Podcasts about electric reliability council

The challenges that transmission operators and utilities face are growing by the day. Integrating renewables, extreme weather, and grid reliability are just a few.On this episode of Alternative Power Plays, Buchanan's John Povilaitis and Brattle's Metin Celebi welcome Dr. Pablo Ruiz, co-founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer at NewGrid, Inc. Ruiz is an electrical engineer with over 15 years of experience in electric power systems analysis, research and software development. He specializes in power system operations and planning, renewable power integration and the modeling, analysis and design of wholesale electricity markets. During the conversation, Ruiz talks about how topology optimization leverages the redundancy in grid networks to find new operational breakthroughs and avoid potential electric crises. He shares insights on NewGrid's work with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and how it's led to both congestion reductions and cost savings. Later, Ruiz discusses the exciting potential of introducing more renewable energies into the grid and how it can be done safely and effectively -- with the help of NewGrid's offerings.To learn more NewGrid, visit: https://newgridinc.com/To learn more about Pablo Ruiz, visit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pablo-ruiz-161a965/To learn more about John Povilaitis, visit: ⁠https://www.bipc.com/john-povilaitisTo learn more about Metin Celebi, visit: https://www.brattle.com/experts/metin-celebi/ 

GONZALES — GVEC is proud to announce a landmark partnership with Tesla Inc. (Tesla), making the Cooperative the first in Texas to participate with Tesla as a utility-scale virtual power plant resource in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) Aggregated Distributed Energy Resource (ADER) pilot program. Through the ADER program, the integration of distributed energy resources, such as battery storage systems and other controllable devices, is being explored as dispatchable generation into the Texas wholesale energy market to improve year-round grid stability and reliability. Recent updates show the ADER program has registered approximately 17 megawatts in generation from companies...Article Link

Net-demand energy forecasts are critical for competitive market participants, such as in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and similar markets, for several key reasons. For example, accurate forecasting helps predict when supply-demand imbalances will create price spikes or crashes, allowing traders and generators to optimize their bidding strategies. It's also important for asset optimization. Power generators need to know when to commit resources to the market and at what price levels. Poor forecasting can lead to missed profit opportunities or operating assets when prices don't cover costs. Fortunately, artificial intelligence (AI) is now capable of producing highly accurate forecasts from the growing amount of meter and weather data that is available. The complex and robust calculations performed by these machine-learning algorithms is well beyond what human analysts are capable of, making advance forecasting systems essential to utilities. Plus, they are increasingly valuable to independent power producers (IPPs) and other energy traders making decisions about their positions in the wholesale markets. Sean Kelly, co-founder and CEO of Amperon, a company that provides AI-powered forecasting solutions, said using an Excel spreadsheet as a forecasting tool was fine back in 2005 when he got started in the business as a power trader, but that type of system no longer works adequately today. “Now, we're literally running at Amperon four to six models behind the scenes, with five different weather vendors that are running an ensemble each time,” Kelly said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “So, as it gets more confusing, we've got to stay on top of that, and that's where machine learning really kicks in.” The consequences of being ill-prepared can be dire. Having early and accurate forecasts can mean the difference between a business surviving or failing. Effects from Winter Storm Uri offer a case in point. Normally, ERCOT wholesale prices fluctuate from about $20/MWh to $50/MWh. During Winter Storm Uri (Feb. 13–17, 2021), ERCOT set the wholesale electricity price at its cap of $9,000/MWh due to extreme demand and widespread generation failures caused by the storm. This price remained in effect for approximately 4.5 days (108 hours). This 180-fold price increase had devastating financial impacts across the Texas electricity market. The financial fallout was severe. Several retail electricity providers went bankrupt, most notably Griddy Energy, which passed the wholesale prices directly to customers, resulting in some receiving bills of more than $10,000 for just a few days of power. “Our clients were very appreciative of the work we had at Amperon,” Kelly recalled. “We probably had a dozen or so clients at that time, and we told them on February 2 that this was coming,” he said. With that early warning, Kelly said Amperon's clients were able to get out in front of the price swing and buy power at much lower rates. “Our forecasts go out 15 days, ERCOT's forecasts only go out seven,” Kelly explained. “So, we told everyone, ‘Alert! Alert! This is coming!' Dr. Mark Shipham, our in-house meteorologist, was screaming it from the rooftops. So, we had a lot of clients who bought $60 power per megawatt. So, think about buying 60s, and then your opportunity is 9,000. So, a lot of traders made money,” he said. “All LSEs—load serving entities—still got hit extremely bad, but they got hit a lot less bad,” Kelly continued. “I remember one client saying: ‘I bought power at 60, then I bought it at 90, then I bought it at 130, then I bought it at 250, because you kept telling me that load was going up and that this was getting bad.' And they're like, ‘That is the best expensive power I've ever bought. I was able to keep my company as a retail energy provider.' And, so, those are just some of the ways that these forecasts are extremely helpful.”

When you think of innovative advancements in nuclear power technology, places like the Idaho National Laboratory and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology probably come to mind. But today, some very exciting nuclear power development work is being done in West Texas, specifically, at Abilene Christian University (ACU). That's where Natura Resources is working to construct a molten salt–cooled, liquid-fueled reactor (MSR). “We are in the process of building, most likely, the country's first advanced nuclear reactor,” Doug Robison, founder and CEO of Natura Resources, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. Natura has taken an iterative, milestone-based approach to advanced reactor development and deployment, focused on efficiency and performance. This started in 2020 when the company brought together ACU's NEXT Lab with Texas A&M University; the University of Texas, Austin; and the Georgia Institute of Technology to form the Natura Resources Research Alliance. In only four years, Natura and its partners developed a unique nuclear power system and successfully licensed the design. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a construction permit for deployment of the system at ACU last September. Called the MSR-1, ACU's unit will be a 1-MWth molten salt research reactor (MSRR). It is expected to provide valuable operational data to support Natura's 100-MWe systems. It will also serve as a “world-class research tool” to train advanced reactor operators and educate students, the company said. Natura is not only focused on its ACU project, but it is also moving forward on commercial reactor projects. In February, the company announced the deployment of two advanced nuclear projects, which are also in Texas. These deployments, located in the Permian Basin and at Texas A&M University's RELLIS Campus, represent significant strides in addressing energy and water needs in the state. “Our first was a deployment of a Natura commercial reactor in the Permian Basin, which is where I spent my career. We're partnering with a Texas produced-water consortium that was created by the legislature in 2021,” said Robison. One of the things that can be done with the high process heat from an MSR is desalinization. “So, we're going to be desalinating produced water and providing power—clean power—to the oil and gas industry for their operations in the Permian Basin,” said Robison. Meanwhile, at Texas A&M's RELLIS Campus, which is located about eight miles northwest of the university's main campus in College Station, Texas, a Natura MSR-100 reactor will be deployed. The initiative is part of a broader project known as “The Energy Proving Ground,” which involves multiple nuclear reactor companies. The project aims to bring commercial-ready small modular reactors (SMRs) to the site, providing a reliable source of clean energy for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).

Keith Collins knows electricity markets. After a stint consulting for the New York Independent System Operator, he joined FERC in 2004. After that, he spent years working for the California ISO and the Southwest Power Pool. But it wasn't until he  joined the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) as vice president of commercial operations last summer that he started making waves. Unlike many electricity markets in the U.S., ERCOT is deregulated, and its grid is isolated from other systems. It drew a great deal of attention — and ire from some Texans — after a major grid failure during Winter Storm Uri back in 2021. But now, all eyes are on ERCOT as it turns to battery storage as a way to help meet surging demand for power. This week on With Great Power, Keith explains what makes ERCOT's approach to electricity different from other markets and how the incredible growth of solar generation and battery energy storage systems have changed the Texas grid. They also cover the role of ancillary services and look ahead to how ERCOT's energy mix will continue to evolve.With Great Power is a co-production of GridX and Latitude Studios.  Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this podcast, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter.Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Erin Hardick and Mary Catherine O'Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. Sean Marquand composed the original theme song and mixed the show. The Grid X production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

Today we had the honor of hosting Pablo Vegas, President and CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Pablo was appointed as CEO by Governor Abbott in October 2022, after previously serving as Executive Vice President of NiSource and Group President of NiSource Utilities. His previous management roles included senior positions with both American Electric Power and IBM. Pablo also serves on the Global Advisory Board for the Harvard Business School and is a member of the Texas Advanced Nuclear Working Group. ERCOT manages the flow of electricity to over 27 million Texas customers and oversees one of the most unique power grids in the US. We were thrilled to hear Pablo's unique insights on the latest power developments in Texas and across the US. In our conversation, we explore ERCOT's collaboration with international and domestic grid operators to share best practices for managing intermittent resources and ensuring resource adequacy, ERCOT's unique operational advantages, and Texas's projected electricity demand growth by 2030, which equates to adding Germany's current electricity demand. We discuss the reliability risks associated with renewable energy integration, insights into the current state of battery storage capacity, and the need for Texas market design changes to better incentivize the building of more dispatchable power plants. Pablo shares details about the Texas Energy Fund's $5 billion allocation aimed at incentivizing up to 10 gigawatts of dispatchable power, economic hurdles for coal plants as well as combined-cycle gas plants under EPA regulations requiring carbon capture by the end of 2031, opportunities for nuclear energy development, and the lack of clear market pricing signals in ERCOT compared to capacity market spikes in PJM and MISO. We touch on how the new administration might approach power policy, how current federal regulations hinder power sector growth despite incentives for broader economic expansion, and more. We ended by asking Pablo for his predictions for what Texas's generation mix might look like in five years and for the future of ERCOT's connectivity with other grids. We covered a great deal of territory and can't thank Pablo enough for his insights into all these critical topics. Mike Bradley kicked off the show by highlighting that markets remain in “digestion” mode as they continue to react to Trump's Cabinet picks. Over the weekend, Trump nominated Scott Bessent for Secretary of Treasury and markets responded favorably (bond yields dropped) on Monday as many investors believe he'll be more balanced on the tariff front. However, Trump surprised markets a day later by vowing that he'll levy additional tariffs on China (10%) and new import tariffs (25%) on all Canadian & Mexican goods. On the crude oil market front, WTI traded sideways/slightly down over the past week (~$69/bbl) due to a potential ceasefire deal in the Middle East. He noted that the December 1st OPEC meeting will now be virtual. OPEC's leadership will likely look to extend current production curtailments for another three months to get them through the seasonally weak Q1 period. On the natural gas front, U.S. natural gas price in recent weeks has spiked from ~$3.00/MMBtu to ~$3.40/MMBtu due to a colder 6-10-day weather outlook. The real gas story is in Europe where natural gas price in recent weeks has spiked to ~$15/MMBtu due to an early spell of cold weather, lower LNG shipments and extremely low wind generation. On the broader equity market front, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were up just over 1.5% over the last week as they continue to digest Trump Cabinet picks and what policy priorities might be enacted on early in his Presidency. On the energy equity front, the Energy sector was one of the few S&P sectors down last week (~1.5%). He also noted a handful of Energy & Materials sector deals this past week and ended by discussing that the COP29 Conference in Baku c

As grid operators plan for the future, they are focused on meeting rising demand for electricity and enhancing grid reliability in the face of increasingly frequent and severe weather. On this episode, EEI Executive Vice President of the Business Operations Group and Regulatory Affairs Phil Moeller and Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) President and CEO Pablo Vegas discuss how ERCOT plans to meet the increasing demand for electricity, the lessons learned from Winter Storm Uri that could help other grid operators and electric companies, the importance of investing in resilient infrastructure, and more.

The chief of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) told state lawmakers recently that the state's power demand could nearly double in just six years. The reasons — population growth, new requests for grid connections, and a rise in requests from data centers and other heavy users. ERCOT chief executive officer Pablo Vegas told lawmakers the grid operator has sharply increased its prediction of power demand in coming years, The Texas Tribune reported. “All of that is putting together a picture of a very significant, different demand growth that is forcing us to really re-think how we're looking at...Article Link

In this episode, TXOGA President Todd Staples and Shana Joyce, Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs are joined by Thomas Gleeson, Chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC), for a discussion on the electricity outlook for Texas this summer. In addition, they highlight the respective roles of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and PUC, the role of the Permian Basin Reliability Plan, and steps that Texans can take to do their part in contributing to grid reliability.--PUC: The PUC is the state agency responsible for economic regulation of Texas' electric, telecommunication, and water and wastewater utilities.The PUC oversees the state's competitive utility markets, implementing legislation and enforcing market rules that guarantee reliability and high-quality infrastructure, including oversight of ERCOT which runs the electric grid for 90% of Texas' power needs. Through rate regulation and consumer assistance, the PUC ensures consumers across the state are treated fairly and receive the benefits of competitive markets.ERCOT: ERCOT manages the flow of electric power to 27 million Texas customers – representing about 90 percent of the state's electric load. As the independent system operator for the region, ERCOT schedules power on an electric grid that connects more than 54,100 miles of transmission lines and 1,250 generation units. It also performs financial settlement for the competitive wholesale bulk-power market and administers retail switching for nearly 8 million premises in competitive choice areas.ERCOT: A Conservation Appeal is an elevated request for Texans to reduce their energy use during peak demand periods when there is a potential to enter emergency operations due to lower reserves. Help from Texans to conserve electricity use, if safe to do so, assists grid reliability.ERCOT: A Voluntary Conservation Notice is a call for Texans to voluntarily reduce energy usage during peak demand periods, if safe to do so. On days when electric demand is high, ERCOT can issue a Voluntary Conservation Notice to help decrease demand while deploying available tools to manage the grid reliably.Texas Advisory and Notification System (TXANS): TXANS is ERCOT's early notification system ahead of periods of higher electricity demand.TXOGA: TXOGA Statement on PUC's Adoption of an Proposed Order to Develop a Electricity Reliability Plan for the Permian Basin

The growth of industrial-scale users of power could strain the Texas power grid, Electric Reliability Council of Texas' (ERCOT) chief announced last week. The Dallas Morning News reported Pablo Vegas, the agency's chief executive officer, said bitcoin miners and artificial intelligence data centers going in across the state, as well as industrial growth in the Permian Basin, could create the need for a massive buildup of power transmission lines in the future. ERCOT is forecasting a 37 percent jump in power demand from industrial sized users, even more than earlier predicted. It increased its forecast of electricity needed by new...Article Link

In this podcast episode, David Hurlbut, a retired Senior Analyst and Economist at the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory, discusses his various roles at the lab and previously at the Texas Public Utilities Commission as an ERCOT market monitor. The ERCOT, or the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, operates Texas's electrical grid, the Texas Interconnection, which supplies power to more than 25 million Texas customers and represents 90 percent of the state's electric load. Our discussion covered many aspects of the market, including the influence of AI on today's power market and self-driving cars.  Please join in to find more. Connect with Sohail Hasnie: Facebook @sohailhasnie Twitter @shasnie LinkedIn @shasnie ADB Blog Sohail Hasnie

On this episode, we have three leaders from organized energy markets to address the shifting dynamics within the industry. They discuss which technologies are being developed in their various regions and how those assets are impacting the energy market. Bryce also asks our guests what they are doing to combat volatilities due to peak loads often being met. Of course, the impact of policy and regulations can either benefit or hinder the energy market. Oftentimes, the biggest challenges are social, environmental and industrial development policies, rather than energy-focused policies. The guests wrap up this episode by discussing modernization, evolving energy markets, the importance of diverse resources and the upward curve of demand. Our guests for this episode are: Michael Law, president and CEO of Alberta Electric System Operator Barbara Sugg, president and CEO of Southwest Power Pool Pablo Vegas, president and CEO of Electric Reliability Council of Texas

The calendar indicates that winter starts Thursday, Dec. 21, temperatures have dipped down toward the freezing mark at least once this month, and the Floresville Electric Light & Power System (FELPS) has plans in place to face whatever might come. FELPS, GVEC, and Karnes Electric Cooperative recently notified customers about what load shedding — controlled blackouts during peak demand periods — could mean to them. This is consistent with other electrical power companies in 90 percent of the state who are part of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid, who must work together to ensure adequate power to...Article Link

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas or (ERCOT) oversees the flow of electric power to the majority of Texas. Handling over 90% of the states electric load - there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes, and what is it like when things don't go to plan.In this episode, Quentin sits down with Modo Energy's ERCOT Market Lead - Brandt Vermillion. Over the course of the conversation, they discuss:The differences between an ISO and RTO - and which one ERCOT falls into?Common and irresolvable constraints which the system faces.Storm Uri from the control room perspective and how it sparked change in buildout and deployment The current state of battery buildout in ERCOT What next for batteries, with the face of looming saturation of Ancillary ServicesAbout Modo EnergyModo Energy provides benchmarking, forecasts, data, and insights for new energy assets - all in one place.Built for analysts, Modo helps the owners, operators, builders, and financers of battery energy storage solutions understand the market - and make the most out of their assets. Modo's paid plans serve more than 80% of battery storage owners and operators in Great Britain.To keep up with all of our latest updates, research, analysis, videos, podcasts, data visualizations, live events, and more, follow us on Linkedin or Twitter. If you want to peek behind the curtain for a glimpse of our day-to-day life in the Modo office(s), check us out on Instagram.

