Blackout today... Whiteout Friday.

ERCOT, which overseers power supplies in Texas, has asked electrical companies to institute "rotating outages" to compensate for increased demands for electricity during the wintry cold snap gripping the state.

Hospitals and other critical services such as nursing homes are not affected by the plan, according to ERCOT. The effort is designed to prevent generators from becoming over loaded, which may led to a regional blackout.

In the Houston area, CenterPoint Energy officials said they began the periodic outages about 5:45 a.m. today. The outages are limited to no more than about 45 minutes and an average of 330,000 customers will be affected on a rotating basis.

CenterPoint Energy pre-determined which circuits and power lines will be systematically shut down or curtailed temporarily across its service territory to reduce usage. The company expects to avoid turning off circuits to critical facilities, such as hospitals, water treatment plants and other vital public services.

"This is a statewide emergency and CenterPoint Energy is complying with direct orders from ERCOT," said Scott Prochazka, division senior vice president of CenterPoint Energy's electric transmission and delivery operations.

"Although we realize this is an inconvenience for our customers, these controlled rolling outages are planned emergency measures designed to avoid potentially longer, and more widespread power outages. We will continue these rolling outages until we receive direction from ERCOT that the electric supply in Texas has stabilized."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metr...09001.html

wouldn't they need rolling blackouts in hot weather (because of increased air conditioning use) rather than in cold weather? I know I use a lot less electricity in the winter

Welcome to California.

(02-02-2011 01:55 PM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  wouldn't they need rolling blackouts in hot weather (because of increased air conditioning use) rather than in cold weather? I know I use a lot less electricity in the winter

AUSTIN - Burst water pipes at two coal-fired power plants forced them to shut down, triggering rolling power cuts across the state, the lieutenant governor said Wednesday.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said this is something that "should not happen."

Dewhurst said he was told that water pipes at two plants, Oak Grove and Sand Hill, forced them to cut electricity production. Natural gas power plants that should have provided back up had difficulty starting due to low pressure in the supply lines, also caused by the cold weather.

The lieutenant governor said the demand placed on the Texas grid was nowhere near peak capacity. He said he was frustrated by the situation.

The statewide electricity authority ordered cities across the state to start rolling power outages to cope with the crisis.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/face...09430.html

(02-02-2011 02:00 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  Welcome to California.

******* **** the ****** up ******* californians!

Btw, this is statewide, including the facility that hosts ncaabbs

Who has heard that there is another storm coming up from the gulf?

Ah Enron, where are you when we need you?

(02-02-2011 02:23 PM)I45owl Wrote:  Btw, this is statewide,...

Welcome to California.

(02-02-2011 02:21 PM)I45owl Wrote:  

(02-02-2011 02:00 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  Welcome to California.

******* **** the ****** up ******* californians!

Vanna, I'll take an "E" please........

(02-02-2011 03:59 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  

(02-02-2011 02:21 PM)I45owl Wrote:  

(02-02-2011 02:00 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  Welcome to California.

******* **** the ****** up ******* californians!

Vanna, I'll take an "E" please........

haha, i'll take an F