Yes, some coal plants closed because of freezing temperatures and some natural gas pipelines froze. But as Jason Isaac of the Texas Public Policy Foundation explains in our pages today, the main problem with the Texas power grid isn’t that renewables failed or that fossil fuels failed. It’s that the grid itself has been made unstable by state and federal subsidies that distort the energy market and prevent the buildup of reliable power generation.
Subsidies for renewables and fossil fuels have been around for a long time in Texas, supported by both Democrats and Republicans. For as much as Texas has a reputation as a deep-red oil and gas state, it was under Republican Gov. Rick Perry that billions were spent on wind turbines and transmission lines in West Texas, spurred on by massive tax credits for wind producers. The same thing happened at the federal level when George W. Bush was governor of the state.
https://thefederalist.com/2021/02/18/texass-blackouts-are-the-result-of-unreliable-green-energy/
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Industrial Power System Grounding Design Handbook is a comprehensive reference and study guide for the design of global industrial and commercial power systems as dictated by optimized neutral-grounding and ground-fault-protection practices. Except for the noted isolated IEEE references, there are no comparable books currently on the market. In fact, the authors actively contributed to the accrual of the relevant IEEE-paper bibliography.
Benefits for the Reader
This book was written with a dual purpose:
- As a one-stop reference for budding, as well as practicing electrical engineers/consultants interested in, or responsible for, the design of safe and effective electrical installations for industrial plants.
- As a text book for a graduate course on industrial and commercial power system design in general, and system grounding and ground-fault protection, in particular.
The reader should find the book self-sufficient as it develops in the first 11 chapters the pertinent preparatory engineering and analytical know-how. In Chapter 12, this collective proficiency will be merged into the formulation of guidelines for the ultimate goal of designing the industrial systems with optimized grounding and protection attributes. Chapter 13 offers a focused synopsis of symmetrical components and a sample of its application.
Considering the reported shrinking base of electrical engineering graduates with a well-developed power background suggests that such engineers would benefit from this comprehensive book; not only as a source of reference but also a study guide for on-the-job training.
What Makes This Book Unique?
Industrial Power System Grounding Design Handbook was authored and published by engineers with life-time experiences as industrial and commercial power system design engineers, who accumulated considerable experience practicing, and teaching the subject. The resulting 584-page manuscript features some 360 detailed illustrations and 19 photographs to facilitate explication.
The scope of this book is not limited to "grounding and ground-fault protection", which is covered in just one of the 13 chapters. Instead, the core subject is the development of an engineering aptitude and rationale to design conceptual industrial and commercial power systems from a grounding perspective; a subject not known to be taught in college, or anywhere else the authors know of. This aptitude is developed only through exposure to comprehensive engineering practices. The appearance of mediocre conceptual designs in contemporary professional papers and journals suggest that the book's subject is in urgent need of revelation to would-be authors, reviewers, and instructors alike.
The effective ground-fault current path To understand the concept of bonding and grounding for safety, the installer must know that for normal load current, short circuit current, or ground-fault current to flow, there must be a continuous circuit or path — and a difference of potential. The 2011 NEC defines the effective ground-fault current path as “an intentionally constructed, low-impedance electrically conductive path designed and intended to carry current under ground-fault conditions from the point of a ground fault on a wiring system to the electrical supply source and that facilitates the operation of the overcurrent protective device or ground-fault detectors on high-impedance grounded systems.” An effective ground-fault current path is an essential part of the overcurrent protection system. //
Table 250.66 of the 2011 NEC is used to size the system bonding jumper based on the size of the derived ungrounded circuit conductors supplied by the secondary of the transformer. Because the system bonding jumper is part of the ground-fault current path, it’s necessary to maintain a proportional size relationship between the derived ungrounded circuit conductors and the system bonding jumper. Where the derived ungrounded circuit conductors are larger than the maximum sizes given in this table, 250.28(D)(1) requires the system bonding jumper be not less than 12.5% of the area of the largest derived ungrounded circuit conductor.
Texas is now entering its third day of widespread power outages and, although supplies of electricity are improving, they remain well short of demand. For now, the state's power authority suggests that, rather than restoring power, grid operators will try to shift from complete blackouts to rolling ones. Meanwhile, the state's cold weather is expected to continue for at least another day. How did this happen?
The two men came from extremely modest means, one even more than the other. Primarily because each understood the rare power of self-education and the gift of books, both went on to have lives of remarkable celebrity, accomplishing extraordinary things for our nation.
One was born in a humble one-room cabin in Kentucky. The other was born into slavery in Maryland. In time, they became two of America’s greatest, most consequential leaders during our nation’s most trying time. //
As Douglass recounts in his final autobiography, “The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, From 1817 to 1882,” the pair met again at the White House a year later:
What he said on this day showed a deeper moral conviction against slavery than I had even seen before in anything spoken or written by him. I listened with the deepest interest and profoundest satisfaction, and at his suggestion, agreed to undertake the organizing a band of scouts, composed of coloured men, whose business should be somewhat after the original plan of John Brown, to go into the rebel States, beyond the lines of our armies, and carry the news of emancipation, and urge the slaves to come within our boundaries.