Plus, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas declared a "Level 2" emergency alert on Wednesday night, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's impeachment trial is continuing to move forward. 

Representative Jared Patterson joins the Seeing Red podcast to discuss the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and the power infrastructure failure during Winter Storm Uri.  Patterson highlights the changes made since the storm, including new board members and regulatory bodies, mandated winterization requirements, and incentives for reliable power generation. He also addresses concerns about electric vehicles and emphasizes the importance of nuclear and natural gas as reliable energy sources.Follow us on the Seeing Red Podcast

The agency that operates the power grid for much of the state asked Texans to conserve energy use several times last week as the grid was beset with high demand and low wind-power generation, according to the Austin American- Statesman. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has asked electric users to reduce energy use as the state continues to face a tenacious heat wave. Demand on the grid operated by ERCOT has record levels 10 times this summer. The system has held up to the strain to this point. Any outages across the state have been local and caused...Article Link

Due to forecasted higher temperatures, higher demand, and the potential for lower reserves, Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is asking Texans to voluntarily reduce electricity use today — Aug. 17 — from 3-8 p.m., if safe to do so. Excessive Heat Warnings have been expanded for this afternoon and evening by the National Weather Service-Austin/SanAntonio, with high temperatures of 101 to 109 forecast. This Voluntary Conservation Notice is part of ERCOT's Texas Advisory and Notification System (TXANS), which alerts the public of grid conditions. It is requesting all government agencies — including city and county offices — to implement all programs...Article Link

The Texas power grid has had a volatile few years. As temperatures in the Lone Star State soared earlier this summer, power prices spiked to nearly $5,000 per megawatt-hour. However, that eye-watering price tag paled in comparison to what happened after Winter Storm Uri in February 2021, when per-MWh prices hit a staggering $9,000. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (Ercot) has a grid structure unlike any other in the US, but equally unique are some of its solutions for handling grid flexibility. On today's show, Dana speaks with Thomas Rowlands-Rees, BNEF's Head of Research for North America, and BNEF Associate for US Power Nathalie Limandibhratha. Together they discuss the way ERCOT operates, how Bitcoin mines are impacting grid flexibility and the state's growing renewable energy rollout. Complimentary BNEF research on the trends driving the transition to a lower-carbon economy can be found at BNEF on the Bloomberg Terminal, on bnef.com or on the BNEF mobile app. Links to research notes from this episode: Texas Is Sizzling, But Renewables Keep Power Prices Cool Ercot Market Outlook: Everything Depends on BitcoinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Honorable “Bill” Flores is an entrepreneur, business visionary, and public policy leader. In early 2021, he transitioned from public service to reengage in the private sector through board membership, as well as to invest more time with family and community activities. For 10 years, Congressman Flores served in the US House of Representatives from 2011 and 2021 – serving on a number of high-level committees.Bill currently serves as Independent Director and Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).Bill has a BBA with Honors in Accounting from Texas A&M University in College Station and an MBA from Houston Christian University. He is also licensed as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Texas and as a FAA Instrument-Rated Pilot. Bill is a proud ninth-generation. He is married to Gina; they have two adult sons, Will and John; and four wonderful grandchildren. Gina and Bill reside in Bryan, Texas.Chasing What Matters Instagram

Customer Experience in a Deregulated Electricity Market This week we welcome Katherine Wright to the Digitally Irresistible podcast. Katherine is co-founder and senior vice president of customer experience at Energy Texas, a retail electricity provider in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) market. Electricity has been deregulated in the ERCOT market, where the consumer chooses their electricity provider.  The ERCOT market includes about 85% of Texas, including the cities of Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, and much of West Texas. Utilities that were in place when deregulation went into effect, about 20 years ago, manage the infrastructure, poles, and wires. They also read the meters. Independent retail electricity providers (REPs) like Energy Texas manage customer relationships.  When a customer opens, revises, or closes their electricity account, they do it with their REP. When they experience an outage, they contact the utility. On this episode, we explore how Energy Texas differentiates their brand through innovative products and programs, competitive pricing, and excellent customer service. Giving Retail Electricity Customers Texas-sized Options to Choose From Katherine describes herself as a serial entrepreneur. In addition to Energy Texas, she co-founded Bounce Energy in 2004, which a large competitor bought in 2013.  Katherine and her co-founders formed Energy Texas in May of 2020. Nine months later, Winter Storm Uri caused blackouts throughout Texas. Uri's impact forced some REPs to leave the retail electric business.  In the aftermath of Uri, Katherine and her co-founders recognized an opportunity to enter the market and provide innovative, creative products to their customers. Giving their customers choices differentiates Energy Texas from most of its competition. Katherine wears multiple hats in her operational role. Her favorite is creating meaningful relationships with customers by doing things differently than traditional utilities and the bigger REPS. Energy Texas does that by offering flexible pricing plans, ensuring that the reality of every plan is as good as advertised and making every customer experience as easy as possible. These four programs demonstrate how Katherine takes the company's ideals and customer experience strategy and turns them into Texas-sized options for their customers. Peak Perks Program Energy Texas launched the Peak Perks Program with fresh memories of Winter Storm Uri that stretched the Texas electric grid beyond capacity. This program gives customers an opportunity to help prevent a similar crisis from happening and save money at the same time. Customers who sign up for Peak Perks volunteer to reduce their electrical consumption during peak load events. If they're able to reduce their consumption during the event by at least 10% (based on their usage in a similar time period), they receive a 10% discount on their bill. To make the customer experience as easy as possible, Energy Texas alerts them in their online My Account that the company has called a peak load event. The alert includes tips and helpful insights covering appropriate ways to reduce consumption during the peak event. Everybody wins. The customer can get a discount for using less energy, Energy Texas keeps them satisfied by telling them how to use less energy, and the grid is under less strain.  Giddy Up Guarantee At energytexas.com you'll see rates based on average or greater electrical consumption. Energy Texas tracks their competitors' rates and offers their rates at a discount. The Giddy Up Guarantee program enables Energy Texas to offer an additional discount to new, energy-efficient customers. Energy Texas knows how much electricity a new customer is likely to consume by reviewing their history. Most electrical meters in Texas are smart meters that send meter readings to the utility digitally. No one is needed to go out to the resident's home to read the meter. Since the utility that handles metering is different from the REP that sells the electricity, Energy Texas has access to consumers' meter readings history.  When a new energy-efficient consumer signs up with Energy Texas, they send the customer an email inviting them to take advantage of an additional discount.   An additional discount like that is sure to put a little giddy up in their customer onboarding.  Freedom Flex Freedom Flex is for customers who want the flexibility to cancel their energy service if it doesn't offer the lowest market rates. With Freedom Flex, customers pay a nominal monthly fee. They have the freedom to cancel their contract and sign a new one as frequently as every 30 days.  So, if a Freedom Flex customer signed a contract for a rate that was low, and now contract rates have gone even lower, they have the freedom to cancel their current contract and sign a new contract at the lower rate. Another customer might have a few months left on their low-rate contract when they see in their My Account that rates have been trending up for the last three months. They might want to cancel their contract now and sign a new contract for a somewhat higher rate to avoid paying an even higher rate after their contract expires.  Freedom Flex doesn't guarantee customers they're always getting the lowest rate, but it does give them the freedom to choose. Sun Jacinto Solar Buyback Program The State of Texas doesn't have rules governing if or how utilities and REPs compensate solar panel owners for the extra power they generate and then feed to the grid.   Most REPs that offer a solar buyback program compensate their customers for electricity they feed to the grid at a lower rate than the REP charges them for the electricity they use.  The Sun Jacinto Solar Buyback Program stands out because it compensates customers at the identical rate that they pay the REP. For example, if a customer puts a thousand excess kilowatt-hours back on the grid and has an energy rate of five cents per kilowatt-hour, they'll get a $50 bill credit.  The credit comes right off the month's bill, and in any month where the customer's bill is less than the credits they've earned, the credits carry over until they're used up.  Tex-cellent, Easy-to-Use Customer Experiences  Another one of Katherine's most important and rewarding tasks has been to lead the technical effort to include the website and self-service options for their customers. These are all accessible in the customer portal, easy to use, and save customers from having to wait on hold, speak with an agent, or write emails.   The customer-centric nature of everything she's accomplished at Energy Texas makes it easy to realize why the founders' mantra is to treat customers as they would like to be treated. They call it Tex-cellent customer service. What Katherine Does for Fun Katherine has three primary outlets for fun. For her family, travel is the thing. They went to England and Scotland for Christmas in 2022, and are planning to fly to Boston and do a New England road trip in the summer of 2023. For herself, Katherine is a big foodie and, as she describes herself, “a Pilates machine.”   To learn more about Katherine and Energy Texas, you'll find her on LinkedIn, and Energy Texas on their website, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Watch the video here.  Read the blog post here.  

As the operator of the Texas electric grid, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas is familiar with high stakes. But it's not extreme weather that has the grid operator on its toes this time. It's litigation before the Texas Supreme Court over whether ERCOT is in fact a division of state government and thus protected by sovereign immunity, meaning it can't be sued. Merchant power developer Panda Power and San Antonio public utility CPS Energy are leading the charge against ERCOT, and market participants and consumers alike are wondering what it will mean for their wallets. S&P Global Commodity Insights senior editor Mark Watson caught up with K&L Gates partner Maria Faconti for her take on the case after oral arguments were held Jan. 9. She laid out the consequences for the grid operator, market participants and Texans, and what happens next if either Panda or CPS prevails in their lawsuits against ERCOT. Stick around after the interview for Chris Van Moessner with the Market Minute, a look at near-term oil market drivers.

