Spot Price Spike
The spot price of wholesale electricity on the Texas power grid spiked more than 10,000% on Monday amid a deep freeze across the state and rolling outages among power producers, according to data on the grid operator’s website.
Real-time wholesale market prices on the power grid operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) were more than $9,000 per megawatt hour late Monday morning, compared with pre-storm prices of less than $50 per megawatt hour, according to ERCOT data.
On Feb. 10, well before inclement weather hit Texas, spot wholesale prices on ERCOT settled around $30 per megawatt hour at the end of the day, ERCOT data show. But on Sunday, the price per megawatt hour surged past $9,000 on the grid.
The above from Reuters.
ERCOT is a nonprofit independent system operator for the region. It performs financial settlement for the competitive wholesale bulk-power market and administers retail switching for nearly 8 million premises in competitive choice areas.
ERCOT Calls For Rolling Outages
In a news release ERCOT Calls for Rotating Outages as extreme winter weather forces generating units offline.
Extreme weather conditions caused many generating units – across fuel types – to trip offline and become unavailable. There is now over 30,000 MW of generation forced off the system.
“Every grid operator and every electric company is fighting to restore power right now,” said ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness.
Rotating outages will likely last throughout the morning and could be initiated until this weather emergency ends.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) manages the flow of electric power to more than 26 million Texas customers — representing about 90 percent of the state’s electric load.
Outages Lasting Longer Than Expected
Austin Energy says Power Outages Lasting Longer Than Expected.
ERCOT overnight declared an Energy Emergency Alert Level 3, which called for Austin Energy, along with other utilities across Texas, to begin rotating outages to close the gap between power reserves and consumer demand.
382,000 Without Power in Bitter Cold
KXAN reports an Energy Emergency. 382,000 are without power as outages lasts hours in bitter cold.
Traffic Signals Down
Six Killed in 130-Vehicle Pileup
A Massive Crash involving more than 130 vehicles on an icy Texas interstate left six people dead and dozens injured Thursday amid a winter storm that dropped freezing rain, sleet and snow on parts of the U.S.
“There were multiple people that were trapped within the confines of their vehicles and requiring the use of hydraulic rescue equipment to successfully extricate them,” said Fort Worth Fire Chief Jim Davis.
“The roadway was so treacherous from the ice that several of the first responders were falling on the scene.”
The ice storm came as a polar vortex – swirling air that normally sits over the Earth’s poles – has moved near the U.S.-Canada border, resulting in colder weather farther south than usual, said Steve Goss, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.
In Tennessee, police responded to about 30 traffic collisions and some flights were delayed at Memphis International Airport after freezing rain and sleet fell. In Kentucky, the governor declared a state of emergency to free up funding and help agencies coordinate as they responded to reports of slick roads and downed power lines. And in southern Indiana, schools and government offices closed.
Pipeline Shut
Mish
Texas has additional capacity but was limited by the EPA. Read Order No. 202-21-1. Limited to out of state purchases first. Limited to minimum extra production necessary which can not be determined with such extreme variability. Any production above environmental regulated limits are subject to $1500/MWh vs. the normal price of $50/MWh. Producers required to purchase allowances for additional emissions.
A lot of this has to do with an inefficient and out of date electric power grid
How is it inefficient?
failures, leaks, aging equipment, prone to hacking, ability to withstand loads, ability to monitor. you should really google this . there are whole paper on this
I thought this was only supposed to happen in California! Just a good natured jab. Everyone has their problems with climate change. California has drought (which it is not prepared for), right now Texas has cold (which it is not prepared for). As a Californian, I am willing to help my fellow Americans out in Texas.
Exactly. Oh the irony in the state that was making plans to secede now asking for federal help.
Someone said that children would grow up not knowing what snow is. Lots of record low temperatures were set in the middle of the U.S.
I read there was some ice on the Thames River for the first time in 60 years.
Imagine this happening with only renewable energy available.
Imagine having sufficient storage, an adequate grid, and diverse sources.
Enron redux.
Didn’t Germany recently suffer something similar when their green energy failed and they had to import a lot of their energy from Russia? Wind turbines stopped spinning and their solar panels were covered in snow. I don’t think the rates went up nearly the same though.
This will cause a lot of resistance to the green new deal. Even though this had little or nothing to do with it. People will fear the green new deal will lead to similar price hikes and rolling blackouts.
Yes, they imported a lot from France’s nuclear reactors and imported Polish coal. That undid Germany’s green credentials somewhat.
Yes, I had an article on Germany already planned for this week but instead I switched to the US. Just posted. Will follow up on Germany later.
Continuing to watch the USD with interest. It made a swing low on Friday….but then dropped all the way back down that 90.27 mark in the overnight last night……the third time it’s been tested in a week.
My bride takes the hill
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Sorry, didn’t work….but priceless footage, hehehe.
My bet is a weak dollar will help my international growth funds….
The dollar is really having a hard time coming up out the yearly cycle low…..it could roll over, and if it does, then even US stocks and gold will benefit. But for now, I it just looks a bit less strong than I expected….the trend is up, barely.
