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View Full Version : ERCOT puts Texas under Level 1 Emergency


Moose-Knuckle
08-05-11, 01:53
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has warned of rolling blackouts possible.

The National Weather Service lists my AO as humid sub-tropical with hot summers. We hit 109 °F in N Texas yesterday and that is just the temp not the heat index or what it actually feels like outside. I am employed by a medium sized municipality, for the past several days we have run several major city infrustructures on back-up diesel generators to comply with Level 1 conditions.
brit
08-05-11, 09:37
I live in new braunfels, and we've been threatened several times that this could occur. It also happened last winter when it got cold here. If people would be conservative with their power from 3-7, we wouldn't have to deal with this.
brit
08-06-11, 22:27
The thing is, these warning and rolling blackouts keep happening without us as consumers getting any report of any attempts to harness more power for this area; which happens to be growing incredibly fast. My fear is that we're not going to have the infrastructure or supply to harness the increasing need.
duece71
08-06-11, 23:20
I live in new braunfels, and we've been threatened several times that this could occur. It also happened last winter when it got cold here. If people would be conservative with their power from 3-7, we wouldn't have to deal with this.

Canyon Lake is fairly close, that is, if it hasn't dried up. I have an uncle in San Antonio, Canyon Lake is a great place to cool off.
MFP
08-07-11, 00:03
I'm located in Austin and have not experienced any rolling blackouts yet. Has anyone invested in generators (NatGas, Gas, Propane) for such outages? Multiple work collogues in Houston had pads poured and generators installed for such occurances.

Stay cool...
drrufo
08-07-11, 00:48
My son's best friend lives outside Dallas, he has moved in the last 2 weeks and I don't know the town yet. They had a 2 hour blackout the other day with a temp of 102, everyone on the block was out in the street partying as best they could.

Could it get any worse?
LSCurrier
08-07-11, 01:49
I find it amazing that the electric power infrastructure of this country is such that we can overwhelm it under certain conditions, but we want to add more load to it with the plug-in electric car and it being heralded as the answer to the gas car.

What happens when we add 50,000,000 electric cars to the current load?

Luke
Reagans Rascals
08-07-11, 02:31
It was over 120 degrees with the heat index the last 4 days here in Mobile, Al and in the 115 degree range the preceding 6 days before that. Severe storms knocked out the power 3 times today, the last outage lasting most of the day and into the night. Began running a 5500 watt generator I keep with the hurricane kit to power a window a/c to cool just the smallest room and just bivouac'd there till things were eventually straightened out... about 1 hour ago.
cbyrd556
08-07-11, 02:54
I live in Princeton, Tx. Just outside of McKinney near Greenville. And luckily we haven't had any blackouts yet. We had a weird drop in water pressure on Wednesday but that's been about it. Other than that it's just been damn hot. Thanks for the heads up though Moose Knuckle. Stay as cool as you can yall.
Belmont31R
08-07-11, 09:48
No outages in n Austin area.



And the reason our power grid can't handle the load is because its extremely expensive and intensive just to get a permit to build a plant, and with all the more BS being thrown into the mix every year you can't just throw up a few more plants to handle the load.


My dad works for a company that used to do a lot of refineries and plants back in the day. The company, over the years, laid off people and has tried to get more diversified in what they do. They also put a lot more emphasis on overseas jobs, and he has been worked in 3 different countries the last 5 years. Its steady work and much easier for the company.


Just do a google search for Texas sues EPA.
Moose-Knuckle
08-08-11, 04:01
I live in Princeton, Tx. Just outside of McKinney near Greenville. And luckily we haven't had any blackouts yet. We had a weird drop in water pressure on Wednesday but that's been about it. Other than that it's just been damn hot. Thanks for the heads up though Moose Knuckle. Stay as cool as you can yall.

On the topic of N TX, you get your water from lake Lavon right (N TX Municipal Water District)? I have noticed that every August the water has a parcular odor and taste. Google says it's caused by an "algal bloom" every July through August. :bad:

http://www.northcollinwsc.com/service.html

I'm in Collin CO btw.
cbyrd556
08-08-11, 20:29
On the topic of N TX, you get your water from lake Lavon right (N TX Municipal Water District)? I have noticed that every August the water has a parcular odor and taste. Google says it's caused by an "algal bloom" every July through August. :bad:

http://www.northcollinwsc.com/service.html

I'm in Collin CO btw.

I just moved to Princeton from Carrollton in May and was warned by my neighbors about this. I use PUR filter on my Kitchen faucet, so the water there is fine, no noticeable funk. But in the shower I have noticed a slight funk factor, not as bad as some of the more sulfurous water I was subjected to in Kansas, but noticeable.

Off topic, but have you shot at Jacob's Plain Range in Greenville before?
Moose-Knuckle
08-09-11, 02:24
I just moved to Princeton from Carrollton in May and was warned by my neighbors about this. I use PUR filter on my Kitchen faucet, so the water there is fine, no noticeable funk. But in the shower I have noticed a slight funk factor, not as bad as some of the more sulfurous water I was subjected to in Kansas, but noticeable.

Off topic, but have you shot at Jacob's Plain Range in Greenville before?

We purchase honest to God spring water so the algal is not a concern, just can smell it in the shower, etc.

Never been to Jacob's, might have to try it out.
Vic303
08-09-11, 11:28
In the same neck 'othe woods here...Lavon water is just like Kansas lake water to me...not really a problem but DH prefers to run it thru a Brita pitcher before drinking.