Bitcoin miners and climate change lunatics combined forces and nearly took down the Texas power grid during a cold snap two days before Christmas. Time to stop playing nice with these dipsticks. They nearly killed thousands of people this Christmas. Before we completely obliterate the Texas Bitcoin mining industry, let's first quickly destroy the brainwashed climate change conspiracy theorists with one chart.Check out the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT's) fuel mix for the Texas power grid on Christmas Eve Eve:On a day when Texas shattered the peak record for most electricity ever used during the winter, solar and wind combined to generate a puny 3.9% of the Texas power grid fuel mix.Natural gas, coal and nuclear provided over 95% of the power. Just like during the Snowpocalypse Power Outage of February 2021, the unreliable green energy sources once again s**t the bed at the crunch time. Same thing happened the very next night. Wind and solar power decided to take the night off on Christmas Eve - as temperatures plummeted and electric use soared. The Ghost of Christmas Future paid Teddy a visit on Christmas Eve, and showed me a horrifying vision of Christmas 2032 where we all froze to death in our wind turbine-powered homes because we failed to properly handle these art-destroying climate wackos who claim to know how weather works. U.S. government's current energy plan: We can rapidly accelerate the transition from a fossil fuel-based existence to an uncertain green energy nightmare by passing new laws, clicking our heels three times and wishing it all magically comes true. Imagine the total chaos, carnage and death on America's roadways last week during the Winter Storm Elliot bomb cyclone, if millions of Americans traveling for Christmas were forced to drive electric cars in freezing temperatures?From today's WSJ (via Apple News): “When temperatures drop to 5 degrees Fahrenheit, the cars achieve only 54% of their quoted range. A vehicle that's supposed to be able to go 250 miles between charges will make it only 135 miles on average. At 32 degrees—a typical winter day in much of the country—a Tesla Model 3 that in ideal conditions can go 282 miles between charges will make it only 173 miles.””Imagine if the 100 million Americans who took to the road over the holidays were driving electric cars. How many would have been stranded as temperatures plunged? There wouldn't be enough tow trucks—or emergency medics—for people freezing in their cars.”What happens if the only charging station on your 180 mile route to Grandma's house is out of order, and your Tesla can only travel for 173 miles when it's cold outside?In a few short years, we will call this “death by virtue-signaling”. Let's move on to these greedy Texas Bitcoin Mining b******s: Teddy sounded the alarm about these energy-sucking tapeworms back in May: * Bitcoin Mining and Tesla Charging Could Take Down the Texas Power Grid (May 20, 2022)* Texas Bitcoin Miners Insist They Are Making the Power Grid Stronger. Guess Who Pays For the Upgrades? (May 21, 2022)NOTE TO SELF: Maybe the reason why Elon Musk still hasn't restored your Twitter account at underscore Teddy Brosevelt is because of that headline where you said Telsa charging could take down the Texas power grid.Texas governor Greg Abbott invited the world's bitcoin miners to come to Texas to waste gigawatts of our precious power to solve math problems that generate digital tokens that have no intrinsic value. Calling this idea “totally f*****g stupid” would be a gross understatement. ERCOT says they expect 5 to 6 gigawatts of new power demand from bitcoin miners over the next 12 to 15 months. But their long-term projections keep increasing. * April 2022: ERCOT says that bitcoin miners representing about 17 Gigawatts worth of electricity use had contacted the state about prospective operations.* July 2022: ERCOT says crypto miners will need 27 Gigawatts * August 2022: ERCOT says we will need 33 gigawatts of power for bitcoin mining. Energy researchers say that adding this much power load to the Texas electrical grid in such a short time frame is “astronomically impossible”. Now ERCOT's latest projections project that bitcoin mining will add 33 gigawatts of load to the grid. That's the size of Florida or New York's grid. Right now, the Texas power grid is struggling to meet 74 gigawatts of peak demand on a 15 degree winter day when the sun is down and the wind stops blowing. And these clowns at ERCOT and the Texas state government are moving ahead with plans to add 33 extra gigawatts of load to this shaky-ass grid for what?Mining digital Ponzi scheme tokens? You gotta be KIDDING ME! Here's my question: Right now, ERCOT says that industrial scale bitcoin miners account for two gigawatts of power right now. And another two gigawatts for crypto mining companies are coming online. But they have pending “applications” from other bitcoin mining companies to suck up another 33 gigawatts of power. The crypto industry is not exactly known for its honesty, morals and ethics. How many of these bitcoin mining companies have just set up a warehouse and started mining already - without asking permission or waiting for their “application” to be approved?The only reason why these unscrupulous bitcoin miners would wait to get official approval from ERCOT is so they can get paid more for shutting down. In July 2022, Texas bitcoin mining company Riot Blockchain made $5.6 mining bitcoins. But ERCOT paid them double that ($9.5 million) to shut down. Somehow ERCOt has created an incentive program where it's twice as lucrative to STOP WORK AND SHUT DOWN than keep mining for coins. Name one other industry or profession where you get paid double your salary for not coming into work. Does this sound like some sort of scam? Yeah it does. And that's because it's THE BIGGEST F*****G SCAM IN HISTORY. The reason why these Texas Bitcoin mining companies are getting away with murder is the same reason why Scam Bankman-Fraud is spending the holidays at Mom and Dad's mansion in Palo Alto instead of a prison cell. They gave huge sums of money (“political donations”) to powerful people in charge.And they nearly plunged 30 million Texans into a survival situation with no power during freezing temperatures. Thousands of people would have died in Texas this Christmas season due to reckless idiocy. Keep in mind, Texas is bending over backwards for an industry that will be dead by 2040.No more than 21 million bitcoin can ever be minted. And miners have already extracted 19.2 million coins.The number of bitcoins available for mining halves every four years. Right now roughly 900 bitcoin are created every day. With only 1.7 million bitcoin left to be mined, the bitcoin mining industry will not exist by 2040.So with the clock ticking and the price of bitcoin now hovering around $16,500, these greedy bitcoin mining b******s definitely feel a sense of urgency to move down to Texas and start sucking down gigawatts now. They aren't waiting for permission or ERCOT's approval. ERCOT predicted this summer that peak power during the winter in an extreme event would reach around 67 gigawatts. It turned out to be 74 gigawatts. Take a wild guess why ERCOT underestimated peak energy demand by 7 gigawatts. Gee, I wonder who was using all that extra power that put us in peril? Thanks for reading Teddy Brosevelt! Subscribe for free to receive new posts + podcasts and support my work. MERRY CHRISTMAS! Episode #40 of ‘The Teddy Brosevelt Show' was recorded over 48 hours ago. But I've been sitting it on for two days now, after getting stuck in the weeds writing this long-ass post about the despicable crypto and climate cretins who almost killed thousands of Texas grandmas this Christmas. Teddy's Substack New Year's Resolution is to separate the podcast from these long posts.Starting with Episode #41, I'm going to make the podcast posts short and sweet, with a quick bulleted list of show topics. Speaking of bulleted lists of topics, Episode #40 isn't all about the Texas grid going down. MORE EPISODE #40 TOPICS: * Last December, Joe Biden warned unvaccinated Americans that we were facing a winter of severe illness and death. This December, it appears the exact opposite is true. The more vaccine shots you get, the more your immune system experiences irreversible damage. Read this: “The trainwreck of all trainwrecks: Billions of people stuck with a broken immune response” * Teddy analyzes the differences between Winston Churchill's address to Congress in 1941 and last week's surprise speech delivered by a short little sweatshirt-wearing man from Ukraine, who has already received $110 Billion in financial aid from the USA and says it's still not enough. Putin is like Hitler and Japan during World War II. If we don't give Ukraine another $110 Billion, Putin will try to conquer the world and he's coming for us next or something. * Ron Paul: “The USA has given Ukraine $110 million - that's two times the size of the entire military budget of Russia.” * The $1.7 Trillion Pelosi-Schumer Omnibus Spending Bill is 4,155 pages long. A regular King James Bible with standard font and spacing is 1,200 pages long. So three Bibles worth of pork.* The Omnibus bill specifically says money CANNOT be spent to secure our southern border with Mexico. But we earmark hundreds of millions for countries like Egypt and Jordan to protect their borders. We are giving $45 billion to Ukraine to protect their border. It's almost like a hostile foreign takeover of our government. Our corrupt and controlled opposition “elected officials” are sending billions of our tax dollars overseas as the cost of living here in America keeps getting steeper. Episode #40 of ‘The Teddy Brosevelt Show' was recorded live at the HA-HA Factory in Austin, Texas on Monday evening, December 26, 2022. We've got fresh new intro music for this show. The outro features several new beats we created over Christmas. Thanks for subscribing to the Substack and podcast! Merry Christmas! Subscribe and listen to ‘The Teddy Brosevelt Show' podcast on all major streaming platforms:* Spotify* iHeartRadio* Apple Podcasts* TuneIn Radio* SubstackP.S. Every American needs to read ALL The Twitter Files.THE TWITTER FILES Part 1: The Twitter Files, Dec 2, 2022 - Matt Taibbi (archive)* Twitter Files Supplemental thread explaining FBI interference in Twitter Files dumps, Dec 6, 2022 - Matt Taibbi (archive)Part 2: Twitter's Secret Blacklists, Dec 9, 2022 - Bari Weiss (archive)Part 3: The Removal of Donald Trump, Part 1: October 2020 - January 6th, Dec 9, 2022 - Matt Taibbi (archive)Part 4: The Removal of Donald Trump: January 7th, Dec 10, 2022 - Michael Shellenberger (archive)Part 5: The Removal of Trump From Twitter, Dec 12, 2022 - Bari Weiss (archive)Part 6: Twitter, The FBI Subsidiary, Dec 16, 2022 - Matt Taibbi (archive)* Twitter Files Supplemental thread detailing more FBI involvement, Dec 14, 2022 - Matt Taibbi (archive)Part 7: The FBI & The Hunter Biden Laptop, Dec 19, 2022 - Michael Shellenberger (archive)Part 8: How Twitter Quietly Aided the Pentagon's Covert Online PsyOp Campaign, Dec 20, 2022 - Lee Fang (archive)Part 9: Twitter and "Other Government Agencies", Dec 24, 2022 - Matt Taibbi (archive)Part 10: How Twitter Rigged the Covid Debate", Dec 26, 2022 - David Zweig (archive) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit teddybrosevelt.substack.com

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas expects sufficient electricity generation as much of the state will plunge into frigid temperatures.

What do you get when incompetent leadership and a fragile energy grid meet? A catastrophic failure of the power grid, duh! This week, on the first episode of Season 4, we're discussing the major winter storm that affected Texas in February 2021. If you enjoy the show, be sure to rate it five stars!Show Merch: https://destinationdisaster.company.site/Follow the Show! https://www.instagram.com/destination.disaster/https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinationDisaster/Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_13–17,_2021_North_American_winter_stormhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Reliability_Council_of_Texashttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Texas_power_crisis#cite_note-:1-55Music: Cody Martin - Leviathanhttps://app.soundstripe.com/songs/14667 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

[Video below] “This is a short-term [solution]. We don't expect it to be long-term,” Floresville Electric Light & Power System Chief Operating Officer Marcy Jacobs assured the utility's trustees Aug. 31. “Our hope is that in January, we can lower the factor back down.” Jacobs was explaining a request to adjust the generation and transmission (G&T) factor from 8.1 cents per kilowatt hour to 9.2 cents. “We haven't been collecting what we've spent,” she said. The G&T factor pays for the cost of fuel to generate electricity, as well as deliver that electricity through the Electric Reliability Council of Texas...Article Link

So far this summer, power demand in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas market has set 11 new all-time records as the grid has faced weeks of 100-plus degree temperatures. With that has come power scarcity conditions and high power prices, both affected by state policymaker actions. S&P Global senior editor Mark Watson spoke with Alison Silverstein, an Austin-based independent energy market consultant and former advisor to chairmen of both the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Public Utility Commission of Texas. She offered unique insights into how the situation developed that prompted state regulators to take a more hands-on approach to the Texas power market, encouraging the operation of the grid with a higher capacity reserves requirement and supporting the deployment of administrative price adders well before scarcity conditions arise. Silverstein also tackled how energy efficiency could enhance reliability in situations where market incentives have been producing significantly higher prices for energy consumers without addressing key reliability concerns. Stick around after the interview for Jordan Blum with the Market Minute, a look at near-term oil market drivers.

NGI Price & Markets Editor Leticia Gonzales is joined by Haynes & Boone partner Diana Liebmann to discuss the record hot summer Texas is experiencing and how the electric grid monitor is coping. In the aftermath of Winter Storm Uri, have the changes implemented by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas helped improve reliability? Listen now.

The Secret Service erased text messages from January 5 and January 6, 2021, according to a letter given to the January 6 committee and reviewed by The Intercept. The letter was originally sent by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General to the House and Senate homeland security committees. Though the Secret Service maintains that the text messages were lost as a result of a “device-replacement program,” the letter says the erasure took place shortly after oversight officials requested the agency's electronic communications. The temperatures in Texas and the Southern Plains are about to be turned up during an already historically hot summer. Next week, some areas of interior Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas may see their highest temperatures yet, with predicted highs peaking between 102 to 107 degrees. The core of the heat may concentrate along and just west of the populous Interstate 35 corridor, affecting San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Oklahoma City and Wichita. The heat will ratchet up just days after the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) twice issued conservation appeals (Monday and Wednesday), its power supply pushed to the brink. The state's beleaguered grid is sure to be tested again. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Secret Service erased text messages from January 5 and January 6, 2021, according to a letter given to the January 6 committee and reviewed by The Intercept. The letter was originally sent by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General to the House and Senate homeland security committees. Though the Secret Service maintains that the text messages were lost as a result of a “device-replacement program,” the letter says the erasure took place shortly after oversight officials requested the agency's electronic communications. The temperatures in Texas and the Southern Plains are about to be turned up during an already historically hot summer. Next week, some areas of interior Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas may see their highest temperatures yet, with predicted highs peaking between 102 to 107 degrees. The core of the heat may concentrate along and just west of the populous Interstate 35 corridor, affecting San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Oklahoma City and Wichita. The heat will ratchet up just days after the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) twice issued conservation appeals (Monday and Wednesday), its power supply pushed to the brink. The state's beleaguered grid is sure to be tested again. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Support the SHOW https://www.buymeacoffee.com/derekosheashowWANT A MUG WITH MY FACE ON IT?https://store.streamelements.com/theoneminutenewsAvoid charging YOUR TELSA during peak hours says the Government #telsa #greenenergy #texas Source:https://www.statesman.com/story/business/2022/04/25/electric-austin-travis-county-tops-texas-electric-vehicle-ownership/7368608001/Statewide, about 121,500 electric vehicles have been registered — equating to just 0.5% of all 23.68 million vehicles in Texas. As with the raw numbers, Travis County leads the state in terms of its proportion of electric vehicles, at 1.8% of the total registered here.- Bob Sechlerhttps://www.dailywire.com/news/tesla-asks-texans-to-limit-charging-cars-during-heat-wave-as-wind-power-slows“The grid operator recommends to avoid charging during peak hours between 3pm and 8pm, if possible, to help statewide efforts to manage demand,” the alert added.On Monday, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) — which operates the state's power grid — asked residents to conserve energy between the hours of 2:00 pm and 8:00 pm local time by not using heavy appliances during that timeframe.Texas uses a mix of fossil fuels and renewables to keep its electrical grid running. When major heat waves move through the state, wind power is often decreased due to a change in pressure in the atmosphere. Thus, the state's wind turbines are failing to produce the necessary amount of energy to keep the grid operating without significant problems. - DWSUPPORT THE SHOW : https://streamelements.com/theoneminutenews/tipPolitically Homeless Daily Comedy News Show#breakingnews #politics #politicallyhomelessEmail: derekosheashow@gmail.comYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/derekosheashowRumble  : https://rumble.com/c/c-624233Podcast Audio Webpage: https://derekosheashow.buzzsprout.comApple Podcast : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/derek-oshea-show-comedy-news-show/id1508917484Spotify : https://open.spotify.com/show/3BNCK8HjbDOtyOlHMOVGTXOdysee: https://odysee.com/@DerekOsheaShowWebsite : https://theoneminutenews.wixsite.com/derekosheashowTwitter: https://twitter.com/DerekOsheaShowInstagram : https://www.instagram.com/derekosheashow/Bitchute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/LgKyzhcXmm52/Gab: https://gab.com/TheOneMinuteNewsFacebook : https://www.facebook.com/DerekOsheaShowTikTok : https://www.tiktok.com/@derekosheashow?Breaking News Live,Breaking News Today,electric car,tesla model 3,tesla supercharger,tesla motors,charging electric vehicles,charging electric vehicle at home,charging electric vehicle cost,charging electric vehicles from solar energy,charging electric vehicles at work,texas tesla charging stations,Green Energy in Texas,Electric Cars cant charge due to green energy,avoid charging your tesla at peak hours,Political Satire,elon musk,Elon Musk TexasSupport the show

Maybe you're new to North Texas and you're wondering "What are these rolling blackouts I'm hearing about?"First things first, you probably need to know who ERCOT is. ERCOT stands for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and they operate the state's electric grid. When they see how much energy they have and how much is demand and that number is near the same, they start these things called Rolling Blackouts. This means cutting power in one part of the state to allow for the rest of the state to keep its own. After one city or region may have their power cut for a few hours, the power company will shift where the power has been limited to another city or region—hence the term “rolling.”

