Massive Texas power outage

[cs1234]

Have we learned nothing from Saruman? "The dwarves delved too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness of Khazad-dum... shadow and flame."

 

[Subdood]

Better late responding than never?

It was a little windy here during the bad storm back when you first posted this. We probably had 75 mph winds but no significant damage. We did get a ton of rain over about a week there, something over 20 inches with a lot of local flooding. We fared okay on that as well, although some pastures under water. For the most part our solar held the line. I did have to run the chargeverter a few times when it rained with no sun for a couple days in a row.

But we got another storm with worse winds on Tuesday. The weather geeks said 85 mph winds. Having been through a number of hurricanes it felt like we had some gusts pushing 100. But we still fared well. A little damage to the gardens and a tree down at the lake house but it didn't fall on anything. All the panels were fine through both storms so we're back to making kws.

As for other folks around here, there are a lot of them suffering. Livingston flooded in town in places which had never flooded. South of us the rising water from dam release set new records so a lot of flooding there too. During Hurricane Harvey the dam release reached 110k cfs, which set a record at the time. During this storm it got up to 124k cfs, so considerably more than ever before. And the power outages in Houston with all the transmission lines down has been a little crazy. No fun to be without power for weeks when you're having heat indexes of 108F or more.

All in all, I'm going to say we were very fortunate. The grid didn't fail here like it did in Houston but it was great to be on solar, just in case it did.

Glad to hear y'all made thru alright. I saw on the outage map at one time that Polk county was over 50% without grid power and was wondering how you were faring. Just some monster storms in Texas this spring. I lived in DFW area for 30 years and don't remember it being that bad. Hot, yes, but not that violent of weather. We got a few storms here over the last week and had some brief outages, but really didn't notice. I imagine there's a lot of folks in Texas getting real interested in solar right now.

 

[EastTexCowboy]

Glad to hear y'all made thru alright. I saw on the outage map at one time that Polk county was over 50% without grid power and was wondering how you were faring. Just some monster storms in Texas this spring. I lived in DFW area for 30 years and don't remember it being that bad. Hot, yes, but not that violent of weather. We got a few storms here over the last week and had some brief outages, but really didn't notice. I imagine there's a lot of folks in Texas getting real interested in solar right now.

I suspect you're right about that! I don't see myself ever being without solar again, assuming I have a choice.

And now we're getting yet another one. High winds, some hard rain right now, but supposedly a chance of a twister. Starting to get a little old but as much as I complain it doesn't seem to help a damn bit.

 

[cs1234]

I imagine there's a lot of folks in Texas getting real interested in solar right now.

People always get really interested in solar and batteries after a big storm. Then they get a few quotes, look at their bank balance, pull out their pockets, look under the couch cushions, and come to the harsh realization that it is expensive. Or, they get sold some grid tied system that doesn't even do anything when the power goes out and then get angry.

 

[Subdood]

I had it before my solar project - but I do keep a small 3000w dual fuel Pulsar generator in storage along with 2X 20# propane cylinders. Originally had it as emergency measure to (slow) charge my EV if there was every grid problems, and it works all well and good. Now it would be double emergency backup if there was no sun for 2 or 3 days. I'd need to get a chargeverter from EG4 if I wanted to integrate it into my solar/battery setup though since its only 120V output

Propane never goes bad, burns cleaner and don't have to worry about rotating fuel every 6 to 12 months too

Oh I'm all for propane, we have a 330gal tank down at the old house, and a 30K BTU heater in the house to keep it warm enough in there in the winter to keep the pipes from freezing. We don't live down there but try to keep it somewhat liveable.

We have a propane grill up here and use once in a while. I wish we had a big tank up here to run a heater. That electric heat gets expensive in a hurry..

Do you have your car charger on the inverter? I imagine it may be a bit much for one 6K inverter, unless that's the only load it's running at the time.

 

[OffGridForGood]

People always get really interested in solar and batteries after a big storm. Then they get a few quotes, look at their bank balance, pull out their pockets, look under the couch cushions, and come to the harsh realization that it is expensive

Then point them to DIY Solar Forum!
I think Signature Solar are in a good position right about now...

