Curious if you compared a whole house battery system? Wouldn’t help work with the system; you can take advantage of low cost unreliable solar and have a days worth of battery for an outage. The generator only continues to add cost (gas and maintenance).
I spent 2000$ at a box store and got a 8000$ watt gasoline powered generator, 25 feet of 10-3 and a manual transfer switch. I installed it myself in one day. I flip the switch a couple times of year by myself. I live in Maine in a 2300 sf house where it is quite cold. Most of that money you spent was on labor or saving future labor, not the actual product. Just saying…..
In Australia, we have a competitive power generation and retail market, with a market and system operator that is legislatively responsible for reliability, and with the power to purchase energy or demand response in the event of market failure. Also, a utility that fails to provide its contracted generation quantity is exposed to balancing prices of up to A$17,500/MWh (US 10,800,000 c/kWh).
The market structure recognises the monopoly nature of transmission and distribution networks, but also recognises that generation and retailing can be competitive businesses.
I'm in the Pacific Northwest and we have a hydro system that provides reliable dispatch, though its capacity is being strained by load growth. Hydro is about 60% of our generation. Power outages are almost exclusively caused by weather, wildfires, etc. Cost to underground and improve reliability is not being discussed. Backup generators and home battery systems are very popular, especially in areas with no natural gas. IMO, the best solution is for utilities or retail energy providers work along side customers to install, maintain, and utilize customer generation. If I had access to a real power market or my utility would offer a program, I could dispatch my battery to assist grid AND I would have a backup source.
Where I live in suburban South Florida I do not have NG available. And the gasoline, propane or diesel fuel cost for powering a full homes electric load with a genset will break the back after 200 hours of operation. So Instead of a genset sized to power the maximim load of my home I chose one sized to keep my refrigerators cold, power my water heater, and some lighting and aux loads that can be switched in as needed. So I chose a 10kw nominal low THD portable dual fuel gasoline/ propane genset and maintain 3 full 100 pound propane tanks and add 50 gallons of gasoline when hurricanes are within a week of landfall. Of course that means no functional air conditioning, and electric stoves and ovens - cooking needs which are replaced by propane camp stoves and electric fans to help in summer heat. I lack funds to bury a 500 gallon LPG tank and to fill it, and to buy a 20kw genset for whole house power. But my dual fuel genset powering only essential loads has proven itself, for 3 weeks use after hurricane Wilma struck and took down every power pole for the last mile feeding my street. Running hot water, cold food, television and power for tools was all we needed to keep us functional to report for work daily. Within a week we could find fuel, even if we had to drive a hundred miles round trip.
Hi Robert. Thank you for putting money into our Wisconsin economy! I see you went for pretty much a “whole house” backup. Our Generac is only 11 kW, for the essentials, but then here in WI we may not need our A/C as much as you Texans do. We’re one step more off-the-grid than you are, though, being on LP. Great article, as usual!
As one of three Texas Public Utility Commissioners who oversaw the restructuring of the Texas electric market from 1999-2003, I could not disagree more with Mr. Bryce's perspective. He lays the "blame" for ERCOT's reliability issues on (in order) renewables, shutting coal plants and market restructuring (associating it with the false bugaboo it was Enron's creation). The alternative universe which Mr. Bryce desires is one of regulated utilities incurring significant cost overruns for nuclear and coal plants, polluting the environment and causing climate change. This world ran up costs for customers (as my colleague Pat Wood taught me we don't call them consumers in real markets) and is the one that led us to abandon a regulated utility model. The real reliability issues, as I and colleagues have written elsewhere https://cgmf.org/p/report-never-again.html, is the result of our successors at the PUCT failing to take the steps required to properly ensure grid reliability.
While there might be validate criticisms of the ERCOT market and its reliability issues, they are not the ones cited by Mr. Bryce.
ERCOT is the best US model for wholesale and retail electricity markets. It does however still need to be regulated, wires remain a monopoly and customers should be protected from bad actors. Also, keep in mind that most power outages are caused by wire issues (e.g., downed power lines), not generation reliability.
Sure, politicians are ruining America’s formerly enviable and stable grid, by rushing toward renewables with no understanding of how to back them up. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Generac really needs to partner with the battery companies to include these between the generator and your house. That way, your fuel will last about four times longer, because the generator won’t be running just to keep a light or laptop on.
I bought and Installed my Generac generator in 2012 when the Obama administration declared war on coal fired generation and the beginning of the unreliable grid began. Mine has been filling in the gaps for me and sometimes my neighbors, with their extension cords, for 12 years now. The only thing you must do, is hire a service to maintain it 2 times per year and be absolutely sure you replace the battery, used as power for the starter, every 4 years. Batteries do not last as long as they used to.
I have installed both Solar Panels and Generator, because I am afraid that Ecofascist movement to install crazy amount of solar and wind without the upgrade of the network, together with consumption of energy by AI and artificial suppression of oil and gas will destabilize the network.