Show #1527 Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily, you trusted source of EV information. It's Sunday 10th July, it's Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story so you don't have to. BYD SEAL REPORTEDLY TO BE OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED IN CHINA ON JULY 18 "Pre-orders for the BYD Seal began on May 20 with a starting price of RMB 212,800 ($31,860) and orders reached 22,637 units within seven hours. Citing unnamed BYD dealer sources, several local media outlets today said the BYD Seal will officially go on sale in China on July 18. The BYD Seal, the second model in the company's Ocean series after the Dolphin, is the first to use BYD's CTB (cell to body) technology, which allows the battery to be integrated into the body. The standard range version of the BYD Seal comes with a 150-kW rear motor and the long-range version with a 230-kW rear motor. Its 4WD performance version has a total front and rear motor power of 390 kW and accelerates from 0-100 km/h in 3.8 seconds. The Seal is expected to be the most important model in BYD's history, the team said, adding that with reference to Model 3 sales, they expect the model's steady-state monthly sales to exceed 30,000 units." Original Source: https://cnevpost.com/2022/07/09/byd-seal-reportedly-to-be-officially-launched-in-china-on-july-18/ XPENG P7 FIRST DRIVE REVIEW: CHINA'S (BETTER-BUILT) TESLA MODEL S "The latest XPeng P7 is one of three EVs the automaker now has on sale in China, all built on the company's own platforms and featuring its own end-to-end software architecture. The P7 is already being marketed in Norway, and XPeng plans to launch the sedan in Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands in the second quarter of 2023.  The XPeng P7 is built on a bespoke EV platform, known internally as "Edward," that was co-developed with Porsche. It's a conventional skateboard design, with multi-link suspension front and rear and an 80 kWh battery pack between the axles. XPeng claims a range of up to 329 miles on the WLTP test cycle for the RWD Long Range, and a 0-60 mph acceleration time of less than 6.9 seconds. Claimed WLTP range for the 4WD High Performance is up to 292 miles, with a claimed 0-60 mph acceleration time of less than 4.5 seconds.  the XPeng P7 is one of the most impressive new cars we've driven this year. In Norway, the XPeng P7 4WD High Performance costs less than two-thirds the price of a dual-motor Tesla Model S Long Range. In U.S. dollars, using the conversion rate current at the time of writing, that would make it a $53,000 car. EV powertrains are inherently smooth and quiet, and deliver plenty of easy driving torque. There are no pesky calibration issues in terms of driveability or to meet emissions and fuel economy targets. Making a car that's instantly competitive with mainstream rivals from established automakers has never been easier." Original Source: https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/xpeng-p7-first-drive-review/ TESLA MODEL Y REGAINS TITLE OF BEST SELLING SUV IN CHINA IN JUNE "Tesla regained its dominance in the world's largest EV market in June, with sales surging back in China for the Tesla Model Y after being badly affected by the Shanghai COVID-19 lockdown in April and May. According to data published over the weekend by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) and reported by CnEVPost, Model Y sales in China reached 52,150 through June, up nearly five fold from the 11,623 models sold in June 2021.  The Tesla Model Y blew away all its competition, with the next closest SUV model the BYD Song, which only sold 31,787 units in June. Looking at the first six months of 2022 in China, SUV sales were led by the BYD Song with 162,573 units sold. The Tesla Model Y was in second place with 133,666, thanks to the closure of its Shanghai gigafactory in April." Original Source: https://thedriven.io/2022/07/12/tesla-model-y-regains-title-of-best-selling-suv-in-china-in-june/ TESLA WANTS TO SHOW POWERWALL OWNERS CAN HELP ERCOT DURING EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS " It's hard to believe it's been almost two and a half years since the deadly winter storm that passed through Texas. Since then, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has been under scrutiny from households across the state. ERCOT doesn't allow batteries to send power to the grid unless it has extra energy not used by the owner. Tesla is asking ERCOT for a rule change, and wants its powerwall customers in Texas to take action. According to Tesla's website, it won't leave powerwall owners with less than 20% power to use for their homes.  Tesla is asking powerwall owners to show ERCOT that a virtual power plant, also known as a "powerwall fleet," could help in extreme cases, like during a winter storm or with extra demand during the Texas summer heat." Original Source: https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/south-texas-el-paso/news/2022/07/08/tesla-wants-to-show-powerwall-owners-can-help-ercot-during-extreme-weather-events- NETWORK RAIL ADDS 450 EV CHARGE POINTS AT STATIONS ACROSS THE UK "Network Rail, which owns and operates most of the railway network in the UK, has installed 452 new EV charging points at car parks at railway stations. The company aims to equip ten per cent of its car parking spaces, about 779 bays, by March 2024. The most recent installations include 160 charging points in Reading, 111 in Manchester, 84 in Edinburgh, 56 in Leeds and 41 in Welwyn Garden City. Compleo has delivered the columns marked with green parking bays, and passengers can pay via the APCOA Connect app." Original Source: https://www.electrive.com/2022/07/09/network-rail-adds-450-ev-charge-points-at-stations-across-the-uk/ ELECTRIC VEHICLES 'COULD BE AS CHEAP AS COMBUSTION-ENGINE CARS' WITH THESE TAX BREAKS Australia's electric vehicle (EV) uptake is lagging, but tax experts say they have a "silver bullet solution" that would both drive sales and help increase the supply of cheaper second-hand EVs. Prepared by tax experts from Monash and Griffith universities, the report describes a woeful situation: business fleets (which include both government and company vehicles) account for 40 per cent of light vehicle sales, but almost none of these are EVs. Of the more than 600,000 passenger vehicles and light SUVs sold to business fleets in 2020, only 488 were EVs. If the business could claim the full cost of the EV as a tax deduction (known as "instant asset write-off"), it would save about $11,000 over three years. with the addition of purchase incentives from various states and territories, either as subsidies or rebates on registration, the price gap vanished. In 2001, Norway made EV sales exempt from its equivalent of the GST (which is higher than ours, at 25 per cent). Of the 469,000 organisations in Australia with a fleet of more than two cars, only about 1,000 have more than 250 cars in a fleet." Original Source: https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-07-06/electric-vehicle-uptake-tax-reform-race-for-2030-report/101210180 GOVERNMENT EV CHARGING FUNDING AVAILABLE FOR FLEETS AND WORKPLACE Simon Tate, Sales Director at Mer UK: "Reliable and affordable charging infrastructure is key to that transition, and to help meet the growing demand, the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) has funding available. the Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) provides financial support towards the cost of purchasing and installing workplace charge points. The scheme allows for up to £350 per charging socket (maximum of 40 sockets) up to a value of £14,000. To be eligible for the scheme you must be a registered UK business, charity, or public sector organisation; have off-street parking; and own the property or have consent from the landlord to install the charge points. Businesses can also use the WCS to fund the upgrade of charge points older than three years. The funding can't be used for repairs. It must be a new charge point that's installed and the 40 socket limit still applies. As of 1 April 2022, the WCS has funded the installation of 26,424 sockets in workplace car parks and depots since the scheme started in 2016. aunched in April of this year, we have the EV infrastructure grant for staff and fleets. It's aimed at small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) and has been designed to help organisations plan for the future demand of low emission vehicles.  SMEs can get up to £850 for each private parking space that the charging infrastructure and charge point is required for. £500 for the supporting electrical work and £350 towards the actual EV charger.  Each grant application can be up to a maximum of £15,000." Original Source: https://transportandenergy.com/2022/07/05/government-ev-charging-funding-available-for-fleets-and-workplace/ QUESTION OF THE WEEK WITH EMOBILITYNORWAY.COM QOTW is taking a break for a while. Email your answers to: hello@evnewsdaily.com It would mean a lot if you could take 2mins to leave a quick review on whichever platform you download the podcast. PREMIUM PARTNERS PHIL ROBERTS / ELECTRIC FUTURE BRAD CROSBY PORSCHE OF THE VILLAGE CINCINNATI AUDI CINCINNATI EAST VOLVO CARS CINCINNATI EAST NATIONAL CAR CHARGING ON THE US MAINLAND AND ALOHA CHARGE IN HAWAII DEREK REILLY FROM THE EV REVIEW IRELAND YOUTUBE CHANNEL RICHARD AT RSEV.CO.UK – FOR BUYING AND SELLING EVS IN THE UK OCTOPUS ELECTRIC JUICE - MAKING PUBLIC CHARGING SIMPLE WITH ONE CARD, ONE MAP AND ONE APP MILLBROOKCOTTAGES.CO.UK – 5* LUXURY COTTAGES IN DEVON, JUMP IN THE HOT TUB WHILST YOUR EV CHARGES

This week on The Texan's “Weekly Roundup,” the team discusses how some pro-choice district attorneys plan to not prosecute abortion crimes, what the Electric Reliability Council has to say about the Texas power grid, rising numbers of encounters with illegal aliens, the partisan leanings of all of Texas' counties, what Texans think about Gov. Greg Abbott's border policies and the border wall, the Supreme Court of Texas' recent ruling on gender transition in children, the wild campaign of a Texas Railroad Commissioner candidate, Austin City Council's continued emergency spending on COVID-19 projects, and Sen. Ted Cruz's successful bid in court regarding campaign finance laws. Plus, you'll get to know the newest member of our team!  Got questions for the reporting team? Email editor@thetexan.news — they just might be answered on next week's podcast.

In the latest episode of APPA's Public Power Now podcast, Woody Rickerson, Vice President of System Planning and Weatherization at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, details ongoing efforts by the grid operator to bolster reliability in the state and discusses how it is managing the integration of energy storage, electric vehicles and renewable energy supplies.

Listen to our archived episodes: RadioPublic|LibSyn|YouTube Support the show: Patreon|PayPal: 1x or monthly|Square Cash * War! What is it good for? You know the answer: Ratings. David Waldman and Greg Dworkin are only here to explode your preconceived notions. Russia's reasoning for attacking Ukraine misses something in translation. Something about destroying Ukraine to save it... from Nazis. Democratically elected Jewish President Volodymyr Zelenskiy doesn't think that's funny. Some Republicans support Donald Trump, some kind of still support America, so there's a bit of a rift. Trump supports Putin and Russia, but to be honest, he believes they're American. Steve KG Bannon and Erik Prince have always had the hots for Vlad, and have been on team Putin since at least 2016. Twitter is bursting with Russian bot trolls, while Facebook is strangely (not so strangely) silent. Other than blowing up Chernobyl again, what will end this? President Joe Biden is on it. Boris Johnson is ready to declare every sort of war today. NATO is activating both its defence and defense plans. Estonia is ready when we are.  The Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline seems like a target, but Europe seems to have prepared for Russian supply problems. The US could turn off Russia's app tap, right down to the last atom. Ukraine could annex Russia. As always, we could have done a lot to prevent this. Amazingly with all this, other things keep happening.  One of those things is definitely not the American trucker caravans. Reporters on the ground have been travelling imbecile-free highways. Parental rights parents don't care about their kids, as they just get in the way of throwing tantrums. Parents who do care for kids only want to silence parents who don't. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas facilitated competitive wholesale and retail markets by hiking prices hundreds of times over value, on the order of Governor Greg Abbott. U.S. Army Colonel Alexander Vindman officially served Donald Trump Jr. with a lawsuit for witness intimidation and retaliation. The prosecutors leading New York's investigation into Trump businesses resign, which sounds like bad news, but who knows?

Show #1371 Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Friday 11th February. It's Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story so you don't have to. Welcome to a new PATREON PRODUCER ROB HAMMOND. If you get any value from this podcast please consider supporting my work on Patreon. Plus all Patreon supporters get their own unique ad-free podcast feed. BIDEN ADMINISTRATION OUTLINES PLAN TO BUILD MORE E.V. CHARGERS | THE NEW YORK TIMES - The Biden administration said on Thursday that it would require states to submit proposals to line highways with electric vehicle chargers, part of a $5 billion plan to fill a gap in the infrastructure needed to support booming sales of battery-powered cars. - The administration outlined a relatively speedy timetable for deploying an initial instalment of $615 million. All 50 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, would be required to submit plans by the beginning of August explaining how they would install high-voltage chargers along or very close to major highways. - The chargers must be no more than 50 miles apart, and states are encouraged to place them at rest areas or other places with food and other services. Federal officials must decide by the end of September whether to approve the states' plans. Original Source : https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/10/business/electric-vehicle-chargers-biden.html BIDEN ANNOUNCES $5 BILLION OVER 5 YEARS FOR A NATIONWIDE EV CHARGING NETWORK | ELECTREK - The White House also detailed more plans for the manufacturing of EV chargers:  Siemens will produce 1 million EV chargers by 2025 ABB, which currently manufactures transit bus chargers in the US, will expand its US EV charging manufacturing operations, including Level 2 and DC Fast Chargers, over the next five years. Dunamis Clean Energy Partners, a Black- and woman-owned EV charger manufacturer based in Detroit, will manufacture Level 2 EV chargers and charging connectors in a new production facility in Detroit beginning this summer The new Joint Office of Energy and Transportation also launched a new website this week, which can be found at DriveElectric.gov. There, officials can find links to technical assistance, data and tools for states, and careers. Original Source : https://electrek.co/2022/02/10/biden-announces-5-billion-over-5-years-for-a-nationwide-ev-charging-network/ DOT WILL PAY STATES TO BUILD OUT A MASSIVE EV CHARGING NETWORK | CAR AND DRIVER - The creation of the joint office was first announced in December 2021, and the funds will come from the new National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, established by the bipartisan infrastructure act signed into law by President Biden in November. - All that money is to build charging infrastructure for battery-electric vehicles only—not for hydrogen or other alternative-energy vehicles, the DOT clarified. The DOT also said it expects many of the states to look to the private sector to build and maintain the charging stations. - Over the past six years, 40 states have already created designated Alternative Fuel Corridors, much of which follows the interstate highway system, and that will be "the spine of the new national EV charging network," - Once these corridors are filled in, states will be asked to plan more "community based" charging that could reach more rural and underserved areas away from major highway systems. - The government agency released a state-by-state list showing how it intends to distribute that initial $615 million in fiscal 2022. California can expect $56.7 million; Texas, $60.3 million; while Kansas gets $5.8 million and Wyoming gets $3.9 million. - The feds want to emphasize that getting the charging stations from domestic suppliers is a priority in this program. For instance, the DOT noted, President Biden met this week with a charging station manufacturer, Tritium, that plans to break ground on a facility in Tennessee with six production lines producing 30,000 DC fast chargers per year. Bigger names are also getting in on the process—the White House said Siemens will expand its U.S. operations and plans to produce a million EV charging units by 2025. Original Source : https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a39027778/dot-ev-charging-network-details/ VALEO BUYS OUT SIEMENS FROM EV-COMPONENTS VENTURE | AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE - Valeo agreed to acquire Siemens' stake in their 5-year-old electric-car components venture to bolster its position in the rapidly expanding EV market. - Valeo also announced a plan to develop a new electric motor with Renault. The companies said they would be the first to mass produce a 200-kilowatt electric motor without using rare earth materials, starting in 2027. Production of the motor for the automaker's own needs will be based at Renault Group's plant in Cléon, France. - Valeo and Siemens joined forces on Valeo Siemens eAutomotive in 2016 to make e-motors, axles and powertrain electronics for plug-in hybrids and full-electric vehicles. - By the end of 2022, more than 90 electric and plug-in hybrid models will be fitted with Valeo's electric powertrain systems, motors, inverters or onboard chargers, the supplier said. Original Source : https://europe.autonews.com/suppliers/valeo-buys-out-siemens-ev-components-venture NEXT MINI COOPER ELECTRIC SPIED WINTER TESTING UNDER CAMOUFLAGE - Mini is still testing the next-generation of its model under camouflage, trying to pass it off as one of its current models. However, we have actually seen leaked photos of the model set to arrive next year, and the front end certainly looks very similar to that of the refreshed current model, but the rear end is noticeably different. - . The interior has also been given a major revamp, featuring a completely new and more minimalistic design. - There's currently no word on specs for the electric Mini, but it will surely get a bigger battery than what equips the current Cooper SE (one of the lowest-range EVs you can buy). With just 28.9 kWh usable capacity, it has a real world range of under 124 miles (200 km) - its EPA estimate of 114 miles is actually a bit conservative, and it should do a bit more. Original Source : https://insideevs.com/news/566563/mini-cooper-electric-spied-again/ 286.2 GWH DEPLOYED ONTO ROADS IN PASSENGER EV BATTERIES IN 2021 | GREEN CAR CONGRESS - A record 286.2 GWh of passenger EV battery capacity was deployed onto roads globally in 2021—a 113% increase over 2020—as battery-electric vehicle (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) sales surged year-over-year, according to Adamas Intelligence. - By cell supplier, China-based CATL took the lead in 2021 with a record 87.8 GWh deployed onto roads globally (31% of the global total)—a 204% increase over 2020 on the back of an ever-broadening book of supply agreements with Chinese, European and North American automakers. - In 2021, 21% of all passenger EV battery capacity deployed onto roads by CATL went into MIC Tesla Model 3s and Model Ys, making Tesla the cell supplier's widest channel to market for the calendar year. Original Source : https://www.greencarcongress.com/2022/02/20220210-adamas.html 'LOGISTICS NIGHTMARE' HITS BATTERY STORAGE ROLLOUT: ENPHASE CEO | S&P GLOBAL PLATTS - Global shipping bottlenecks and soaring freight rates have created a "logistics nightmare" that is complicating the rollout of lithium-ion battery storage systems, according to Enphase Energy President and CEO - California-based company, known primarily for its solar panel power electronics, has navigated the backups and markups to launch a new residential energy storage business during the coronavirus pandemic. That included a 53% quarterly jump in shipments of its battery storage package to roughly 100 MWh in the final three months of 2021. - Other companies involved in renewable energy, energy storage and electric vehicles, including AES Clean Energy Development and Tesla, have also cited the logistical logjam as a major limitation.   Such difficulties come as homeowners and businesses look increasingly to battery storage to provide electricity when grid power fails, such as during more frequent wildfires in the western US. Grid operators like the California ISO and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas are also seeking fast-response resources to help transmission systems ride through heat waves and cold snaps. - Enphase has seen some supply-chain headaches abate, including the availability of semiconductor chips and battery cells. Original Source : https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/energy-transition/020922-logistics-nightmare-hits-battery-storage-rollout-enphase-ceo RIGHT TO REPAIR BILL COULD ALLOW MORE INDEPENDENT SHOPS TO WORK ON EVS | GREEN CAR REPORTS   Original Source : https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1135015_right-to-repair-bill-independent-shops-work-evs-hybrids FORD POACHES TESLA ENGINEERING CHIEF TO WORK ON ADVANCE EV DEVELOPMENT - TECHSTORY Original Source : https://techstory.in/ford-poaches-tesla-engineering-chief-to-work-on-advance-ev-development/ EU FUNDS NEW BLOCKCHAIN SUPPLY CHAIN TRACKING SCHEME | EDIE.NET - the system will have the capability to trace both virgin raw material supply chains and supply chains for reclaimed and recycled materials. Original Source : https://www.edie.net/news/8/EU-funds-new-blockchain-supply-chain-tracking-scheme-for-EV-battery-components/ TESLA'S GLOBAL HEADLAMPS PATENT IS A BIGGER WIN THAN IT MAY SEEM | AUTOEVOLUTION Original Source : https://www.autoevolution.com/news/tesla-s-new-global-headlamps-patent-is-a-bigger-win-than-it-may-seem-promises-musk-180996.html? TESLA FSD BETA CAUGHT HITTING SOMETHING ON CAMERA | JALOPNIK Original Source : https://jalopnik.com/tesla-fsd-beta-caught-hitting-something-on-camera-for-t-1848491265 TESLA FSD "SAFETY" VIDEO TAKES A SUDDEN TURN—TOWARDS A CYCLIST | MOTORTREND Original Source : https://www.motortrend.com/news/tesla-fsd-driving-video-cyclist-danger/ TESLA RECALLS CARS TO FIX PEDESTRIAN WARNING SOUNDS BEING INTERRUPTED - THE VERGE Original Source : https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/10/22927004/tesla-recall-model-3-x-y-boombox-nhtsa-pedestrian-warning QUESTION OF THE WEEK WITH EMOBILITYNORWAY.COM If you could do any job in the EV industry what would it be? Email me any feedback to: hello@evnewsdaily.com It would mean a lot if you could take 2mins to leave a quick review on whichever platform you download the podcast. And  if you have an Amazon Echo, download our Alexa Skill, search for EV News Daily and add it as a flash briefing. Come and say hi on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter just search EV News Daily, have a wonderful day, I'll catch you tomorrow and remember…there's no such thing as a self-charging hybrid. PREMIUM PARTNERS PHIL ROBERTS / ELECTRIC FUTURE BRAD CROSBY PORSCHE OF THE VILLAGE CINCINNATI AUDI CINCINNATI EAST VOLVO CARS CINCINNATI EAST NATIONAL CAR CHARGING ON THE US MAINLAND AND ALOHA CHARGE IN HAWAII DEREK REILLY FROM THE EV REVIEW IRELAND YOUTUBE CHANNEL RICHARD AT RSEV.CO.UK – FOR BUYING AND SELLING EVS IN THE UK EMOBILITYNORWAY.COM/

