Most of Texas Deep Freeze $90 Billion in Losses Avoidable, Modeler Says

By | February 25, 2021

  • February 26, 2021 at 6:15 pm
    homeboycartel says:
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    Sadly, the picture painted by this article begs the question if subrogation will be pursued against ERCOT in this matter. If they made the economic decision to cut off power for whatever reason and damages resulted thereafter, they should bear similar responsibility as PG&E and Edison have in California for wildfire property damage losses.

    • February 27, 2021 at 1:12 pm
      Chopper says:
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      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.

      • March 1, 2021 at 10:58 am
        Rosenblatt says:
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        “Wind power is great but when ice hits wind turbines along with cold weather and no wind (and the wind power was 24% of the grid) you have a huge problem.”

        MISLEADING STATEMENT.
        Here, let me fix that for you:

        Wind power is great but when YOU REFUSE TO WINTERIZE YOUR SYSTEM LIKE YOU WERE TOLD 10 YEARS AGO AND JUST LIKE THEY DO IN ANTARTICA AND OTHER AREAS THAT ARE SUPER COLD AND BOMBARDED WITH ICE AND SNOW ALL THE TIME YET THOSE AREAS ARE ABLE TO KEEP THEIR WIND POWER GOING IN ALL CLIMATE CONDITIONS, you have a huge problem.”

      • March 1, 2021 at 11:30 am
        homeboycartel says:
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        So, then, they should be pursued for subrogation as it was a clearly conscious decision to preserve their assets and let the resultant damage be damned. 2011’s recommendations were for winterization, which was never heeded. Alaska and Antarctica, hell even Siberia, uses wind turbines without freezing. Why? Winterization. This calamity was eminently avoidable by ERCOT and they chose the short-term economics and have contributed to a massive property event that will dwarf that of Hurricane Katrina.

    • March 1, 2021 at 11:54 am
      Augustine says:
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      ERCOT is a non-profit, private entity with zero regulatory authority. They obviously displayed an amazing level of incompetence and ineptitude, however, the real blame rests with the Texas Public Utility Commission. TPUC has regulatory authority over ERCOT and the privately owned power operators and servicers. Unfortunately, suing TPUC will likely go absolutely nowhere. Also, TPUC ordered the energy rate increase in the middle of the blackout that caused energy prices to increase 14,000%. People want to turn this into “renewables vs traditional energy” however both the renewals and the traditional energy sources were woefully unprepared for this weather event. Basically, none of the infrastructure was winterized. As a Texan, I can attest that this has become a truly bipartisan matter. The entire system failed the consumer and, we are finding out, it NEVER worked in the consumer’s favor.

      • March 1, 2021 at 12:18 pm
        John Dough says:
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        Agreed.

        Fingers are pointing at ERCOT, TPUC, and wherever else, but ultimately, the blame seems to reside at the Legislature.

        Quotes from an article in the Texas Tribune:

        “Earlier in the day, state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, asked whether lawmakers should reexamine ERCOT’s governance structure.

        “Y’all made us,” (ERCOT CEO) Bill Magness said. “You should change us.”

        “If the Legislature fails to mandate weatherization of pipelines or power plants, there are limits to how far the regulatory agencies can go to step beyond where the Legislature has given them direction,” Alison Silverstein, an Austin-based energy consultant who has advised state and federal agencies, said Wednesday….

        https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/25/texas-house-senate-ercot/

        In Texas, regulators are frequently hamstrung by weak or poorly written laws and are often reigned in by charges of regulatory overreach when (or if) they actually try to do something. It’s a pro-business, relatively low regulation state. Being so has both advantages and disadvantages.

        • March 1, 2021 at 12:20 pm
          John Dough says:
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          To be clear, I should add that the final paragraph is my opinion, and not anything written in the Texas Tribune article.

  • February 27, 2021 at 1:10 pm
    Chopper says:
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    • March 1, 2021 at 10:59 am
      Rosenblatt says:
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      You know you can winterize your wind system so it works in extreme ice and freezing conditions, right? You know it’s colder and icier in Antarctica than it is in TX, and their wind power is unaffected by ice and cold, right?

  • February 28, 2021 at 5:34 pm
    knowall says:
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    From the road, it looks like a system of hyper competition (and not being tied into another backup grid); caught out when they didn’t take some normal precautions like anti freeze, because normally they don’t have to

  • March 1, 2021 at 11:59 am
    John Dough says:
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    Wind turbines function just fine in many northern states like Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, etc., as well as the other regions of the planet as Rosenblatt points out.

    As is often the case, this was largely a preventable, human-caused catastrophe. Wind turbines weren’t the only energy generation devices that failed: the fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas facilities were disrupted, as was nuclear.

    This was a total systems failure in Texas…largely caused by decisions made or not made over the previous decade.

  • March 1, 2021 at 2:05 pm
    Rosenblatt says:
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    Anyone who is downvoting comments which say wind works fine in ice and freezing temp’s if you just winterize the system (like is done in many places across the globe, and like TX was told they needed to do after a similar event in 2011) care to explain why you disagree?

  • March 2, 2021 at 9:49 am
    James says:
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    How many of you actually live in TX? If not, you are simply relying on the media and not personal or first-hand experience, correct?

    • March 2, 2021 at 10:29 am
      homeboycartel says:
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      @James, we are insurance professionals. Regardless of residency state, if we are on this board, we are likely educated and experienced enough to comment and review insurance related matters independent of personal direct knowledge. Insured losses have occurred, which appear to have a reasonable argument could have been avoided. Therefore, in any tort system in this country, insurers or any parties having incurred a loss, can pursue their claims for negligence to recoup losses. I am not sure what residency has to do with any of these issues.

      • March 2, 2021 at 11:37 am
        Rosenblatt says:
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        Well said

    • March 3, 2021 at 6:15 am
      knowall says:
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      Many of us have close relatives that live there; so we get the experience through them.

      Those of you who went through it , it was rough. We’re used to this weather in the Midwest but even if we have power failures we normally can get someplace warm, or may have a woodstove.

      No one is celebrating this; definitely not from a human suffering standpoint and from an economic standpoint reinsurance will be affected.



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