 

[Subdood]

People always get really interested in solar and batteries after a big storm. Then they get a few quotes, look at their bank balance, pull out their pockets, look under the couch cushions, and come to the harsh realization that it is expensive. Or, they get sold some grid tied system that doesn't even do anything when the power goes out and then get angry.

My system wasn't cheap (for me anyway), but I think it's worth it. I could see most folks probably going the generator route considering the costs.

Yeah, I can imagine the frustration of getting grid tie solar power only to find out you'll have nothing when the grid actually goes down, unless you have a hybrid system with batteries.

 

[cs1234]

Then point them to DIY Solar Forum!
I think Signature Solar are in a good position right about now...

This site is my little secret. If I told them about this place, they wouldn't be so amazed when I parrot the answers I get from y'all.

 

[EastTexCowboy]

People always get really interested in solar and batteries after a big storm. Then they get a few quotes, look at their bank balance, pull out their pockets, look under the couch cushions, and come to the harsh realization that it is expensive. Or, they get sold some grid tied system that doesn't even do anything when the power goes out and then get angry.

I've heard that grid tied system story so many times it hurts. I feel sorry for people for being taken but damn, do a little research on your own. Not just solar but pretty much any major expense. I'm not trashing a grid tied system without battery. If you're just looking to save some money and that's what you want go for it. But I have gotten a number of calls from friends, often wanting my opinion of a quote. Not one time have those quotes included batteries, and every time the buyer thought that it would keep them powered up if the grid went down. Maybe the salesman told them that, or more likely the salesman allowed them to assume that. Either way, in every case I've dealt with when they found out how much batteries cost they backed out or went with a whole house gen. If I mention building their own you would think I suggested they build a rocket ship. Oh well, nothing I can do for em.

 

[cs1234]

My system wasn't cheap (for me anyway), but I think it's worth it. I could see most folks probably going the generator route considering the costs.

Yeah, I can imagine the frustration of getting grid tie solar power only to find out you have nothing when the grid actually goes down, unless you have a hybrid system with batteries.

Yeah, generators always do really, really well after storms. I'm sure solar sales do very well also, but it's a much larger commitment and full of all kinds of snakes and con artists.

 

[DPC]

under something != bottom of it
also doesn't have the overheating issues our power lines do

Have you ever worked with any of this stuff?

I have been a places you can not imagine working in temperatures that rival the hottest desserts on earth.( I would argue exceed but that dam wet bulb thing clouds the numbers )

In short
Temperature of a power line in free air is hardly a consideration compared to an armoured cable.
It’s all about the ability to shed excess heat and not the ambient temperature ( within these reasonable levels )

 

[Subdood]

Yeah, generators always do really, really well after storms. I'm sure solar sales do very well also, but it's a much larger commitment and full of all kinds of snakes and con artists.

I was looking at whole house Generac generators and you can get a 18KW unit for about $5K from Lowe's or similar. Of course that doesn't include installation, and getting a fuel tank put in, and other sundry costs. So grand total for all that would be what, about $10K?

Worth it? I guess for some folks it is. Mine cost a few thou less than that, but for less power, but with a battery bank. Plus it saves me on the electric bill. Our last bill was only $52, lowest ever, we only used about 300kwh the last month, but the system generated half of that. I like that.

 

[Delmar]

I was looking at whole house Generac generators...

For my moms nearby house I installed a Generac 14KW at Lowes was $4200 with tax delivered to my door, plus around $200 for the battery and various gas line fittings. A local electrical contractor installed the transfer switch for $1000 with new breakers (I could have done it but I'm lazy and it was hot outside). Total installed price is around $5400. Would have been double+ if I went the easy way and contracted a Generac installer.

I now have a convenient source (away from my ears ) to recharge my self-propelled power station during extended outages.

 

[DPC]

whole house Generac generators and you can get a 18KW unit for about $5K from Lowe's

I don’t have a high opinion of most residential power units these days
I suggest you get a manual for that, know it well
Generac has the best manuals around for their units

Treat it like it’s woman.
Be religious about it’s care and up keep
They don’t fair well if neglected

 

[gotbeans]

Have you ever worked with any of this stuff?