In February 2021, a severe cold weather event, known as Winter Storm Uri, caused numerous power outages, derates, or failures to start at electric generating plants scattered across Texas and the south-central U.S. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which manages the power supply for about 90% of the load in Texas, ordered a total of 20,000 MW of rolling blackouts in an effort to prevent grid collapse. According to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), this was “the largest manually controlled load shedding event in U.S. history.” More than 4.5 million people in Texas lost power—some for as long as four days. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information reported that the event resulted in 226 deaths nationwide and cost an estimated $24 billion. There has been a lot of finger pointing surrounding the blackouts that occurred. Several studies have been done into the causes, including one spearheaded by FERC, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC), and NERC's regional entities. The key finding from the FERC/NERC report was that a critical need exists “for stronger mandatory electric reliability standards, particularly with respect to generator cold weather-critical components and systems.” The study found that a combination of freezing issues (44.2%) and fuel issues (31.4%) caused 75.6% of the unplanned generating unit outages, derates, and failures to start. But Bernard McNamee, a former FERC commissioner, and current partner with the law firm McGuireWoods and a senior advisor at McGuireWoods Consulting, suggested the study missed the real cause of the problem. Speaking as a guest on The POWER Podcast, McNamee said, “I think the reality is, is that there was a market design problem in Texas, and that was that, as you had more subsidized resources driving down the overall cost of power, you're not providing enough financial incentive for other dispatchable resources to harden their systems—winterize their systems—to be available when the wind wasn't blowing or the sun wasn't shining.” McNamee didn't blame power generators for being ill-prepared. He suggested they simply made decisions based on cost-benefit analysis. “Why would you [spend money on weatherization] if you're a natural gas company or generator and you think you're going to make most of your money, you know, five to 10 days in the summer? You're not expecting to operate in the winter and make money, [so] why would you spend the capital that you're not going to be able to recover?” McNamee asked. “I think that the market design is something that has not been talked about enough [and] was one of the leading causes of what happened,” McNamee said. “I think what happened in the winter storm in Texas, and what happened in August of 2020 in California, were really warning signs for the rest of the country about how we really need to pay attention to market design, and maybe costs that aren't being priced into the market but that are necessary for reliability.” However, McNamee also doesn't blame the growth of renewable resources for the problem. “It doesn't mean that wind and solar are bad. They provide some great benefits,” he said. “It's not that one resource is good or bad. It's thinking about how does the system all work together, so it's there when you need it 24/7. And it can't be, ‘Well, on average, the power will be available.' It's got to be available every moment.”

Anette visits with her friend, David Hudson, President of Xcel Energy – New Mexico and Texas, about the Texas energy grid, how the Texas Panhandle is different from most of the rest of Texas, and what happens during severe weather events. Much of the discussion talks about the interconnectedness of natural gas supplies and electrical output, as well as how ERCOT, or the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, operates differently than our grid up in the Panhandle. During the severe February freeze of 2021, the top of Texas avoided many of the outages faced by many of Anette's friends across the state. David also served at president of Panhandle Twenty/20.David Hudson became president of Xcel Energy's New Mexico and Texas Southwestern Public Service Company (SPS) operations Jan. 1, 2014.  SPS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Xcel Energy Inc. and a member of the Southwest Power Pool, a regional transmission organization. SPS supplies retail electric utility services to 400,000 customers in eastern New Mexico and West Texas, in addition to wholesale power and interstate transmission services. The company owns and maintains over 7,700 miles of transmission and more than 16,000 miles of distribution lines in the region spanning southwestern Kansas, the Oklahoma Panhandle, the Texas Panhandle and South Plains, and east and southeast New Mexico. It owns and maintains 500 substations and eight power generating plants, totaling just over 4,900 megawatts of generation capacity.  SPS recently placed into service two large wind projects including the 478 MW Hale Wind Project south of Plainview, TX, and the 522 MW Sagamore Wind Project south of Portales, NM.Hudson is on the board of and previously served as president of the United Way of Amarillo & Canyon. Hudson also serves on the board of directors for the Boy Scouts of America's Golden Spread Council and the board of directors for the West Texas A&M University Foundation.Hudson earned a Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering from Texas Tech University, and a Master of Business Administration from West Texas A&M University.  He is a licensed professional engineer by the state of Texas. He is also a registered Texas high school football official.

In this episode, our CEO John Feddersen is joined by Peter Cramton, Professor of Economics at the University of Cologne to discuss the future of power markets. Peter is one of the world's foremost experts on electricity systems economics, he's been a leading thinker in market design across energy, telecommunications and health procurements in the US, Europe and beyond. Since 1983, he has conducted research on auctions and market design, with a focus on the design of complex markets to best achieve goals. Between 2015-2021, he was an independent director of the board of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). John and Peter discuss: • Whether privatisation of parts of the power markets worked globally in the sense that enhanced human welfare • The meaning and targets for decarbonisation in Europe vs the US • Security of supply and the impact of the recent events in ERCOT on capacity markets and energy only markets

Gillan Taddune is the Chief Executive Officer of Banyan Water, the makers of data-driven water conservation software. Previously, she served in leadership positions at Recyclebank, EnerNoc and Green Mountain Energy. She also served as chief economist for the Public Utility Commission of Texas. She currently sits on the Austin Technology Incubator's water Advisory Board where she advises startups in the water conservation field. Gillan has served as a member of the board of directors of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, and the Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association. She holds a MA from The John Hopkins University and a BA from the University of Vermont.

After the winter outages, Texans have been demanding a rethink of the Texas electricity market. Is it finally coming? Weathering criticism for its handling of winter outages, The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, announces a redesign of the electricity market. We’ll explore the planned changes and what they add up to. Also, is […]

For a long time, leaders in Texas were content to have the state produce, transport, and consume its own electricity. But recent extreme weather events have exposed critical flaws in the system, and yesterday, the state's Electric Reliability Council unveiled its plan to attempt and make its Anthony Adragna is an energy reporter for POLITICO and host of POLITICO Energy. Eric Wolff is an energy reporter for POLITICO. Carlos Prieto is a Politico podcast producer. Jenny Ament is the senior producer of POLITICO audio. Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO audio.

Podcast: Hack the Plant (LS 30 · TOP 5% what is this?)Episode: ERCOT and the Texas Power OutagePub date: 2021-06-28In February, severe winter storms and an electricity generation failure left almost 5 million people in Texas without power, leading to hundreds of deaths, and a shortage of heat, food and water. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) manages the flow of electric power to more than 26 million Texas customers. How did the massive power failure happen? What does this power outage suggest about the resilience of our critical infrastructure?Beth Garza, former director of ERCOT and senior fellow at the R Street Institute, answers these questions and more. Over the course of her 35-year career in the electric utility industry, Beth Garza has held a variety of leadership roles in generation and transmission planning, system operations, regulatory affairs and market design for both regulated and competitive entities.  Further information:Watch: Shedding light on the legislative response to the Texas blackouts. Testimony: The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology hearing on "Lessons learned from the Texas blackouts: Research needs for a secure and resilient grid."  The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Bryson Bort, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

Smart home fatigue, untrustworthy thermostats, Alexa reads to kids The Smart Home Isn't Worth It IoT has a long ways to go to be trustworthy The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 gives Google Assistant a new look Google Will Warn Users When Search Results May Be Unreliable Google promises at least 5 years of support for Nest devices Amazon's latest Alexa trick is helping kids read Xbox Game Pass browser, iOS streaming arrives today Apple Gaming Controller Arrives in Unexpected Way Apple Watch International Collection bands show the love of country Portraits on watchOS 8 is a clever and delightful take on featuring photos with Apple Watch Apple execs address Apple Watch as the modern wallet Apple products to keep away from medical devices: Basically all of them Roundup: Here's everything new with Siri in iOS 15 Hunter Douglas PowerView shades review: The most luxe experience a HomeKit user could ask for Picks of the week Matthew: AirPods Max Mikah: eero Pro 6 Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Matthew Cassinelli Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/smart-tech-today Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Show notes and links for this episode are available at: https://twit.tv/shows/smart-tech-today/episodes/85

Smart home fatigue, untrustworthy thermostats, Alexa reads to kids The Smart Home Isn't Worth It IoT has a long ways to go to be trustworthy The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 gives Google Assistant a new look Google Will Warn Users When Search Results May Be Unreliable Google promises at least 5 years of support for Nest devices Amazon's latest Alexa trick is helping kids read Xbox Game Pass browser, iOS streaming arrives today Apple Gaming Controller Arrives in Unexpected Way Apple Watch International Collection bands show the love of country Portraits on watchOS 8 is a clever and delightful take on featuring photos with Apple Watch Apple execs address Apple Watch as the modern wallet Apple products to keep away from medical devices: Basically all of them Roundup: Here's everything new with Siri in iOS 15 Hunter Douglas PowerView shades review: The most luxe experience a HomeKit user could ask for Picks of the week Matthew: AirPods Max Mikah: eero Pro 6 Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Matthew Cassinelli Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/smart-tech-today Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Show notes and links for this episode are available at: https://twit.tv/shows/smart-tech-today/episodes/85

Smart home fatigue, untrustworthy thermostats, Alexa reads to kids The Smart Home Isn't Worth It IoT has a long ways to go to be trustworthy The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 gives Google Assistant a new look Google Will Warn Users When Search Results May Be Unreliable Google promises at least 5 years of support for Nest devices Amazon's latest Alexa trick is helping kids read Xbox Game Pass browser, iOS streaming arrives today Apple Gaming Controller Arrives in Unexpected Way Apple Watch International Collection bands show the love of country Portraits on watchOS 8 is a clever and delightful take on featuring photos with Apple Watch Apple execs address Apple Watch as the modern wallet Apple products to keep away from medical devices: Basically all of them Roundup: Here's everything new with Siri in iOS 15 Hunter Douglas PowerView shades review: The most luxe experience a HomeKit user could ask for Picks of the week Matthew: AirPods Max Mikah: eero Pro 6 Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Matthew Cassinelli Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/smart-tech-today Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Show notes and links for this episode are available at: https://twit.tv/shows/smart-tech-today/episodes/85

