Texas internet connectivity declining due to blackouts

Tue Feb 16 12:22:01 UTC 2021

On 2/15/21 10:02 PM, Mark Tinka wrote:
> 
> 
> On 2/16/21 07:49, Matthew Petach wrote:
> 
>>
>> Isn't that a result of ERCOT stubbornly refusing to interconnect with 
>> the rest of the national grid, out of an irrational fear of coming 
>> under federal regulation?

Yes. This has been widely documented in numerous articles, both very 
recently and previously.

>> I suspect that trying to be self-sufficient works most of the 
>> time--but when you get to the edges of the bell curve locally, your 
>> ability to be resilient and survive depends heavily upon your ability 
>> to be supported by others around you.  This certainly holds true for 
>> individual humans; I suspect power grids aren't that different.
> 
> If there was a state-wide blackout, they'd need to restart from the 
> national grid anyway. Why not have some standing interconnection 
> agreement with them anyway, that gets activated in cases such as these?
> 
> Sorry, unfamiliar with U.S. politics in this regard, so just doing 1+1.
> 

"Sorry, unfamiliar with U.S. politics in this regard, so just doing 1+1"

You don't understand Texas politics relative to the United States at large.

Which is fine, but this is a state that had deliberately prevented 
interconnects (see: ERCOT, above) into any extended national grid, 
principally to evade the resulting exposure to Federal regulation.

Texas [politicians] are constantly threatening to secede.

- John
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