As you know, in particular, Texas suffered with its traditionally strong hydrocarbon industry, where, in theory, it was supposed to have enough enough coal, gas, oil and an atom to provide electricity inhabitants. An anniversary of the Awareness that the most potentially "warmed" state of America was in such a sad situation forces many to look for ordinary and noticeable "scapegoats". Even Texas Governor Greg Abbott persistently insists that in all the "green" with their windmills, which spoiled the life of local electricians.
Although the facts do not confirm this point, as we have already written. At the time of the preparation of that article, a number of details have not yet been known. But now it turned out a lot of interesting details, including the South Texas NPP power units, stopping gas production due to the freezing of wells and even interruptions in the work of coal power plants due to coal to the warehouses. And, yes, it is clear that the inhabitants of even the middle strip of Russia are strange about it to read, but do not speak about the harsh Siberians. But let's not forget that we are talking about the region located on the latitude of North Africa, where there were no strong frosts since 2011, and more than a week the temperature below -10 degrees Celsius and held at all only once about 30 years ago.
How nuclear power plant did not cope with frost
If the investigation of the incident confirms the initial guesses, it will probably be the first in history to stop the nuclear power plant due to frosts. At the very least, the search for open sources no similar situations in history has not revealed. If our readers know about something similar, write be sure to comments. So, on the website of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a report on stopping the first power unit of SAUS-TERSAS NPP is early in the morning on Monday, February 15.
As follows from the document, the reactor was drowned by automatics after a sharp decrease in water supply to the low-pressure steam generator circuit. Environmental hazards The incident did not imagine all procedures normally. The reason why pumps 11 and 13 suddenly ceased to supply a sufficient amount of water, officially not once voiced. The Atomic Insights website has insider information that automation has worked as a result of the freezing of pressure sensors.
According to the results of only one of this incident, the state of the state dramatically lost more than gigavatta production. Restoring the operation of the reactor - the process is not fast, it took more than three days. The first generation began on February 18, the power unit was given only 36% of the nominal, and the total capacity was able to restore only the 19th. If you look at the state of other regions reactors, their indicators also ranged.
And what's wrong with coal?
If you say tricky, then everything is still incomprehensible to him. For some reason, coal power plants have greatly reduced the development of the ill-fated output when frosts hit. The Washington POST without references to specific sources suggests that the wines of the whole of the equipment to strong cold. Mall in the frost coal on the storage of matrium because of the water that fastened from the frozen and burst pipes. Also expressed reasonable versions that in open areas, coal was not stored in the best conditions and after the wet weather was simply soaked. When frosts hit, such heaps of fossil fuels turned into a monolith.
Finally, the failure of the initiative was played by the failure of the initiative, which was promoted by the former US energy minister Rick Perry (Rick Perry). He offered to pay for coal and nuclear power plants to storing some fuel reserve on its territory. It was supposed to be a safety measure in case of extreme situations where the use of resources is difficult. But, according to the publication in The Dallas Morning News more than two years ago, this project failed to failed together with a similar proposal separately for Texas earlier. Later, the idea was not returned. And just to store the additional reserves of coal, energy companies did not want - it is obligatory. Since in the conditions of a spontaneous snowfall, it took sharply to increase the production of electricity and the supply of fuel was limited, this could also lead to the TPP stop.
Freezing gas
As described above, nuclear power plants and coal led, but gas remained. There are almost half of such power plants in the Texas power system, but they also had the greatest drop in production. The problem was in the supply of fuel, which was rapidly ended in storages, and the mining was insufficient. Natural gas is accompanied by water vapor, which is condensed in pipelines and can freeze. If the equipment of mining and processing enterprises is not designed for low temperatures, then in the frost it has to stop. Naturally, in Texas, where for the winter almost always "plus", no one built wells, refinery and pumping stations for -17 degrees Celsius.
But there was another factor that sharply reduced the volume of fuel incoming to gas thermal power plants. By local rules, in conditions of lack of fuel, its households and small consumers get the first. Moreover, as Jeff Dagle, Jeff Dagle, told the publication of ARS Technica, in contracts for gas supply to power plants there are not even penalties for non-fulfillment of obligations in volumes. Dagl is an employee of the Pacific North-West National Laboratory (PNNL) and he explained why it is.
Logic, honestly, is simple and absolutely understandable. First, energy companies should have their own reserves both in gas reserves and on generating facilities. So small interruptions in gas supplies to them to survive, in theory, easier. And secondly, in a huge number of small farms, it is much more difficult and more expensive to restore the previously interrupted gas supply (pressed the system, check it on leaks) than large consumers such as power plants. As a result, during the strong frost, the CHP competed for gas with ordinary Texans, who also began to burn more fuel for heating.
Windmills, again
According to The Texas Tribune edition, Texas (Ercot) power supply board provided for the maximum peak consumption this winter in the amount of 67 gigavat. The forecast was made last November and according to the calculations, such requests are completely covered by the production of gas, coal and nuclear power plants. The above 67 gigavatt is only 80% of the maximum capacity capacity of the state and peak consumption in the ill-fated output (69 gigavatt) should not be overloaded.
In the above-described forecast, ERCOT also took into account wind power plants as a reserve for the winter. They should have covered approximately 8-9% of the maximum winter consumer requests (6 gigavatt). This figure is larger than the actual production at the time of the blackout (about 5 gigavatt). But the fall in the production of electricity by windmills and does not compare with the drawdown, which was demonstrated by "classic" sources.
The icing of the blades, of course, played its role, according to some estimates, if they began to fight before, it would be possible to pick up more than twice the windmills - 11 Gigawatt. Would it save this network, which in a matter of hours lost almost 35 gigavatt generation from TPP? Extremely doubtful. It is also difficult to blame wind power plants in aggravation of the situation in the morning of Monday, February 15, a few hours before mass trips: as we wrote earlier, the windmills only increased the development
Finally, for the same reasons that it is pointless to blame oil workers in the use of equipment not intended for frost, it is ridiculous to reproach Texas windmills in the fact that they are installed in the "southern" modifications. Yes, wind power plants work perfectly in the Antarctic and the North Sea, but the placed plants placed there have certain features. In particular, heaters for electronics and even for blades that increase the price. Adding such vehicles in the southern state at least looks strange.
In the dry residue
Anomalous cold and snowfalls were imposed on a whole set of factors, the cumulative effect of which was simply not taken into account. Yes, in 2011, Texas had already experienced a major blackwood and a certain measures were taken after him. But since there were no strong cold and snowfall since then, the stress test did not pass the updated network. It is obvious to this week. The result is a deplorable, and with him will be long to understand. Perhaps the state will finally abandon its isolationism and will begin to more actively build relationships with neighboring regions.
And speculate on topics "Whether it was possible to prevent this" and "see how Redneki suffer in the first economy of the world" - at least weird. This natural disaster and in a different way it does not make sense. What conclusions from Blackau will make Americans will see later, but for now it is worth thinking that it is useful from this example, you can endure the rest. The question is definitely a debate. We note only one topic that it is useful to keep in my head in the context of such abnormal weather events: it does not matter whether a person really affects global warming so much and it is possible to stop it, it is important that the climate around the world is very far away and such "surprises" are possible anywhere .
Source: Naked Science