Sure US stocks will benefit because the are being bought by a weak currency, which is how they are valued. The international stock will benefit because the are worth more in their currency.
I live in FL and am wearing short pants today.
I’m thinking there’s a boat in Green Cove Springs I need to take a look at…..might take a few days……lol.
Florida rocks. Parents moved there from Ohio when I was 16. Heaven on Earth for me at the time and still now. My parents still live there and I vote there.
I kid you not – my A/C just came on. I have the thermostat set at 76.
Same here in West Palm. It’s 81 now and the Misses is swimming in the pool with my daughter.
Go to the beach during hurricane season. Lol
There are 9 Tesla charging units at North end of our mall visited by 1 to 2 EV a day meanwhile at the south end of the mall HUNDREDS of cars fill up at the Shell day after day. The current electrical grid cannot Supports 10% EVs and there are no plans of building more power plants for the EV dreams. Only chatters are about NUCLEAR solution.
It’s nasty throughout the midwest. Forecast here for tonight is -24 degrees, but it will be better than last night. I’m on interruptible gas, and was supposed to switch to fuel oil, but my fuel oil nozzle isn’t working properly, so it’s costing me $1000/day to burn natural gas.
Fuel oil systems can freeze up, right? It happened once when I was visiting my friends in CT…sorry to hear yours is being a problem. Fuel oil heat here is unknown….never lived any place that had oil heat.
I think if it gets cold enough fuel oil can turn to jelly, but I’ve never had it happen. We only burn fuel oil as a backup when we are asked to stop burning natural gas. The way it works is simple. We save 50% on all our natural gas year round, and in exchange, we agree that when it gets really cold we will stop using it, so they can have more available for homes. If we fail to switch to our backup fuel, we pay 10x the price (at a time when we are using 3x the normal fuel), and they have the option to simply turn our gas off. I’ve never paid the penalty before, but this time I will.
I’m drinking my coffee in my winter clothes in Orange County, CA right now. Winter clothes are a long-sleeved shirt and sandals. No socks today. Man, Commiefornia sucks.
I’m chasing my coffee with hot cocoa with marshmallows…….never let a crisis go to waste.
California imports 25% of it’s electricity so you may get hit too.
Just went full solar. I get paid to generate electricity. Let prices soar, IDGAF.
Pompous A-holes like Mr. Purple and Agave that hand over all their freedoms and tax dollars simply because the weather is nice are the reason the California I grew up in no longer exists and I am sadly planning my own exit as we speak. I can learn to live with the AZ heat if it means I can keep more of my liberty, money and sanity.
Bye!
Go fuck yourself cocksucker.
So, for 1 week a year it’s a better place to live. I’m so jealous.
Nah, more like 52 weeks a year. Tell yourself any old fiction that takes the sting off.
Shhhhh. I’m kind of enjoying the temporary CA outmigration. Unfortunately, it never lasts, and they’ll be back before long. Too many temptations to pass up. That nice little drive I took along the PCH yesterday was just another Sunday fun day…
I know, how many Eastcoasters and Midwesterners watch the Rose Bowl and re-evaluate their life decisions lol!
If you are in Cali, who cares. Throw up a few solar panels, get a LI battery backup and you are fine.
We had six inches of new snow last night. This on top of a thin layer of ice that’s been around since Thursday. When I got up it was 17F outside, the coldest temperature I can remember here for at least 30 years.
Fortunately we did not lose power last night, as the house is all electric…..we do have a fireplace, which is currently in use. Ice build-up on trees and power lines, which is more common than snow here, was a factor Friday night and we did lose power for a few hours.
I drove out to the lake house on Saturday before the roads got too icey….and turned on heat and cut off the water….broken pipes happen here when we get down to the lower 20’s or below. The boats have electric heat on the engine blocks….hope we didn’t lose power on them.
It is a glorious snow day and the neighborhood kids are using pizza pans to slide down the big hill beside my house…..no cars have made it out of the neighborhood today, AFAIK. It is pretty much unheard of for snow to linger here for more than a day or so…we shall see.
I wish I’d laid on more wood.
That’s what she said.
Correction….it was Thursday night we lost power….for a couple of hours, not Friday.
Has that happened to you before? I mean electricity cut off because of cold weather?
Yes, but it doesn’t happen very often, and it’s never for long.
I just drove to South Austin and rescued daughter’s BF and his son……large parts of Austin are still without power, although it’s been a sunny day. Lots of snow on the roads, although the majors are now beginning to melt off.
When the sun goes down it will be icy as hell. Not planning to go out again today.
If you drip your faucets the pipes won’t freeze.
Thanks. Yes, understood. But you have to start them dripping in time….and at the lake, I didn’t make it out there in time. I don’t think we will lose water here. The worst ever was a frozen outdoor faucet, and I do have them wrapped up.
I used to try to get ahead of the cold weather….the ranch is on a deep well…has it’s own problems when we freeze……but in recent years we’ve had such a tiny amount of cold weather I’ve sort of gotten out of practice.