically toothless because "reasonable" isn't defined anywhere and it's all at the discretion of the PUC.
Obviously things will be directionally better now, and likely even more so in the future, I just wouldn't want to be in Texas during a cold streak in the next couple years.
Any fine system has time limits and reasonableness clauses.
I will continue living in Texas, and continue not being very concerned during the winter other than our lack of salt trucks.
His counterpart said nope—the Texas utility companies are very much treating it as a one-off event, and the winterization company is not seeing an increase in business there.
88% of gas producers by volume are winterized.
That is very slippery language and the rest of the Yahoo/Reuters article reads like a puff piece.
According to Texas Monthly's investigation, sounds like there's fuckery afoot:
> When Schwertner sent his bill to the House, the legislation also created a committee to map the gas-electric supply chain and determine which gas facilities were critical to the operation of power plants. It authorized the Railroad Commission to use its hundred new employees to inspect and, if necessary, fine gas companies. When the bill returned from the House, though, the language had been revised: only companies “prepared to operate during a weather emergency” were considered critical. This created a troubling loophole. Once the bill had passed, the Railroad Commission was responsible for implementing it, and the agency proposed a rule allowing gas companies to exempt themselves from winterizing simply by paying a $150 filing fee and claiming that a facility wasn’t prepared to stay operational—a dizzying bit of circular reasoning.
Here in Maine we experience the weather Texas had basically bi-weekly in normal winters (it's been very mild the past few years) and IF your power goes out, it's back on in 4 hours, 20 if it's a particularly bad storm and you are a low priority area. Meanwhile the wind turbines up north will happily keep spinning, and at no point has generation failed.
The “cold snap” terminology is also confusing to me. Is Texas expected to have one this year, and if so, at what point does a “cold snap” become part of normal climate?
(I am a Texas native and never experienced anything like last year’s “cold snap”. I was living in California last year, and now I’m worried about another “cold snap” this year)
I expect hard freezes and occasional ice during winters in Texas but consecutive days of single digit highs I do not.
And it wasn't just the cold that was the problem -- it was the cold over 5 days and unprecedented amount of snow. It is rare for Austin to ever see snow.