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My VERY VERY LONG rant on power supplies in TX since it's in the news. How I get into this stuff no idea. Where I lived was on co-op power and they did ok so far, same for the one north of there. There's only a few left. In case you haven't noticed I write a LOT when I'm up hurting.

Power is under a tremendous amount of pressure from a thousand different angles.

Exxon in BR sells its excess power back to the grid. They generate power using a HRSG (Heat Recovery Steam Generator) to recover power from all the steam they produce that runs everything and the steam off the cooling stuff. The industry that makes HRSG also makes tubrines use in natural gas power plants. That entire industry has left the country. For those in the petrochemical industry they normally require US rolled steel. The steel is bought and shipped to Corpus Christi and shipped to places like the Phillipines. Fabricated and shipped back to the US. Then reall really long giant multi trailers long semis hault it to be installed. I toured a place that did it in Thailand as a stop on the way back from Tokyo. They literally weld in shorts, short sleeves, and flip flops. OSHA has never been heard of. But it's cheaper to send off around the world and ship it back.

The place I worked at in San Antonio (precipitators and such for the coal industry) had OSHA lock our gate till we installed forced air respirators for our welders on high nickel content steel. San Antonio not the coolest place in the world. But in the shade with fans in the shop it's bearable. Add leather welding suit AND a respirator that seals off your head....we tried cooling suits and instead we had two shops adjacent to each other. The welders switched off daily welding where they needed the respirators and where they didn't to keep from dwindling away from weight loss. It all adds up.

Southern company built a new experimental clean coal plant in north MS that was to feed Memphis and such. Initial cost $1 Billion. Regulations and l/being dragged out to meet them eventually final cost was $7 billion. The plant was 100% finished, ready to fire. New regulations and a fight over who would pay it, been sitting idle now for 7 years and Southern Company moved on. We did the steel.

Southern company is now finishing two nuclear reators expansion on an existing coal plant. As far as I know (and I'm not 100% sure) no other permits for a new nuclear reactor are applied for. Shaw had one, possibly two but they pulled them then sold their nuclear division to Toshiba when they sold out to Chicago Bridge and Iron.

In northeast TX there's a coal plant that uses strip mining to extract coal. They built a lake that Texas Parks and Wildlife turned into a state park. The plant has gone downhill due to regulations, age and not knowing how much a future is ahead so why spend on maintenance over the last 10 years. I sat in on a public "discussion" and the company made it quite clear. If they were forced to shut down they would fill in the lake and just leave. This plant also feeds part of Dallas and possibly where a friend of mine lives that has gone withouth power for days. I got in on the reclemation of land part while working for the US Forest Service.

The UK built multiple pellet mills in GA and MS. They buy timber and produce wood pellets out of it. The ones in Gloster, MS are shipped to Baton Rouge. Cross the new bridge and on the Port Allen side just north of the bridge is a giant dome. It's used to store the pellets. Then they are loaded on a freighter and shipped to England. They burn the wood in their old coal plants for power. They plant trees in the US and cut them down at 7 years of age. One after another after another. It's raping the land so the UK can't get away from burning coal. I got in this one from the forestry end and the building of the pellet mills.

Just outside Houston is one of the largest coal plant polluters in the US only behind one in PA I think. US taxpayers (EPA) paid for $1 Billion carbon capture expansion. I was PM/PC on this and why I went to Tokyo as Misubishi Heavy Industries were the engineers. It required 30m long beams (100 feet give or take). Those had to be imported from Japan as the US no longer rolls beams that long. The carbon capture last 5ish years and was shut down. To break even the liquid they used to capture the carbon was pumped into the ground. Then it was sold to hydraulic frackers that needed it and it sequestered the carbon below ground. Fracking pressure is mounting and the lockdown killed that off. So they could no longer continue the carbon capture on the plant. Also meaning it would no longer pass emissions.

Can't make this stuff up. I wish I was. I never wanted in on any of this crap. I literally just wanted to sit on my computer and draw little lines.
But it all adds up, death by a 1,000 cuts. These are just the ones I've dealt with and am familiar with. Someone with knowlege I'm sure knows much much more.

Only 3 companies in the US still build the large steel plate structures used for coal plant pollution control. Precipitators and such. One outside Pensacola which I worked for. They took a massive hit cause their big customer was the paper mill industry. Canada killed some of that off, and demand dropped a lot so they are seriously scaled back in thier ability.

One in Anacortes, WA which I worked for. Their biggest customer was a refinery which is closing down. That and their staff is killing themselces with heroin.

One just outside San Antonio. They are merging/moving together with their sister company in Waco which is 100% dependent on the petrochemical industry. We'll see how that goes but does't look good.