Guess it’s a good thing population hasn’t grown and energy demand has been declining over the last 50 years…
I’m not sure how TVA handled cold spells 30-40 years ago has anything to do with today
Rolling Blackouts?
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I’m not sure how TVA handled cold spells 30-40 years ago has anything to do with today
You should learn to be more specific in your criticisms. All I'm gathering is you think the money has been fraudulently spent already. And somehow this has led to the TVA going through a period of 15-30 minute blackouts this afternoon.
Go on. Educate.
Ok let’s go back 4 years. Any rolling blackouts 4 years ago? Any population spikes in the last 4 years? We can do this any way you want to do it?
Well i think you could make a case that someone’s heater has to run more often in 5 degrees vs 32 degrees, assuming most people are trying to heat their home to a consistent temperature.
Are you trying to say our energy infrastructure has fallen apart since Biden was in office? I don’t really have a side in this debate. I can see rolling blackouts being a problem but is that the fault of a single president?
It is actually the fault of both parties since a good many Republicans vote with the Democrats when it comes to budgets and spending.
don’t think this is true if they have heat pumps. Pretty sure once a certain differential in temp is hit, they use essentially resistance hearing to supplement.
They haven’t made the grid less reliable to save money. They’ve mostly spent more money to make it less reliable.
Tva has been adding solar and dropping a ton of coal capacity. They didn’t replace it with enough natural gas to maintain their reliability.
You can argue that reliable power isn’t that important (seems like a questionable argument after seeing people die in Texas) but nobody made that argument. They just lied and said they were still planning the same way, which would usually handle extreme weather and some unplanned outages at the same time, although maybe not at the most important base load plants.
It's been in decline and not kept pace with demand for the last 20 years. But the pace of the decline is accelerating.
Nothing unusual here, same as every year when it gets cold
During the 24 hours of December 23, TVA supplied more energy than at any other time in its history – 740 gigawatt-hours, or 740 million kilowatt-hours. The cold also produced a winter record for peak power demand of 33,425 megawatts at 7 p.m. CT when the regionwide average temperature was 9 degrees.
During the 24 hours of December 23, TVA supplied more energy than at any other time in its history – 740 gigawatt-hours, or 740 million kilowatt-hours. The cold also produced a winter record for peak power demand of 33,425 megawatts at 7 p.m. CT when the regionwide average temperature was 9 degrees.
So your argument is that TVA has failed to keep up with the growth in demand then? That's just as bad as the other argument being made here.
Does anybody have any actual proof that the short rolling blackouts are because of bad policy decisions? I can accept that one of the coldest winters of all time may lead to something like this happening and it not be unusual. I’m not saying it’s not because of policy decisions. If it is, I would just like to see some proof. I’m getting tired of everything being either because of the evil liberal Democrats or the evil conservative Republicans based on which side you call home. It just feels like both sides are so ready to attack whenever something goes wrong.
Exactly. I’m tired of politics being used as an excuse. Both sides are terrible and we need to cut them out of our business as much as possible. My power was a victim this morning of step 50 of “The Emergency Curtailment Plan”. My question is what the 17 were steps 1-49 and what is step 51+? I pay for 24/7 service from Tombigbee Electric and I’d like to be educated here as to the details.
The difference is, the entire country is experiencing this same thing at the same time.
News flash for you: When the Deep South gets this cold the rest of the country is always experiencing it at the same time. Cold air just doesn't magically appear here and skip yankee country.
As a Republican, I blame the Democrats and Senile Brandon for this. When I was a Democrat a few years ago, most of the problems in this country were caused by fascist Trump, the rich and white supremacists. I'm thinking about becoming something else in year or two so keep this thread up and I'll tell you with absolute certainty who is at fault and why we're so screwed up as a country. Oh, and Merry Christmas everyone and Happy New Year and Happy Holidays.
