Since ERCOT has been issuing warnings about insufficient supply, this is an interesting site to monitor. Also, current wind production. I wonder when/if they will add PV; there is a growing amount of PV especially in west Texas.
http://www.ercot.com/content/cdr/html/real_time_system_conditions.html
Just checked at 0652 and was amazed to see power demand so close to the capability.
ReplyDeleteWillie I bet that if we request solar be added they will add it. It would have to be on their bucket list of things to work on. Im sure they are already thinking along the same lines.
ReplyDeleteRay consider that last year we had 6% reserve and this year 3% reserve. Now lets do the math for what the reserve will be next year LOL. Keep in mind that at 3% reserve we are into emergency service and prices can rise to 9000 $/MWh. Two days of these prices cost Austin dearly and they are raising rates 8.5%. If we have four days next year are they going to have another 8.5% rate hike. Maybe we will have 6 days of $9000/Wh and will need an additional 17% rate increase. Jesus is all I can say, we better get as much solar energy as we can. Any you guys selling at 6 cents per kwh are getting a raw deal when you are displacing energy prices at 900 cents per kwh during these emergency events.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you call what are normally the first two digits? "gigawatts"?
ReplyDeleteTuesday mid-morning, I'm noticing wind is about 25% of total capacity. If all wind were being used, that would be 30+% of demand.
The biggest problem we are facing is that the Nodal market system ERCOT uses does not place any value on reliability. IE the generation plants are waiting until the price is right to fire up their generation and are making a killing on days that have DAM (day ahead market) and hourly projection mistakes from weather changes etc... ERCOT as the regulatory entity needs to place a fiscal value on and make plants fire up as needed to maintain a reliable system. You will also not see a large increase in the amount of renewables contributing because that percentage is capped. Solar has zero inertia and wind is unpredictable enough that they only allow a small amount to be factored into the mix every day. As soon as energy storage catches up technologically I believe we will see a change with that.
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