Smart home fatigue, untrustworthy thermostats, Alexa reads to kids The Smart Home Isn't Worth It IoT has a long ways to go to be trustworthy The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 gives Google Assistant a new look Google Will Warn Users When Search Results May Be Unreliable Google promises at least 5 years of support for Nest devices Amazon's latest Alexa trick is helping kids read Xbox Game Pass browser, iOS streaming arrives today Apple Gaming Controller Arrives in Unexpected Way Apple Watch International Collection bands show the love of country Portraits on watchOS 8 is a clever and delightful take on featuring photos with Apple Watch Apple execs address Apple Watch as the modern wallet Apple products to keep away from medical devices: Basically all of them Roundup: Here's everything new with Siri in iOS 15 Hunter Douglas PowerView shades review: The most luxe experience a HomeKit user could ask for Picks of the week Matthew: AirPods Max Mikah: eero Pro 6 Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Matthew Cassinelli Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/smart-tech-today Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Show notes and links for this episode are available at: https://twit.tv/shows/smart-tech-today/episodes/85

Smart home fatigue, untrustworthy thermostats, Alexa reads to kids The Smart Home Isn't Worth It IoT has a long ways to go to be trustworthy The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 gives Google Assistant a new look Google Will Warn Users When Search Results May Be Unreliable Google promises at least 5 years of support for Nest devices Amazon's latest Alexa trick is helping kids read Xbox Game Pass browser, iOS streaming arrives today Apple Gaming Controller Arrives in Unexpected Way Apple Watch International Collection bands show the love of country Portraits on watchOS 8 is a clever and delightful take on featuring photos with Apple Watch Apple execs address Apple Watch as the modern wallet Apple products to keep away from medical devices: Basically all of them Roundup: Here's everything new with Siri in iOS 15 Hunter Douglas PowerView shades review: The most luxe experience a HomeKit user could ask for Picks of the week Matthew: AirPods Max Mikah: eero Pro 6 Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Matthew Cassinelli Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/smart-tech-today Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Show notes and links for this episode are available at: https://twit.tv/shows/smart-tech-today/episodes/85

Smart home fatigue, untrustworthy thermostats, Alexa reads to kids The Smart Home Isn't Worth It IoT has a long ways to go to be trustworthy The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 gives Google Assistant a new look Google Will Warn Users When Search Results May Be Unreliable Google promises at least 5 years of support for Nest devices Amazon's latest Alexa trick is helping kids read Xbox Game Pass browser, iOS streaming arrives today Apple Gaming Controller Arrives in Unexpected Way Apple Watch International Collection bands show the love of country Portraits on watchOS 8 is a clever and delightful take on featuring photos with Apple Watch Apple execs address Apple Watch as the modern wallet Apple products to keep away from medical devices: Basically all of them Roundup: Here's everything new with Siri in iOS 15 Hunter Douglas PowerView shades review: The most luxe experience a HomeKit user could ask for Picks of the week Matthew: AirPods Max Mikah: eero Pro 6 Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Matthew Cassinelli Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/smart-tech-today Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Show notes and links for this episode are available at: https://twit.tv/shows/smart-tech-today/episodes/85

Smart home fatigue, untrustworthy thermostats, Alexa reads to kids The Smart Home Isn't Worth It IoT has a long ways to go to be trustworthy The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 gives Google Assistant a new look Google Will Warn Users When Search Results May Be Unreliable Google promises at least 5 years of support for Nest devices Amazon's latest Alexa trick is helping kids read Xbox Game Pass browser, iOS streaming arrives today Apple Gaming Controller Arrives in Unexpected Way Apple Watch International Collection bands show the love of country Portraits on watchOS 8 is a clever and delightful take on featuring photos with Apple Watch Apple execs address Apple Watch as the modern wallet Apple products to keep away from medical devices: Basically all of them Roundup: Here's everything new with Siri in iOS 15 Hunter Douglas PowerView shades review: The most luxe experience a HomeKit user could ask for Picks of the week Matthew: AirPods Max Mikah: eero Pro 6 Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Matthew Cassinelli Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/smart-tech-today Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Show notes and links for this episode are available at: https://twit.tv/shows/smart-tech-today/episodes/85

Smart home fatigue, untrustworthy thermostats, Alexa reads to kids The Smart Home Isn't Worth It IoT has a long ways to go to be trustworthy The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 gives Google Assistant a new look Google Will Warn Users When Search Results May Be Unreliable Google promises at least 5 years of support for Nest devices Amazon's latest Alexa trick is helping kids read Xbox Game Pass browser, iOS streaming arrives today Apple Gaming Controller Arrives in Unexpected Way Apple Watch International Collection bands show the love of country Portraits on watchOS 8 is a clever and delightful take on featuring photos with Apple Watch Apple execs address Apple Watch as the modern wallet Apple products to keep away from medical devices: Basically all of them Roundup: Here's everything new with Siri in iOS 15 Hunter Douglas PowerView shades review: The most luxe experience a HomeKit user could ask for Picks of the week Matthew: AirPods Max Mikah: eero Pro 6 Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Matthew Cassinelli Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/smart-tech-today Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Show notes and links for this episode are available at: https://twit.tv/shows/smart-tech-today/episodes/85

Smart home fatigue, untrustworthy thermostats, Alexa reads to kids The Smart Home Isn't Worth It IoT has a long ways to go to be trustworthy The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 gives Google Assistant a new look Google Will Warn Users When Search Results May Be Unreliable Google promises at least 5 years of support for Nest devices Amazon's latest Alexa trick is helping kids read Xbox Game Pass browser, iOS streaming arrives today Apple Gaming Controller Arrives in Unexpected Way Apple Watch International Collection bands show the love of country Portraits on watchOS 8 is a clever and delightful take on featuring photos with Apple Watch Apple execs address Apple Watch as the modern wallet Apple products to keep away from medical devices: Basically all of them Roundup: Here's everything new with Siri in iOS 15 Hunter Douglas PowerView shades review: The most luxe experience a HomeKit user could ask for Picks of the week Matthew: AirPods Max Mikah: eero Pro 6 Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Matthew Cassinelli Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/smart-tech-today Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Show notes and links for this episode are available at: https://twit.tv/shows/smart-tech-today/episodes/85

After what happened in Texas earlier this year, how can the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)—which represents 90% of the state's electrical load—possibly be trusted? This week the boys return to San Antonio to talk with Joel Frederick, president of Quartermoon Plumbing & AC as he shares his views of ERCOT and conserving energy, the Texas deregulated electrical grid, the cold snap earlier in the year, the supply chain, rising prices, finding and keeping good employees, hunting wild boar, Ross Perot and Branch Davidians. Joel is always a good sport and he isn't afraid to tell it like it is. Give it a listen!#notdeadyetpodcast #ndypodcast #quartermoonplumbing #mechanicalhub #texasplumbers #HVAC #plumbing

In February, severe winter storms and an electricity generation failure left almost 5 million people in Texas without power, leading to hundreds of deaths, and a shortage of heat, food and water. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) manages the flow of electric power to more than 26 million Texas customers. How did the massive power failure happen? What does this power outage suggest about the resilience of our critical infrastructure?Beth Garza, former director of ERCOT and senior fellow at the R Street Institute, answers these questions and more. Over the course of her 35-year career in the electric utility industry, Beth Garza has held a variety of leadership roles in generation and transmission planning, system operations, regulatory affairs and market design for both regulated and competitive entities.  Further information:Watch: Shedding light on the legislative response to the Texas blackouts. Testimony: The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology hearing on "Lessons learned from the Texas blackouts: Research needs for a secure and resilient grid."  

Today featuring Chrissy Teigen, The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, & Batman and Catwoman: These are the top maybe-not headlines from the past 36-hours presented by The Conversation Project from raw engagement data from our social media to the headlines posted over the past day.Find more at http://thisistheconversation.com/eightthings20210615

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas says a large number of power plants are offline, but could not provide details as to what may be causing the "very concerning" number of outages. At the same time, the state is experiencing near record June demand for electricity.

On this week's episode, The Current sat down for our very first interview on the social media platform Clubhouse to discuss the February winter storms that struck the South. Texas electricity consumers were particularly hit hard, with millions of Texans going without power in freezing temperatures for days. It could have been worse. The grid was just minutes away from being wiped out. The storm renewed focus on the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), and its failure to prepare for and respond to the disaster. Ed Hirs, Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of Houston and a bona fide expert on energy markets, sits down with Brad to discuss what happened and how to prevent this disaster from happening again. 

Could Texas face more blackouts this summer? According to John Harpole, founder and owner of Mercator Energy, a gas brokerage firm based in Littleton, Colo., it is a growing possibility given the damage to the state's power grid from the severe winter storm earlier this year that still needs to be addressed.“There are experts that are predicting there could be two or three rolling blackouts again this summer when peak day of demands increase,” Harpole told Cornerstone Government Affairs' Jack Belcher in this edition of Energy Policy Watch. “They've never seen this peak day of demand in the winter before, but I don't believe that the grid issues have functionally been addressed yet.”In the latest edition of Energy Policy Watch, Harpole, an expert on all aspects of the natural gas value chain and natural gas power markets, joined Belcher for a post-analysis discussion on the 2021 Texas power crisis plus an examination of solutions for the state's power grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).Harpole been his career in the late 1980s, sourcing gas for General Electric (GE), where he saw the deregulation of natural gas where the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission opened up access to pipelines so that GE could transport its own natural gas, he said.“As we saw the deregulation unfold on energy and the effort to integrate the electric grid really with the natural gas grid, I saw a number of issues that I was concerned about,” he said. “Most recently, those concerns were lived out in the Texas rolling or, in some areas, permanent blackouts back in February.”According to Harpole, ERCOT has some critical, fundamental flaws in the design of the transmission grid in Texas and how it responds. A second fundamental flaw he said hasn't been considered is when ERCOT was forced to cut off demand, also known as a “shed load,” ERCOT cut off supply to critical natural gas infrastructure.“One of the things that I've been worried about over the last 10 years is as we march on into this world that certain politicians would like to think that we'll never burn anything, any time, any more and rely exclusively on renewable energy, they forget about that the dispatchable ability—the ability to turn on and turn off—for natural gas, coal and, to lesser extent, nuclear, when much needed is critical,” he said.“In essence, electricity supply was cut off to natural gas infrastructure when natural gas infrastructure and natural gas, the commodity itself, could've answered a lot of the issues related to a shortage of electric generation,” he continued.Topics: Harpole's background in natural gas (1:45) What makes the ERCOT market different in Texas (3:05) Comparing generation resources—wind, natgas & coal (5:35) “Renewable energy landed on a soft pillow” (7:15) Natural gas production during the winter storm (9:35) Drive to electrify natural gas production (11:40) Fatal flaw in natural gas market (13:05) Cost of natural gas storage (16:50) What does Texas need to do (19:00)

