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The grid actually does route around failures. Load is simply distributed among the working parts of the grid. However the issue is that the grid doesn’t cut o
by thrashh 5y ago
The grid actually does route around failures.
Load is simply distributed among the working parts of the grid.
However the issue is that the grid doesn’t cut off a part of itself for the sake of survival.
I think the issue is: at some point you have to shed off some of your customers and choose the ones that still get power.
Who makes that call? Where do you even draw the lines? And how do you do this quickly in a few minutes?
- WalterBright 5y agoYou decide in advance how to do it. You do it quickly because you've designed the system to do it automatically or to enable quick human decisions. And yeah, you let a section fail if that prevents the entire system from failing. The power in my neighborhood fails all the time, even though it is well within the city. Fed up, I finally installed a generator last year. Several failures since, including going out for the night 2 days ago, continues to justify it. I was probably the last holdout, one by one each of the neighbors had acquired a generator.
- thrashh 5y agoThe quality of the power grid seems to vary a lot in the country. I live in California and I have had maybe 2 blackouts in 15 years? For maybe 3 hours? Granted, my electricity bill is kind of high.