Curious if you compared a whole house battery system? Wouldn’t help work with the system; you can take advantage of low cost unreliable solar and have a days worth of battery for an outage. The generator only continues to add cost (gas and maintenance).
for $15k you could have installed a tesla powerwall that is backed up with a portable generator
“I’m installing public utility back up systems the rely on public utilities to operate. 👍🏻”
You do realize the gas is delivered by compressors that run on electricity, right?
I spent 2000$ at a box store and got a 8000$ watt gasoline powered generator, 25 feet of 10-3 and a manual transfer switch. I installed it myself in one day. I flip the switch a couple times of year by myself. I live in Maine in a 2300 sf house where it is quite cold. Most of that money you spent was on labor or saving future labor, not the actual product. Just saying…..
AI is stealing our “power”
In Australia, we have a competitive power generation and retail market, with a market and system operator that is legislatively responsible for reliability, and with the power to purchase energy or demand response in the event of market failure. Also, a utility that fails to provide its contracted generation quantity is exposed to balancing prices of up to A$17,500/MWh (US 10,800,000 c/kWh).
The market structure recognises the monopoly nature of transmission and distribution networks, but also recognises that generation and retailing can be competitive businesses.
We need a nuclear renaissance in this country.
How does this help if hackers shut down the utilities distributing the natural gas, just like they did to the electrical grid?
I'm in the Pacific Northwest and we have a hydro system that provides reliable dispatch, though its capacity is being strained by load growth. Hydro is about 60% of our generation. Power outages are almost exclusively caused by weather, wildfires, etc. Cost to underground and improve reliability is not being discussed. Backup generators and home battery systems are very popular, especially in areas with no natural gas. IMO, the best solution is for utilities or retail energy providers work along side customers to install, maintain, and utilize customer generation. If I had access to a real power market or my utility would offer a program, I could dispatch my battery to assist grid AND I would have a backup source.
Where I live in suburban South Florida I do not have NG available. And the gasoline, propane or diesel fuel cost for powering a full homes electric load with a genset will break the back after 200 hours of operation. So Instead of a genset sized to power the maximim load of my home I chose one sized to keep my refrigerators cold, power my water heater, and some lighting and aux loads that can be switched in as needed. So I chose a 10kw nominal low THD portable dual fuel gasoline/ propane genset and maintain 3 full 100 pound propane tanks and add 50 gallons of gasoline when hurricanes are within a week of landfall. Of course that means no functional air conditioning, and electric stoves and ovens - cooking needs which are replaced by propane camp stoves and electric fans to help in summer heat. I lack funds to bury a 500 gallon LPG tank and to fill it, and to buy a 20kw genset for whole house power. But my dual fuel genset powering only essential loads has proven itself, for 3 weeks use after hurricane Wilma struck and took down every power pole for the last mile feeding my street. Running hot water, cold food, television and power for tools was all we needed to keep us functional to report for work daily. Within a week we could find fuel, even if we had to drive a hundred miles round trip.
Hi Robert. Thank you for putting money into our Wisconsin economy! I see you went for pretty much a “whole house” backup. Our Generac is only 11 kW, for the essentials, but then here in WI we may not need our A/C as much as you Texans do. We’re one step more off-the-grid than you are, though, being on LP. Great article, as usual!
As one of three Texas Public Utility Commissioners who oversaw the restructuring of the Texas electric market from 1999-2003, I could not disagree more with Mr. Bryce's perspective. He lays the "blame" for ERCOT's reliability issues on (in order) renewables, shutting coal plants and market restructuring (associating it with the false bugaboo it was Enron's creation). The alternative universe which Mr. Bryce desires is one of regulated utilities incurring significant cost overruns for nuclear and coal plants, polluting the environment and causing climate change. This world ran up costs for customers (as my colleague Pat Wood taught me we don't call them consumers in real markets) and is the one that led us to abandon a regulated utility model. The real reliability issues, as I and colleagues have written elsewhere https://cgmf.org/p/report-never-again.html, is the result of our successors at the PUCT failing to take the steps required to properly ensure grid reliability.
While there might be validate criticisms of the ERCOT market and its reliability issues, they are not the ones cited by Mr. Bryce.
ERCOT is the best US model for wholesale and retail electricity markets. It does however still need to be regulated, wires remain a monopoly and customers should be protected from bad actors. Also, keep in mind that most power outages are caused by wire issues (e.g., downed power lines), not generation reliability.
Sure, politicians are ruining America’s formerly enviable and stable grid, by rushing toward renewables with no understanding of how to back them up. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Generac really needs to partner with the battery companies to include these between the generator and your house. That way, your fuel will last about four times longer, because the generator won’t be running just to keep a light or laptop on.
I bought and Installed my Generac generator in 2012 when the Obama administration declared war on coal fired generation and the beginning of the unreliable grid began. Mine has been filling in the gaps for me and sometimes my neighbors, with their extension cords, for 12 years now. The only thing you must do, is hire a service to maintain it 2 times per year and be absolutely sure you replace the battery, used as power for the starter, every 4 years. Batteries do not last as long as they used to.
Timely. We are in the process of installing one.
I have installed both Solar Panels and Generator, because I am afraid that Ecofascist movement to install crazy amount of solar and wind without the upgrade of the network, together with consumption of energy by AI and artificial suppression of oil and gas will destabilize the network.