This plan, Douglass explained, was finally unnecessary because of the ultimate emancipation of the slaves. But, he adds, “I refer to this conversation because I think it is evidence conclusive on Mr. Lincoln’s part that the proclamation, so far as least as he was concerned, was not effected merely as a ‘necessity’” but as a moral duty. //
In 1865, Douglass traveled to Washington D.C. to hear the president give his second inaugural address. He also accepted President Lincoln’s kind invitation to visit him and his family at the White House, //
Recognising me, even before I reached him, he exclaimed, so that all around could hear him, ‘Here comes my friend Douglass.’ Taking me by the hand, he said, ‘I am glad to see you. I saw you in the crowd to-day, listening to my inaugural address; how did you like it?’
I said, ‘Mr. Lincoln, I must not detain you with my poor opinion, when there are thousands waiting to shake hands with you.’
‘No, no,’ he said, ‘you must stop a little, Douglass; there is no man in the country whose opinion I value more than yours. I want to know what you think of it?’
I replied, ‘Mr. Lincoln, that was a sacred effort.’
‘I am glad you liked it!’ he said, and I passed on, feeling that any man, however distinguished, might well regard himself honoured by such expressions, from such a man. //
Douglass wanted the Ages to know and remember that the Freedman’s Monument — funded primarily by the sweat of emancipated slaves — was a humble and essential gift to the memory of his friend lost to an assassin’s bullet. That “pure act of malice” had “done good after all.”
For that dark murder “filled the country with a deeper abhorrence of slavery and a deeper love for the great liberator.” As he closed, the ex-slave said, “No man who knew Abraham Lincoln could hate him.”
The weakness and stupidity of America’s right has allowed false narratives to cement in the minds of the public. It’s killing our freedoms. It’s killing our jobs. It’s killing our families. //
The narrative, as I define it, is simply an assumption or set of assumptions widely accepted by the general public as facts. As we know, facts cannot be changed. That is why they are facts.
This is also why it is so critical to ensure the general public gets an accurate narrative. Otherwise, if the base set of publicly believed facts is wrong, every step after that will also be incorrect. It’s like getting swallowed up by an avalanche and digging ferociously in the wrong direction. //
We no longer have the option of riding the initial news cycle and accepting it at face value. Our failure to hold the line and speak hard truths has made the left’s job of cementing a lie in the minds of the people infinitely easier. From now on, when the next major event arises, let us resolve to set the narrative ourselves instead of being consumed by it.
Even with limited water and power, many Texans looked for ways to serve their neighbors and entertain their kids. //
Dallas reached its lowest recorded temperature in history Tuesday night: negative 2 degrees.
Here’s a summary of where the survivors can be found:
42-107451, Douglas VC-54C “Sacred Cow”, National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, OH
46-505, Douglas VC-118 “The Independence”, National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, OH
48-0610, Lockheed VC-121 Constellation “Columbine II”, Bridgewater, VA
53-7885, Lockheed VC-121 Constellation “Columbine III”, National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, OH
55-4638, U-4B Aero Commander, National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, OH
58-6970, Boeing VC-137B, SAM 970, Museum of Flight, Seattle, WA
58-6971, Boeing VC-137B, SAM 971, Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, AZ
58-6972, Boeing VC-137B, SAM 972, Scrapped
62-6000, Boeing VC-137C, SAM 26000, National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, OH
72-7000, Boeing VC-137C, SAM 27000, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, CA
82-8000, Boeing VC-25A, SAM 28000, Active Andrews AFB, MD
92-9000, Boeing VC-25A, SAM 29000, Active Andrews AFB, MD
Jones took pictures and posted them on the f150gen14.com forum, saying, "2021 F-150 PowerBoost's 7.2kw Onboard Generator Saves the Day (3 days!) During Texas Power Outage. //
Took the keys with me and locked my door. It started and stopped the engine occasionally. Cell service was out also so I didn’t get a chance to try the Ford Pass App. Much quieter than the neighbors generator and I didn’t have to refill it in the cold every 8 hours. No filling stations open so he was in the dark after his two 5 gallon cans ran out.
Texas produces more electricity than it consumes and maintains a buffer referred to as the “state’s reserve margin.” This margin ensures that we should never have to suffer from rolling blackouts like California.
Then why are so millions of Texans without power right now? Why are we dealing with rolling blackouts?
The answer is all-too-familiar: our relationship with the federal government.
In anticipation of this unprecedented power demand, Texas could have maxed out power generation. However, we couldn’t. Like a lowly beggar, Texas had to first ask for permission from the federal government to generate enough power to keep our people warm. Why? Because cranking up our power plants to full production might violate federal pollution limits.
