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A press conference from ERCOT is starting now, we'll carry it live on @cbsaustin. If you are out of power, don't waste battery trying to watch. I'll try to tweet as much relevant info as possible. #AustinPowerOutage #atxwx
ERCOT CEO Bill Magness says they are trying to "manage the electrical grid." He says their fundamental job is to keep the grid reliable and balance supply and demand. Right now, there is an imbalance. They needed to protect the "integrity of the grid."
Magness says they knew this storm was coming and says steps were taken to prepare for it. Sunday night, they saw a large drop in the amount of supply available and if they let it stay out of balance for too long it would have had a catastrophic impact.
Magness says his own power has been out since Sunday and he understands what people are going through.
They've been able to bring some areas back online as today has progressed due to additional generation, but have also been adding supply to the grid from certain generators. At the same time, other generators have become unavailable.
They have about 15,000 megawatts of consumers who are out, that's 2-3 million people. They have 45,000 megawatts of generation offline, that number hasn't progressed as much as they'd like it to.
To answer a question many are asking: They say 16,000 megawatts that are out are wind turbines due to icing. A little under 30,000 megawatts of thermal (gas, coal, nuclear) are out. It's a variety of resources that are out right now.
Question - How are the locations losing power selected: Local utilities make those decisions. ERCOT's role is to tell the utilities when the supply and demand is out of balance and that they need a certain amount of megawatts to be reduced.
Q - How many different plants and generators have failed? They don't have the number with them to answer.
Q - What concern is there about Wednesday's storm and efforts to improve distribution?
A - We're still expecting it to be cold, but not as severe as earlier in the week. As temps rise, that helps gas supply, deicing wind turbines, and sun helps solar power.
A - We're still expecting it to be cold, but not as severe as earlier in the week. As temps rise, that helps gas supply, deicing wind turbines, and sun helps solar power.
Q - What plan is there to prevent this from happening again?
A - They have plans to handle "normal" extreme weather, this is not normal. Their benchmark was issues in 2011, they'll now beef up the plan they had from that to handle even more extreme weather.
A - They have plans to handle "normal" extreme weather, this is not normal. Their benchmark was issues in 2011, they'll now beef up the plan they had from that to handle even more extreme weather.
Q - Are all energy companies being asked to cut the same amount?
A - The share each provider has to reduce is dependent on their share of usage from the system. For example, if a system uses 20%, they have to reduce 20% of the total amount ERCOT is asking to reduce.
A - The share each provider has to reduce is dependent on their share of usage from the system. For example, if a system uses 20%, they have to reduce 20% of the total amount ERCOT is asking to reduce.
Q - Can you explain the PUC order?
A - They say the scarcity pricing mechanism had distortions in calculations. PUC changed mechanism, which allowed ERCOT to apply the new pricing rule that will help them keep generation on during this event.
A - They say the scarcity pricing mechanism had distortions in calculations. PUC changed mechanism, which allowed ERCOT to apply the new pricing rule that will help them keep generation on during this event.
I missed the last question, but the answer was that they didn't have the information in front of them. Do with that what you will...
Q - How long are outages expected?
A - The issue is getting more power generated to meet the demand. They're working 24/7 with generators. If they lose generation, they may need more outages. Of note - he says it will not be today.
A - The issue is getting more power generated to meet the demand. They're working 24/7 with generators. If they lose generation, they may need more outages. Of note - he says it will not be today.
Apologies, switching now to a City of Austin press conference. You can find the ERCOT presser on multiple live streams.
