I was directly hit by Beryl, and just got power back today. For us, the issue was trees taking out the power lines. We live on acreage with a lot of pecan trees, and lost 4 of them in the storm. 2 of them toppled over on the power line. I personally don't think that Centerpoint has done a bad job here, Houston is a large land mass and there is no way that you can get everyone back online with as much wind damage as we sustained much quicker than what happened. This storm was so much different than Harvey, which was a flood event. We did have some flooding but nowhere near that level with Beryl. Really, its just one of those situations that just sucks, and there isnt a whole lot you can really do about it.
Ie. If power lines at one end of the street get felled by a tree, power just comes from the other end of the street instead.
High voltage distribution lines can be done the same - every transformer getting fed from at least 2 places.
Obviously with many lines down, such a system might leave everyone with power, but total power deliverable is still lower. For that, you need smart metering that integrates with consumers distribution boards such that at times of stress on the power network, less important loads are turned off by default (ie. Pool heaters), whilst lighting and fridges stay on.
Nowhere in the US does that for consumers yet I don't think.
> Ie. If power lines at one end of the street get felled by a tree, power just comes from the other end of the street instead.
That would imply a live wire under a tree. Not a good idea.
> Nowhere in the US does that for consumers yet I don't think.
Tons of places do that, in exchange for a lower rate you install a box that lets the utility shut off your AC when demand is very high. It's available in almost all states last time I checked.
Why don’t they keep up with the trees? Other places with trees they will use chainsaws from helicopters and regular mowing to maintain the transmission lines. In neighborhoods they cut very generous Vs in trees that are close to wires.