There is a clear metaphor here. Texans were powerless because our elected officials ceded authority to a slow-moving, uncaring gaggle of federal bureaucrats. //
UPDATE Click here to download the actual order from the federal Department of Energy which specifies ERCOT’s reasons for asking permission including that “…ERCOT has been alerted that numerous generation units will be unable to operate at full capacity without violating federal air quality or other permit limitations.”
The Department of Energy issued an emergency order allowing several Texas power plants to produce as much electricity as possible, a move expected to violate anti-pollution rules that comes amid a deepening electricity crisis in the state that has cut power to millions of homes.
The Energy Department order, requested by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, authorizes power plants throughout the state to run a maximum output levels, even as such a move is anticipated to result in a violation of limits of pollution.
Dean Cain
@RealDeanCain
If you feel you need permanent 8 foot high fencing rimmed with barbed wire, and 5,000 National Guard troops to guard the U.S. Capitol for months and months... perhaps you're doing something wrong.🤔🇺🇸
2:15 AM · Feb 16, 2021
You can watch the rest of the interview, but I’ll save you the time; he never answers the Florida vs. California question. Not because he doesn’t know the answer but because answering it would undercut the ruthless aggrandizement of power at the expense of American citizens now underway under the cover of the “pandemic.” //
If we had a press worthy of the name, every public health necromancer that appears on any program would be forced to answer the very simple question of why data do not show any benefit to mask mandates lockdowns.
it turns out some of those problems may have been because ERCOT had not winterized its system properly (but more on that in a minute). The Wall Street Journal spells it out:
Between 12 a.m. on Feb. 8 and Feb. 16, wind power plunged 93% while coal increased 47% and gas 450%, according to the EIA. Yet the renewable industry and its media mouthpieces are tarring gas, coal and nuclear because they didn’t operate at 100% of their expected potential during the Arctic blast even though wind turbines failed nearly 100%.
The policy point here is that an electricity grid that depends increasingly on subsidized but unreliable wind and solar needs baseload power to weather surges in demand. Natural gas is crucial but it also isn’t as reliable as nuclear and coal power.
Politicians and regulators don’t want to admit this because they have been taking nuclear and coal plants offline to please the lords of climate change. But the public pays the price when blackouts occur because climate obeisance has made the grid too fragile. We’ve warned about this for years, and here we are.
But the best evidence that ERCOT should be investigated comes with a report indicating that the small fraction of Texas not serviced by ERCOT seems to have had few outages at all. And it would appear it’s because they took the time to weatherize their systems following a 2011 winter storm that hit the state.
The bill forbids funds for commemorating any president who has “been twice impeached by the House” from being commemorated with any “symbol, monument, or statue” or having any building named after him, as well as forbidding any potential burial in Arlington National Cemetery. They put “twice” in so they could still honor Bill Clinton, just unbelievable how juvenile they can be.
They’re also trying to snatch any of the benefits he gets as a former president.
I vividly remember sitting in line at the drive-up window at the bank — remember those? — and listening to Rush as he was telling a story. There was no political angle to the story he was telling, but the acrimony, sarcasm, and biting humor he wielded like weapons had me laughing out loud.
When Rush and his wife moved from Sacramento to New York, all their household belongings were moved by a national moving company. Rush and his wife flew and expected to furnish their New York apartment with the belongings after they arrived.
They never arrived. Never. Ever.
My recollection is — and this goes back 33 years now — that Rush ranted about this moving company on his show every day for several days. At first, it was just “When will they find our stuff and get it here?” He would recount his numerous conversations with company officials — I don’t think he ever named them because he didn’t want to risk getting sued — about the status of the search for his belongings and their assurances that they would be found — while commenting on the seeming impossibility of losing a full-sized trailer load of household belongings being hauled cross-country by a semi-truck. I tuned in every morning to hear what he might have to say that day about the events of the past 24 hours and the great search for a trailer holding all his earthly belongings. One day he announced that the search had ended. The trailer had simply vanished. Oh well.
In his first few years on the air, his political commentary was always intertwined with humor — usually mocking humor at the expense of some icon of the liberal establishment. I was in my late 20s at the time, so the edgier he was the more I liked it.
According to Stat Trade Times, the An-124 was chartered from Antonov Airlines for a special ferry mission by Rhenus Project Logistics USA. The logistics company needed the aircraft to carry a massive power generator with a unique shape, requiring more cabin space to accommodate it.
This was no problem for the An-124, which has a payload capacity of 150 tonnes, more than enough to carry the 54-tonne generator. However, fitting the 10.5m long, 3.89m wide, and 4.13m high item required experts to be on hand for loading and unloading. The flight flew from Accra to Mumbai and then back once the repairs were complete.
Radio icon, who died Wednesday at age 70, closed Feb. 2 show by telling listeners: 'We'll be back soon'