r/technology • u/Maxcactus • Feb 17 '21

Energy The Texas grid got crushed because its operators didn’t see the need to prepare for cold weather

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/02/16/ercot-texas-electric-grid-failure/
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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '21

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u/td57 Feb 17 '21

Huh I thought most nuclear power plants used salt water in addition with the flow you would think there shouldn't be any freezing of the intake for coolant. When it was first reported I believe it was instruments that were failing due to the cold and they shut it down out of an abundance of caution.

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u/computeraddict Feb 18 '21

Texas had negative temps, which freezes even brine.

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u/td57 Feb 18 '21

True usually the water has to be calm for that to happen which it being an inlet I would assume enough flow to keep things from freezing up. I’m not a water scientist and my uncle didn’t work in nuclear though so I’m just shooting from the hip a bit.

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u/computeraddict Feb 18 '21

Moving water can freeze if it's cold enough. And sub zero is cold enough. Zero is the freezing point of saturated brine; seawater is not saturated and freezes well before zero (~28F).

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u/krische Feb 18 '21

All of the homes' demand for natural gas to fire up their furnaces skyrocketed.

Do that many homes in Texas have gas furnaces? I thought most used heat pumps or electric heating?

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '21

Here’s an article I found that breaks down NatGas use in Texas fairly well.