In mid-February 2021, a not-as-rare-as-it-used-to-be winter storm swept across the country, causing massive power outages in the state of Texas with deadly consequences. In this episode, hear the highlights of the congressional investigation into the causes of the extended power outages. They were foreseeable, and in fact foreseen, and similar power outages can be prevented; the only question is whether they will be. Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Click here to contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Click here to support Congressional Dish via Patreon (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank’s online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536 Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Recommended Podcast/YouTube Episodes 100 Days of Biden w/ David Dayen & Jennifer Briney Bad Faith Podcast with Briahna Joy Gray and Virgil Texas.  Articles/Documents Article: Report: Bulk of February power plant outages 'weather related' amid historic Texas freeze, By Bob Sechler, Austin American Statesman, April 6, 2021 Article: Why Texas was not prepared for Winter Storm Uri, By Kara Norton, PBS, March 25, 2021 Article: Texas power grid CEO Bill Magness getting fired in wake of deadly blackouts, CBS, March 4, 2021 Article: ERCOT CEO Refuses $800K Payout Following Firing, By Jaclyn Diaz, npr, March 5, 2021 Article: What’s behind $15,000 electricity bills in Texas?, By Seth Blumsack, The Conversation, February 24, 2021 Article: How Winter Storm Uri Impacted the United States, By Theresa Machemer, Smithsonian Magazine, February 19, 2021 Transcript: ERCOT Update Press Conference on Texas Power Outages February 17, Rev, February 17, 2021 Article: Why the Texas power grid is struggling to cope with the extreme cold, By Umair Irfan, Vox, February 16, 2021 Article: Winter Storm Uri Spread Snow, Damaging Ice From Coast-to Coast, Including the Deep South (Recap), The Weather Channel, February 16, 2021 Article: Bitter cold deepens state's power crisis, By Marcy de Luna and Amanda Drane, Houston Chronicle, February 14, 2021 Article: Shellenberger’s Optimistic, Viral Take on Climate Future Challenged by Scientists He Cites, By Alex Kasprak, Snopes, August 4, 2020 Additional Resources Michael Shellenberger DeSmog Texas’ Energy Market and Power Grid 101, Electric Choice Campaign Finance Summary: John A Barrasso, opensecrets.org Sound Clip Sources Hearing: POWER STRUGGLE: EXAMINING THE 2021 TEXAS GRID FAILURE, House Committee on Energy and Commerce: Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, March 24, 2021 Watch on Youtube Witnesses: Sylvester Turner 2015 -: Mayor of Houston, TX 1989 - 2016: Member of the TX House of Representatives Bill Magness President and CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of TX (ERCOT) Testified after being given notice that he would be getting fired at the beginning of May Christi Craddick Chairman of the Railroad Commission of TX Michael Shellenberger Founder and President of Environmental Progress Website: "He has helped save nuclear reactors around the world." James Robb President and CEO of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) The standard setting body for reliability associated with the electric power industry 1988 - 2002: Principal at McKinsey Transcript: 35:45 Cathy McMorris Rodgers: Recent trends show a transition away from coal and nuclear power plants designed to function as baseload capacity toward variable renewable energy sources with just in time natural gas backup. States like California that rely more on weather dependent renewables experienced energy failures on a regular basis. Indeed, California residents experienced blackouts on an ongoing annual basis as the state fails to manage summer electricity demand and wildfire risk. These events suggest that replacing nuclear plants with variable renewable energy sources could make energy grids less resilient. Policies that drive renewables at the expense of firm baseload put lives at risk. 49:09 Bill Magness: Let me give you a bit of background to explain ERCOT's role in the provision of electric power in Texas. We manage the flow of electric power to more than 26 million Texas customers. That's about 90% of the state's electric load and about 75% of the landmass of Texas, ERCOT does not own power plants. We do not own poles and wires. We are the grid operator, like air traffic control for the grid. We're also the settlement agent for the market. We do the bookkeeping and billing, we don't participate in the financial side of our market. Our number one job is to see that supply and demand on the grid are in balance at all times. As the independent system operator for the region, ERCOT schedules power on an electric grid that connects more than 46,500 miles of transmission lines and over 680 generating units. It also performs financial settlement for the competitive wholesale bulk power market and administers retail switching for 8 million premises in the competitive areas in ERCOT. We're a membership based 501 c four nonprofit corporation governed by a board of directors and subject to oversight by the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Texas Legislature. Our members include consumers, cooperatives, generators, power marketers, retail electric providers, and best droned electric utilities, transmission and distribution providers and municipally owned electric utilities. ERCOT's not a policymaking body. We implement the policies adopted by the Public Utility Commission and the Texas Legislature and we operate under reliability rules adopted by the North American Electric Reliability corporation or NERC. Generators produce power from a variety of sources in ERCOT such as gas, coal, wind, solar and nuclear. These are private and public entities subject to regulation by various state and federal agencies. Transmission and distribution providers own the wires and transport the power to consumers subject to their own sets of federal and state regulations. 24 hours a day, seven days a week ERCOT monitors the entirety of the system to make sure that when transmission lines go down, we can work around them. We talk to generators instructing them to bring load onto the system or to back it down as needed. We oversee the scheduling of maintenance and more. The work is done with one purpose to maintain the 60 hertz frequency that's needed to ensure the stability of the grid. There's a constant balancing act to manage the supply and demand to ensure a stable frequency. During the week of February 15, the Texas electric market experienced more demand than available supply. At its worst the storm took out 48.6% of the generation available to ERCOT to balance the grid. We always keep reserves, but when you lose nearly half your generation, you're going to have a problem. And supply quickly diminished the frequency of the grid dipped perilously low. Many generators stayed off for days and this led the system unable to serve that high demand. We use the last tool in our toolkit. Planned outages. Calling for load shed to manage the stability of the grid. This crisis required are caught using procedures established for emergencies like this to call on Transmission providers to use control load shedding to balance the system and prevent a devastating blackout for the entire grid. avoiding a complete blackout is critical. Were to occur, the Texas grid could be down for several days or weeks while the damage to the electrical grid was repaired and the power restored in a phased and highly controlled process. The cost of restoration of the system. The economic loss for Texas and the personal costs of the well being of Texas citizens would be unfathomable. as terrible as the consequences of the controlled outages in February were if we had not felt the blackout power could have been out for over 90% of Texans for weeks. The steps we took were difficult, but they had to be taken and when power was able to be fully restored. The Texas electric delivery system immediately returned to its pre emergency conditions. 57:36 Christi Craddick: As the storm sat over Texas wind, solar, coal, nuclear oil and natural gas all experienced challenges. Through numerous conversations with the oil and gas industry and operators, we learned of frozen roadways preventing crews from accessing the fields. But the number one problem we heard reported from operators was a lack of power at their production sites. As outages spread across the state operators were unable to keep their systems functioning as power was cut. Some operators did need to preemptively shut in their wells for safety and well integrity purposes prior to the storm, beginning as early as February 9. Starting on Tuesday, February 16, as it was safe to return to the oilfield, crews arrived to find that their facilities were experiencing electricity outages. The oil fields simply cannot run without power, making electricity the best winterization tool. 59:13 Christi Craddick: For just one moment, I'd like to highlight the overall success of our LDC's our local distribution companies. They are the companies that provide gas directly to residential customers. If you have a gas powered stove, fireplace, furnace heat, you're an LDC customer. As millions of homes lost electricity in Texas, only 2,153 LDC customers experienced service disruption. That means that 99.95% of all customers did not lose gas. 4.6 million households in Texas utilize natural gas in their homes representing about 13 million Texans and these families were able to continue to heat their homes. 1:11:19 Rep. Diana DeGette (CO): ERCOT has stated publicly that the recent extreme weather in Texas, 'caused many generating units across fuel types to trip offline and become unavailable.' Isn't it true that during the extreme weather event, natural gas, wind, coal, solar and even nuclear power were forced offline? Bill Magness: Yes, Chairman, we did see periods of time where each one of those types of generation flipped offline. Rep. Diana DeGette: And as devastating as this was, I guess a lot of people who are surprised because, Mayor, you were in the Texas legislature for more than 25 years. And you said in your written testimony, the magnitude, and also today, that magnitude of damages was foreseeable, and preventable. The Texas grid must be designed with the full appreciation that climate change is real and extreme weather events can occur with throughout the year. Is it your view that Texas ignored these warnings, and missed several opportunities to fortify the grid against the threat of extreme weather? Sylvester Turner: Madam chair? The answer is yes. I was in the legislature when the winter storm occurred in 2011. In fact, I found House Bill 1986. That's specifically what mandated the Public Utility Commission to have ERCOT have a sufficient reserve to prevent blackouts. That was in 2011. Rep. Diana DeGette: Mr. Rob, I understand that NERC has issued a series of recommendations in recent years warning about reliability risk to the Texas grid, including after this same storm that hit Texas in 2011. Now, I know nurse inquiry is ongoing, but based on the information you have, did Texas winterize its power infrastructure to the degree NERC had recommended after the 2011 storm? Jim Robb: Well, the inquiry will affirm this but evidence was just absolutely not. Rep. Diana DeGette: Absolutely not. 1:14:05 Sylvester Turner: I will tell you we're not just relying on generators. We had a number of generators go under in wastewater treatment facilities. When the grid failed, some of those generators didn't kick in. What we are doing now is looking at piloting micro grids that actually tie into the Texas grid. And they are always on, they never turn off. They're on 24 seven. And so we're looking at power utilizing that for our key infrastructure projects with it for city facilities as well as in low income communities in the city. 1:15:03 Jim Robb: But the key to integrating large amounts of renewable resources is the balancing resource that that picks up generation when the renewable resources can't perform because of weather conditions or what have you. And today, the only real resource we have that can do that would either be hydro, as was mentioned earlier, or natural gas. And natural gas of those fuels is the most easily transported to to where it's needed. So gas is the answer to making this transition work. 1:17:36 Michael Shellenberger: I just will also mention I this talk and this idea that there is some inevitability to a transition towards variable renewable energy sources is incorrect. It is not shared by most energy experts. It is a consequence of policy choices. And if we want to have affordable, reliable, resilient electricity sources, we need reliable sources of electricity produced in large, efficient power plants, whether nuclear natural gas or coal. 1:33:06 Jim Robb: The report that we put out in 2011, called for very clear freeze protection on the generating plants and raised the issue as to whether that should extend into the natural gas supply as well. And what I understand Texas did was to put in place legislation that required weatherization, but not to a specific level. And it was not aggressively enforced standard. I think it was spot checked. And, and enforcement against that was relatively modest is my understanding. Why we're... No, I think that's one of the reasons why after the 2018 event, we concluded that we needed to move to a mandatory freeze protection standard for equipment and to have that be monitored and enforced by us. 1:50:24 Michael Shellenberger: If we're going to shut down all of our nuclear plants which are 20% of our electricity, and we better keep our coal plants around, and I say this is somebody that has long advocated the transition from coal to natural gas and nuclear. 1:58:32 Christi Craddick: I believe that transmission pipes are in the ground and that's natural insulation, where we do have some challenges when you had the electric TriCity roll off into fields and across the state than we did our problems with compressors that are electric compressors and or natural gas compressors. Like you can't move stuff in a pipe if you've got an up compressor without electricity. So but the pipes themselves did not freeze and I think that's been a mis communication across the board when you've looked at the press communication 2:04:12 Michael Shellenberger: Civilization depends on reliable electricity. I think everybody agrees with that. But then you need to people need to explain how it is that variable renewable energy sources which are weather dependent, are somehow add up to being reliable and resilient at grid levels they don't, that actually just adds up to less reliability and less resilience, all else being equal. 3:02:55 Rep. Marc Veasey (TX): We also know that many natural gas producers and processors failed to file the necessary paperwork with the electric utility to be listed as critical infrastructure. That meant that when we have rolling blackouts, and when they were initiated, these natural gas companies didn't have the electricity necessary to pull gas from underground, which in turn led to a natural gas shortage of power plants and created a downward spiral of more blackouts. Right now, it's optional for these companies to file this paperwork, but Charlie Garin also from Fort Worth, he has a bill, Commissioner Craddick, that he is going to file that will answer some of these concerns that I just laid out. And I want to ask you, Commissioner Craddick should ease energy producers, who we all know are critical to keep the lights on. So we won't have a repeat of what we saw, should they be required to file this paperwork? And should it be included on the electric utilities critical list? Christi Craddick: I think it's an important piece that frankly, my agency hadn't been communicated from ERCOT that this existed, but to if you look at for these forums, and the second the the time when we finally realize this form existed, because it was based on summertime, not winter time. But when we realized that we've now sent it from our agency sent a letter to every single operator that we regulate, suggesting that they file this form, but youdon't think it should be required.The challenge we still have though, is ERCOT today doesn't prioritize gas fields. It's only gas processing plants for it, so we'd like to encourage ERCOT to remap the system and understand that the the whole system needs to be included not just part because we had operators who told us they would have been happy to file the form had one, they known about it and two, had have been included in the form and they were not. Hearing: ELECTRIC SERVICE AND EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS, Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, March 11, 2021 Watch on Youtube Witnesses: Mark A. Gabriel Administrator, Western Area Power Administration, Department of Energy James B. Robb, North American Electric Reliability Corporation Pat Wood, III, Hunt Energy Network, former Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Michael D. Shellenberger, Environmental Progress Manu Asthana, PJM Interconnection Transcript: 11:51 Jim Robb: There are three major trends which are fundamentally transforming the bulk power system and challenging our historic reliability paradigms. First, the system is decarbonizing rapidly and this evolution is altering the operational characteristics of the grid. policies, economics and market designs are resulting in significant retirements of traditional generation, new investment is increasingly focused on developing carbon free generation with variable production profiles. And in this resource mix, natural gas fired generation is becoming ever more critical, both for both energy to serve load and balancing energy to support the integration of these variable resources. Second, the grid is becoming more distributed. The improved economics of solar is a key example. These smaller scale resources have been deployed on both the bulk electric as well as distribution systems and in many cases reside behind the meter. And third, the system is becoming increasingly digitized through smart meters and digital control systems. These investments greatly enhanced the operational awareness and efficiency of grid operators, but at the same time, it heightens our exposure to cybersecurity risk. 12:59 Jim Robb: Our reliability assessments are one important way we evaluate the performance of the grid, identify reliability trends, anticipate challenges, and provide a technical platform for important policy discussion. With growing reliance on variable and just in time resources, we are developing more advanced ways to study energy supply risk. Our assessments consistently have identified three regions of the country, particularly exposed to these dynamics: California, Texas and New England. Last August, a massive heat wave across the west caused an energy supply shortage in California in the early evening, solar energy was ramping down and the grid operator was unable to import power as planned. due to high demand throughout the West, Cal ISO was forced to cut power to approximately 800,000 customers. Among the lessons learned from this event are one the critical need for reliable ramping resources to balance load, and second, the need for improved ways to estimate resource availability when the system is under stress. In New England, cold weather exacerbates its dependence on limited pipeline capacity and a handful of critical fuel assets. An early January coldsnap in 2018, led to natural gas shortages and fuel oil was burned to preserve reliability. Had that coldsnap not abated when it did. The fuel oil inventory would eventually be exhausted, and I assume New England almost certainly would have needed to shed load. It was a classic near miss event. Insufficient and inadequate weatherization of generation in Texas in the middle South states has been a growing concern for us since 2012. After a cold weather event caused loadshedding for 3 million customers in Texas in 2011. We developed a winter preparation guideline to focus industry on best practices and started conducting significant outreach on winter preparedness. Following additional extremes and unplanned load shedding in that region in 2018. We concluded that these events could no longer be treated as rare, and that a mandatory approach was warranted. As a result, nerf began the process of adding mandatory weatherization requirements into our reliability standards. 15:00 Jim Robb: First, more investment in transmission and natural gas infrastructure is required to improve the resilience of the electric grid. Increased utility scale wind and solar will require new transmission to get power to load centers. Next, the regulatory structure and oversight of natural gas supply for the purposes of electric generation needs to be rethought. The natural gas system was not built and operated with electric reliability. First in mind, policy action and legislation will likely be needed to assure reliable fuel supply for electric generation. As the critical balancing resource natural gas is the fuel that keeps the lights on. Third, the electric and natural gas systems must be better prepared for extreme weather conditions which are frankly becoming more routine. Regulatory and market structures need to support this planning and the necessary investment to assure reliability. And finally, investment in energy storage or alternative technologies needs to be supported to have a viable alternative to natural gas for balancing variable resources. A technology which can be deployed cost effectively and at massive scale with adequate duration to deal with supply disruption lasting for days rather than hours is required. 19:13 Mark A. Gabriel: First, every former generation can be disrupted by extreme temperatures. Second, a competitive market can discourage long term capital investment in reliability and resilience measures. And finally, costs move in both directions in competitive markets, and electricity will flow often times at impractical prices. 21:07 Mark A. Gabriel: In conclusion, power and gas markets in the United States are marvelously efficient at driving out inefficient, generating huge units, increasing financial liquidity and expanding the sale of electricity. However, the real question is whether electricity and to a lesser extent natural gas are logical commodities to participate in open markets. Unlike pork bellies and orange juice trading electrons has consequences far greater than the availability of bacon or a morning refreshment. 23:25 Pat Wood: Today I'm CEO of the hunt energy network. We're building storage batteries, small batteries at the distribution level around the state of Texas. I think the role of energy storage in the future is going to be one that will be just nowhere to go but up. As we bring on intermittent resources, understand the members concerns and lived through them as well with intermittent resources or variable resources that we've got to do something to firm those up. Storage is that golden bullet that as a regulator, I didn't have 15-20 years ago, and we were talking through market issues across from California to New England. But storage is just beginning. It's got to scale up but it's a pretty interesting place to be. 46:00 Sen. John Barrasso (WY): You've written and you see, 'California is big bet on renewables and shunning of natural gas and nuclear is directly responsible for the state's blackouts and high electricity prices.' Could you expand upon your comments for the committee? Michael D. Shellenberger: Well, sure, there was a root cause analysis published by the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Energy Commission, and the California grid operator Kaiso, which made a very similar point though, in a more muted fashion. That point was made very dramatically in the midst of the crisis last August in a conference call with reporters, where the grid operator specifically pointed to the closure of San Onofre nuclear power plant, which was about 2200 megawatts of power, as well as the closure of natural gas plants as the really the main factors that resulted in the shortage of energy. 46:49 Sen. John Barrasso (WY): You know, you've written a bit and you said, quote, have some have long pointed to batteries is the way to integrate unreliable renewables onto the grid. However, that batteries you say are simply not up to the task today and you went on to explain indeed for renewables to work batteries would need to be able to store the power for weeks, and perhaps even months. Can you expand upon the comments for the committee? Michael D. Shellenberger: Sure. Well, we have one of the largest battery installations in the world in Escondido, California, and it provides power for 16,000 Californians for about four hours. There's almost 40 million Californians, the cost is prohibitive prohibitively high and in fact, most advocates of renewables now, no longer think that lithium batteries are going to be an important form of storage beyond you know, managing minutes or hours. 52:38 Mark A. Gabriel: I think what we also have to look at and understand is how can we use the existing transmission system differently. For example, there are seven ties between the eastern and western grid that are perfect examples of 1980s technology, which could clearly be upgraded and quite frankly, could be done within a two to four year timeframe. So we'd have some immediate benefit there. 59:47 Mark A. Gabriel: Gotta consider in the United States only 3% of the 90,000 dams have power capabilities to them. And if anything, I think it's a it's a valuable discussion to have to make sure that we are thinking about increasing hydro power, as it is a carbon free resource, and one that can help bolster a grid in times of great stress. 1:02:08 Sen. Martin Heinrich (NM): Coal has become completely unaffordable as a power source. If you look at Lazard or any of the independent analysis of what wholesale costs are for various different generations, and you have solar at three to four cents a kilowatt and wind at three to five cents a kilowatt, and then you have coal at 7 to 16 cents a kilowatt, or nuclear at 13 to 20 cents a kilowatt, you understand what some of the market pressures are here, and why we're being asked for example, to subsidize nuclear power. 1:03:00 Sen. Martin Heinrich (NM): I'd ask what policies you think would be wise to accelerate the deployment of the storage that you mentioned, on the grid both in Texas and nationally? Pat Wood: Well, I think getting a diversity of supply chain, we clearly are dependent on China and a few other countries in East Asia for the current technologies that I think Mr. Shallenberger pointed out correctly, that there are a lot of things other than lithium ions, but those are what are in all the EV's and in certainly all the storage technology. So the cost upstream if there could be some American or at least North American European suppliers to that. The policies in the US make it easy make it as easy to interconnect a battery as we've made it to connect gas plants and windmills. Yeah, we're of course version 1.0 talking with our utilities. We haven't done it before, but it's it's not easy. Learning to get these things done one by one. I think the market policies in most of the organized markets are very friendly to battery so I think we've got that box checked. Sen. Martin Heinrich (NM): So interconnection is really a big... Pat Wood: Interconnection is important. 1:04:40 Sen. Martin Heinrich (NM): Would it have been helpful for Texas to be able to import power either from the east or the west? In this recent episode, because I noticed that El Paso power for example, El Paso didn't have the same rolling blackouts because they were able to pull from the western grid. Pat Wood: And they are directly interconnected with it. We do have some gates in the wall. Sen. Martin Heinrich (NM): Yes, you have DC connections. But if you don't have direct connections? Pat Wood: Correct, that's right. And there actually are proposals to put more of the DC ties in both east and west. To be honest, a few gigawatts wouldn't wouldn't hurt. But it wouldn't have saved us from really what was a 20 gigawatt short shortfall at the... Sen. Martin Heinrich (NM): What was the single largest shortfall from which generation source? If you look at it Pat Wood: Well, our largest supplier on a normal day is gas. So the impact of gas dropping both at the supply level and then at the power plant level. That's that's the interesting thing to figure out is how much was related to the lack of winterization, which we should have learned from the 2011 experience, how much was done from that, and how much actually had to do with the supply system or the upstream issues from the gas wells all the way down to the power plant. 1:23:15 Sen. James Lankford (OK): Natural gas is quick to be able to turn on. But when you're not asked for much for a long period of time, and then suddenly you ask for a lot in a short period of time, especially an extremely cold weather event, then suddenly it's like, you know what, we can't turn it all on that fast that much. Is there a tipping point that you're seeing for providing other fuels that are out there that for instance, were 40, 50, 60% renewables and you've got a very small portfolio of natural gas, and then the wind stops blowing, and it's a cloudy day, and you suddenly don't have those. And he asked natural gas to turn on 50% suddenly, that's just not realistic, because what is upstream is not able to turn on that fast. Is that a realistic conversation? Jim Robb: I think that's that is the conversation that needs to take place. Natural gas plants are the most flexible that we have in the system to accommodate the variability that we see with large amounts of variable resources. And it is a real challenge for the natural gas industry to provide that kind of capacity that quickly. It's not designed to do that. But that's what the electric industry needs. And this is the question that I think policymakers and probably legislators are going to have to tackle which is how do we create a construct for natural gas to be able to serve these very unique needs of the electric system for which it's not designed to do 1:35:40 Sen. Roger Marshall (KS): How could Burke investigate if there was anything nefarious, what does that process look like? And I'm not saying there is. I'm just it just hard for me to imagine just prices going up exponentially. And again, I think of that, you know, my parents on a fixed income, what's happening to their electric bill and their heating bill coming up? Right now was well, how would Burke investigate this? Pat Wood: NERC does have authority over market manipulation, or just markets in general in the interstate markets, of course, interstate natural gas pipeline serve Kansas, Oklahoma and parts of Texas as well. We have an interest state that separate but the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, they were certainly involved with us 20 years ago, when we unpacked the issues in the California crisis. The state attorneys general, as I mentioned, the one in Texas is already investigating this issue. Those three, three camps for CFTC. For the futures foryour experiences, that takes decades to go through,well, no, it doesn't. I mean, you can unpack in this digitized age. We have a lot more capability that in 2021 than we did in 2001 to review trades in this matter or in any matter much more expeditious. 1:37:40 Sen. Angus King (ME): Can you tell us unequivocally that wind turbines did not cause the problem in Texas? Pat Wood: They did not cause the problem, they were honestly the only thing was like gas and coal and everywhere. Sen. Angus King (ME): So every... Pat Wood: Everything could have helped solve it more faster. But you know, when was slow to get back, and so was coal and so was gas.Sen. Angus King (ME): And I want to mention that the wind project that I worked on in Maine has been online in 10 years in Maine. And it's never been down because of the cold that I know of it was a question of they're not weatherizing their entire turbine. So there's nothing intrinsic in the wind power that can't survive cold weather. 1:40:25 Manu Asthana: But I think the the really exciting part of electric vehicles and PJM did a study with the University of Delaware on vehicle to grid. We actually piloted having vehicles provide regulation services off of their batteries. And, you know, people were able to earn $100 a month in the pilot, so I think there's a lot of capability that will come to the grid that hopefully can add resilience through EV's as well. Republicans LIE, Say Texas Blackouts Caused by Wind Power, David Pakman Show, February 17, 2021 Chris Hayes Debunks GOP, Right-Wing Media Lies About Texas Power Outages | All In | MSNBC, MSNBC, February 16, 2021 Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)

