Houston to get Hot and Dark (Rolling Blackouts Across Texas)
UPDATE: ERCOT has cancelled their energy crisis alert, as of 6:30pm. HOWEVER, this does not mean that future days will not result in more energy issues. Please keep advised, set your thermostat higher, and keep your power usage to a low level, to avoid future rolling blackouts.
It’s about to get very hot, and dark, for some Houstonians, according to click2houston.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc. – which is in charge of Texas’ electrical grid – declared a state of emergency and ordered rolling blackouts beginning Monday. Although the crisis is not expected to last beyond this evening, it is possible that future days will hold similar events.
Read on for more information and how you can help…
Currently, blackouts are limited to the ERCOT grid, which serves only 80% of Texas. Unfortunately, CenterPoint Energy (and those smaller companies in the Houston area using CenterPoint’s lines – including TXU, and others) is included in the ERCOT grid. CenterPoint Energy began rolling blackouts every 15 minutes for the Houston area, just after 4pm, Monday.
“ERCOT requested that 1,000 megawatts of load be dropped throughout the state of Texas, so CenterPoint Energy represents 26 percent of that load. So, we started periodically dropping customers in 15-minute intervals on a rotating basis in our service area,” CenterPoint spokeswoman Emily Mir Thompson said.
ERCOT is urging customers around the state to slack off on their energy uses for the next month. Ways you can help (according to ERCOT) include:
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Setting your thermostat at 78 degrees (or higher)
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Not using electric lighting
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Not using electric appliances
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Not using electric equipment (including computers)
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All of the above, unless absolutely neccesary for health and safety.
According to 11 News KHOU’s 6:00pm newscast, blackouts could last as long as 50 minutes in some places.
For more information, please see the Click2Houston story, or the ERCOT Real-Time Data page.
Technorati Tags: Energy Conservation, ERCOT, Texas Power Grid
Yeah, that was a heckava surprise. In the middle of business, my power goes off. And stays off.
Wow, some advanced notice would have been nice :P
no kidding.. i’m not so surprised to hear about this.. it seems as if it’s getting hotter every year anyway.
does the blackouts with traffic lights have anything to do with this too?? ’cause i went through a series of traffic lights blackouts earlier this afternoon…
You do realize the irony of “frye” posting on the rolling blackouts?
If these are in any way planned, I’d like to see some sort of email or radio station notification in place so businesses can respond. It is ambiguous and unfair to tell employees “hey, try to avoid elevators this afternoon because you might get stuck”
I did review the ercot web site and quite frankly I don’t understand the data. Perhaps punch in your zip code and get a color coded chart of “you’re hosed” to “A-OK”?
First off, gul-dern-it, it’s “Fyre”. heh. Sorry, pet peeve. People always mis-type it. No worries.
Secondly, irony. yes. definately.
Thirdly, the Ercot data is a bit difficult to understand. I think I have the basics down, but I’m not entirely certain this is accurate. I learned how to read a lot of crap like this when I worked in the oil and gas industry (I was only an administrative assistant, but you would not believe the crap that came across my desk), and I’m thinking some of it may translate:
Two comparisons… First off, the Scheduled Frequency should always be higher than the Actual Frequency. Hopefully, there should be a bit of a gap between them. This is the most telling number combination, as this represents the actual generation compared to what they have scheduled as needed/what may actually be needed.
Secondly, the Actual System Demand is always going to be slightly more than the Total Generation (as there are other factors that don’t appear here to make up the difference), but a large gap (1,000-1,500+) between the two indicates potential trouble.
Thirdly, MW (+ MVR) = First off, gul-dern-it, it’s “Fyre”. heh. Sorry, pet peeve. People always mis-type it. No worries.
Secondly, irony. yes. definately.
Thirdly, the Ercot data is a bit difficult to understand. I think I have the basics down, but I’m not entirely certain this is accurate. I learned how to read a lot of crap like this when I worked in the oil and gas industry (I was only an administrative assistant, but you would not believe the crap that came across my desk), and I’m thinking some of it may translate:
Two comparisons… First off, the Scheduled Frequency should always be higher than the Actual Frequency. Hopefully, there should be a bit of a gap between them. This is the most telling number combination, as this represents the actual generation compared to what they have scheduled as needed/what may actually be needed.
Secondly, the Actual System Demand is always going to be slightly more than the Total Generation (as there are other factors that don’t appear here to make up the difference), but a large gap (1,000-1,500+) between the two indicates potential trouble.
Thirdly, MW (+ MVR) =