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Why is the electricity demand higher now than 100 degree July days? Do electric heaters pull that much more energy than an AC compressor? A lot of people have gas heaters that pull very little electricity.
What?
we didn't just start sending billions over seas. BTW,... The Federal Gov doesn't have a dime! They don't make a dime. It's all the tax payer money!
You find a lot more electric strip heating in the rural south. My understanding it is cheaper capital investment for limited use needs. There are utilities/co-ops in MS that have all-time peaks being driven by winter consumption because of this.
You serious. A state of emergency declaration from the state could get passed the federal regulation in a time of crisis. Cry me a river on something else.
Electric heat is very inefficient. So yes. Your heat pump runs as it does when it is cooling mode. Except your emergency heat strip is also engaged because a heat pump cannot overcome about 20-30 degrees over or under the ambient temperature.
It is time for this country to invest in renewables like we never have before. All while keeping fossil fuel energy production at its current rate.
Anyone that is not for the “All of the Above” solution are dumb. Invest in the future and secure the current. It really is that simple, if everyone will pull in the same direction.
I’ve got 3 extra little space heaters plugged in, the central on emergency heat cause below about 25-30 the heat pump can’t keep up - multiply by all the homes doing that and here we are. Ours went out at 3:30 am and just came back on. Cooked eggs and sausage on a Kerosene heater, coffee water on the gas grill.
Any idea how to get the actual consumption vs power available with the two coal plants having their issues? That would be good info to know. Was it a better safe than sorry deal or were they really about to have the whole thing collapse? Regardless, if those coal plants are going to crap out during stress, you are right that they got too aggressive decommissioning in the coal reduction to gas expansion process.
CEO talked a ton of trash about ERCOT when that system failed. I'm sure those comments plus his $10M a year paycheck had him pucker up when the system showed any kinds of stress and neighboring markets didn't have much, if any, capacity to sell.
ETA: found it. Demand was right at max. Purchases were likely not available since that 9 degree average extended far behind the TVA market.
During the 24-hours of December 23, TVA supplied more energy than at any other time in its history – 740 gigawatt-hours, or 740 million kilowatt-hours. The cold also produced a winter record for peak power demand of 33,425 megawatts at 7 p.m. CT when the regionwide average temperature was 9 degrees.
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Love the question what were the steps 1-49!
What's the saying?....All politics is local
Might be worth mentioning that Americans consume a lot more than they used to. The average new home is easily twice the size it was in the 70's, and fewer combined households. There's a lot more house to heat and cool than there used to be, and Americans aren't usually thrifty enough to put some more layers on and turn down the heat during cold snaps.
i used to nearly freeze to death in my grandmothers house. Her dad abandoned the family during the Depression, and even once she married and they made middle class money, she never stopped the habits she picked up when she was younger. That generation is dead.
i used to nearly freeze to death in my grandmothers house. Her dad abandoned the family during the Depression, and even once she married and they made middle class money, she never stopped the habits she picked up when she was younger. That generation is dead.
Those strips start kicking in at 40 degrees depending on the model. Like I said, the temp being lower than that does not require more energy.
Tennessee Valley Authority
@TVAnews
We have ended planned intermittent interruptions, also known as rolling blackouts. We appreciate your patience as we worked with our 153 local power companies and industrial customers to manage record-setting power demand.
Went hunting this am. Came in bout 9:30, was a little chilly. Was fixing me a cup of coffee in the Kuring. Boom power goes out with a 1/3 of a cup. SONOFAB!+€H!!!!
Still waiting to hear actual proof that’s what going on right now is because of policy changes and not simply an ungodly winter storm with an unbelievable increase in energy consumption
The only issue here is the unknown.
there is a model that shows that enough solar panels with shift the weather patterns in a major way. One of the plans to move us to solar involves the desert being used because it's not ideal land and plenty of sun. The model shows that the amount needed to replace would shift the Amazon.
the panels draw heat and create shade while pulling moisture.
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