The massive loss in power generation during the Texas blackout in February was caused primarily by power plants freezing up under historically cold conditions, according to a new report by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. Texas counties that are poorer, whiter, less-educated and where former President Donald Trump won a larger share of the vote have vaccinated a fewer people than the state average, a new analysis found. Here's what that means for Texas' ability to quickly reach herd immunity for COVID-19.

The massive loss in power generation during the Texas blackout in February was caused primarily by power plants freezing up under historically cold conditions, according to a new report by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. Texas counties that are poorer, whiter, less-educated and where former President Donald Trump won a larger share of the vote have vaccinated a fewer people than the state average, a new analysis found. Here's what that means for Texas' ability to quickly reach herd immunity for COVID-19.

ERCOT faces class-action lawsuit, resignations in wake of Texas power outages Texas' embattled power grid operator is facing lawsuits and resignations after more than 4 million customers lost electricity last week during a deadly winter storm. Morgan & Morgan, a Florida-based national law firm with over 700 attorneys, filed a class-action lawsuit on Tuesday against the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), alleging that the nonprofit corporation “utterly failed” to plan for the cold weather despite multiple warnings, leading to the collapse of its electrical network and resulting in widespread blackouts. https://abcnews.go.com/US/ercot-faces-class-action-lawsuit-resignations-wake-texas/story?id=76082010 Maryland Gov. Hogan calls for investigation into Baltimore... View Article

I'm irritated by how the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) "handled" the recent winter weather event here in Texas. Try Magic Mind!! Click here for a special discount from What the Hell?Check us out on YouTube!! Email us at whatthehellpodcast@yahoo.comLike us on Facebook!Buy Me a Coffee: Click here!Thank you for listening!!!

The largest county in Texas has undergone a sea change in political leadership in recent years, and the elected officials' focus—like everyone else in the state—has turned to outages last week that affected millions of people, killed dozens and launched investigations into what went wrong. “Folks are overwhelmed, and there's a big element of trauma," Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, who became the top civil lawyer here in November, noted in the latest episode of Law&Crime's podcast "Objections." In a city beset by multiple 500-year weather events within the past half-decade, the Houston Chronicle called trauma the Bayou City's hidden tax, and Menefee agrees, noting it's a price paid more acutely by the poor and communities of color. Part of a new movement of younger, more diverse and progressive leaders, Menefee—the first African-American Harris County Attorney—sounds off on environmental justice and his just-launched civil investigation into regulators previously obscure outside the Lone Star State: the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and Public Utility Commission (PUC). University of Texas Professor David Spence unpacks the complicated history of Texas's independent energy grid.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As Texas recovers from Winter Storm Uri, many across the country are asking, “what went wrong” in the Lone Star State. From a crisis communications perspective, many Texans were left in the dark by state-level leaders and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). With more than 4.5 million customers without power – and many more without access to clean water – could this have been prevented? Pinch-hitting for Hattie Horn this week, Dan Gold, an award-winning global MarComs strategist hailing from Canada, joins Austin Staton and Thomas Baen to dissect the crisis in Texas, and how Texans could have benefitted from effective crisis management. The Business Communicators offer their insights for a crisis comms playbook and give key takeaways that businesses can use to equip their teams in the event of a crisis.Then, Facebook has taken a drastic approach in Australia to ban all news stories from its site, after a long-running battle over who should pay for news online. Rather than pay media companies in return for linking to their stories, as a forthcoming Australian law would require, the company opted to block all such links on its platform. What does this mean for free speech and access to information in Australia? Will it have longer-lasting implications globally?The show closes with a new segment that focuses on writing prompts and extemporaneous speaking. This week's: “Name something simple that brings you joy.” To our listeners: We want to hear from you. Tell us on social media what things in life bring you joy. We'll share the best responses on next week's episode of the podcast.Music Credit: Smoke (with Lostboycrow) – FeatherConnect with The Business Communicators on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn, and find out more about our show at TheBusinessCommunicators.com. And, if you haven't done so already, be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave us a five-star review. Questions or comments? Send us an email to podcast@iabchouston.com or text “podcast” to (713) 360-0133.IABC Houston SponsorsDiamond Partner: Pierpont CommunicationsChapter Partner: Mykrantz & Co

What's behind the devastating power outages in Texas? Some say the problem was freezing natural gas pipelines; some say it's because wind turbines froze or mismanagement by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). To find out what's...

Keri returns from her power outage to discuss the Texas power grid with Carter. Is ERCoT a failure of the free market? The two laugh about the tone-deaf vilification of Ted Cruz for his vacation before condemning the idea of outsourcing the responsibility for one's safety to someone else. They address Gorilla Glue Girl and compare her to the McDonald's coffee lady, which ultimately ends in a disagreement about whose lawsuit was more frivolous. Carter spotlights a recent New York Times article promoting the genetic fallacy and discouraging "critical thinking," and the two marvel at how blatant the Cathedral's propaganda has become. After Keri drops off, Carter praises an article by Lee Smith titled, "The Thirty Tyrants," which compares the relationship between American elites and China to that of the Athenian aristocracy and Sparta after the Peloponnesian War. Links Referenced in the Show: ERCoT Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Reliability_Council_of_Texas Texas major of Colorado City resigns: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tim-boyd-texas-mayor-colorado-city-resigns-power-outages/ Ted Cruz goes on a nice vacation. How dare he! https://nypost.com/2021/02/19/inside-the-glitzy-ritz-carlton-where-ted-cruz-stayed-in-cancun/ NY Times suggests that you should stop thinking critically: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/opinion/fake-news-media-attention.html The Thirty Tyrants article by Lee Smith: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/the-thirty-tyrants Thanks for Watching! The best way to follow Unsafe Space, no matter which platforms ban us, is to visit: https://unsafespace.com While we're still allowed on YouTube, please don't forget to verify that you're subscribed, and to like and share this episode. You can find us there at: https://unsafespace.com/channel For episode clips, visit: https://unsafespace.com/clips Other video platforms on which our content can be found include: LBRY: https://lbry.tv/@unsafe BitChute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/unsafespace/ Also, come join our community of dangerous thinkers at the following social media sites...at least until we get banned: Censorship-averse platforms: Gab: @unsafe Minds: @unsafe Locals: unsafespace.locals.com Parler: @unsafespace Telegram Chat: https://t.me/joinchat/H4OUclXTz4xwF9EapZekPg Censorship-happy platforms: Twitter: @unsafespace [currently suspended without any reason given] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unsafepage Instagram: @_unsafespace MeWe: https://mewe.com/p/unsafespace Support the content that you consume by visiting: https://unsafespace.com/donate Finally, don't forget to announce your status as a wrong-thinker with some Unsafe Space merch, available at: https://unsafespace.com/shop

A winter storm and lengthy cold snap has crippled power facilities in Texas and left more than 2.6 million people without power for several days. The outages cover the area served by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, and some Texas officials have pointed the blame at the power company and some are blaming Republican Governor Greg Abbott for failing to adequately prepare for the storm. Beto O’Rourke is a former Democratic Presidential Candidate and was a U.S. Congressman representing the district around El Paso. He joins AC360 to discuss the power crisis in Texas. Plus, several states across the country are forced to delay Covid-19 vaccinations due to the extreme winter weather. Meanwhile, studies suggest both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines can protect against the current known coronavirus variants. Dr. Anthony Fauci is the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He tells Anderson Cooper we should be in good shape if we roll out the vaccine appropriately, efficiently and effectively while maintaining public health measures. Airdate: February 17, 2021 Guests: Beto O’Rourke Dr. Anthony FauciTo learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) warns of a “cascading catastrophic blackout” if the right measures aren't taken. 21 million people are under a Winter weather alert; 7 million are impacted by boil water notices. Rollout on the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be slower than expected. White House: Teacher vaccinations are “not a requirement to reopen” schools. Studies suggest that Pfizer & Moderna vaccines can protect against Coronavirus variant. Biden faces backlash from Democrats over student loan forgiveness. Source: Mitch McConnell will probably not “utter the name Donald Trump ever again. He’s moving on”. The Feds investigated Roger Stone ties to the Proud Boys as part of a possible threat to a judge. A New York Democrat says Gov. Cuomo threatened him over Covid scandal. Two Capitol Hill police officers have taken their lives since the riot on January 6th.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Editor: During this record-breaking cold snap, power has been going out all over Texas. A friend in Portland shared video that even their turbines are shut down. The simple fact is that “green energy” doesn't work when it is white outside. If you want someone to blame, blame Obama, not Electric Reliability Council of Texas. For his entire eight years, President Obama waged a relentless war on coal- and gas-fired power plants. Ultimately, the SCOTUS ruled that his EPA regulations were unconstitutional, but not before power companies all over the USA — and for us specifically in Texas — were...Article Link

The Texan grid AKA the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is a house of cards. It is an energy only, deregulated market which does not reward keeping spare generation capacity on board and keeps a razor thin cushion to buffer against unpredictable surges in demand. It has isolated its grid from the rest of the conry in order to avoid federal reguation. Texas has made the decision to invest heavily in wind and natural gas, pairing an unpredictable and intermittent energy source with a dispatchable source that relies on just in time delivery of its fuel. In the clutches of a polar vortex which has covered wind turbines in ice, frozen natural gas infrastructure and driven up demand for gas for both home heating and electricity ERCOT is strained to the breaking point with rolling blackouts affecting millions in this freezing weather. Welcome back for another Decouple short. We are joined by energy analyst Mark Nelson, the managing director of the Radiant Energy Fund to understand this breaking news out of Texas.

Since 2011, GridEx has been a hub for security lovers to evaluate and hone their red, blue, and purple teaming skills with challenging scenarios. In this episode, Brian Contos and Michael Allgeier, Director of Critical Infrastructure Security at The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), comment on the appeal and value these interactive training sessions can offer major power corporations.