Five Myths about the Lone Star Blackout

By Meredith Angwin When we hear something terrible has happened to someone we know, we are concerned for them. We are worried.  We want to help.  And let’s face it, we are also concerned that something like that might happen to US.   Our self-concern often takes the form of a list: “All the reasons…

South Texas Project Unit 1 tripped at 0537 on Feb 15, 2021

South Texas Project Unit 1 tripped at 0537 on Feb 15, 2021

Update: South Texas Project Unit 1 started up during the afternoon of Feb 17. Vicki Rowland, lead for internal communications at STP Nuclear Operating Company, stated that the plant was connected to the grid at 2107 (9:07 pm central time). It began a steady ascent to 100% power. The NRC’s Power Reactor Status Report for…

Consumers win if electricity production capacity remains high

There are many pundits writing about the U.S. electricity markets today who hope that their readers haven’t studied market behavior and competitive price formation. They want their readers or listeners to accept their narrative and believe that keeping struggling generators in the market will be a costly market intervention resulting in higher customer prices. The…