I have been a places you can not imagine working in temperatures that rival the hottest desserts on earth.( I would argue exceed but that dam wet bulb thing clouds the numbers )

In short
Temperature of a power line in free air is hardly a consideration compared to an armoured cable.
It’s all about the ability to shed excess heat and not the ambient temperature ( within these reasonable levels )

It's such a consideration they're on their 4th change from ACCR to ACFR to AECC now to ACCC.. blah blah
anyway I already said why they're not buried, need them submerged and pumped for insulating & cooling reasons or they start arcing.
and the alternative insulation is so expensive it isn't even a consideration

 

[DPC]

stuff you don’t even have an acronym for

No oil in the baby squid…

 

[dfw_dude]

Oh I'm all for propane, we have a 330gal tank down at the old house, and a 30K BTU heater in the house to keep it warm enough in there in the winter to keep the pipes from freezing. We don't live down there but try to keep it somewhat liveable.

We have a propane grill up here and use once in a while. I wish we had a big tank up here to run a heater. That electric heat gets expensive in a hurry..

Do you have your car charger on the inverter? I imagine it may be a bit much for one 6K inverter, unless that's the only load it's running at the time.

Yes, I bought a SophTrans 40A charger, bonus it has wifi based control. It lets me select the amperage rating to charge the car with (from 10A to 40A) I have it plugged into my inverter setup on a transfer switch, so worst case I flip a switch and back to direct grid. I don't need super speedy charging so I generally keep it set to 10A @ 240V, that way it doesn't suck my battery dry super fast. On a sunny day I can produce more than enough solar to offset EV charging live. Max I'll set the EV charger to is 16A if I'm on battery/inverter, that's 4000W right there roughly, still leaves room to run house basics/fridge/lights/computer/etc without going into overload status.

 

[gotbeans]

stuff you don’t even have an acronym for

No oil in the baby squid…

nobody said your wire had oil in it

 

[DPC]

nobody said your wire had oil in it

The wire is to copper part
Add insulation, semiconductor, rubber….
Now you have a cable all part of a system

A very expensive one per foot too.
That is the real difference to cost of an in ground grid vs overheads.

 

[gotbeans]

The wire is to copper part
Add insulation, semiconductor, rubber….
Now you have a cable all part of a system

A very expensive one per foot too.
That is the real difference to cost of an in ground grid vs overheads.

good for you & it, what about it?
high voltage long range transmission hasn't used copper in a long time lmfao
you're gonna bankrupt the countries trying to run your line everywhere

 

[Subdood]

Yes, I bought a SophTrans 40A charger, bonus it has wifi based control. It lets me select the amperage rating to charge the car with (from 10A to 40A) I have it plugged into my inverter setup on a transfer switch, so worst case I flip a switch and back to direct grid. I don't need super speedy charging so I generally keep it set to 10A @ 240V, that way it doesn't suck my battery dry super fast. On a sunny day I can produce more than enough solar to offset EV charging live. Max I'll set the EV charger to is 16A if I'm on battery/inverter, that's 4000W right there roughly, still leaves room to run house basics/fridge/lights/computer/etc without going into overload status.

That's cool. What kind of EV do you have?

I see that there's still 200K without power in TX. It's like they seem to be getting it whittled down and bam! more storms hit. Guess the linemen are making some serious coin..

 

[740GLE]

You know it’s a good event when they bring in sleeping rack tractor trailers that sleep +200 guys, as it’s better than having crews travel hours to and from hotels each day.

 

[Subdood]

You know it’s a good event when they bring in sleeping rack tractor trailers that sleep +200 guys, as it’s better than having crews travel hours to and from hotels each day.

?

You're saying they're having 200 linemen sleep in a single conex?? I'm not getting what you're saying.

 

[Brucey]

?

You're saying they're having 200 linemen sleep in a single conex?? I'm not getting what you're saying.

That doesn't seem possible even if you stack them human trafficking style

 

[ksmithaz1]

There are engineering issues with using underground cables for power distribution
That require a lot of extra equipment to compensate the lines for maximum efficiency
The cable is extremely expensive too!

Yes and no, but the bulk of the issue with downed power lines is generally in areas where it would make more sense to go underground from both a safety and reliability perspective. It costs money to dig the ditch, but you already have the right-of-way. Everything new here inside the city limits goes underground. Putting back up a mile of High-tension wire is simple. Dealing with hundreds of power poles in scattered neighborhoods all over the place can negate the cost/time initial benefit fairly quickly.