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> In the south every single home has at least one large A/C unit, most of which draw the amount or more as an electric car being charged and yet the grid doesn’
by danpalmer 4y ago
> In the south every single home has at least one large A/C unit, most of which draw the amount or more as an electric car being charged and yet the grid doesn’t fall over when it’s noon and everyone’s air conditioning is running full blast during the summer.
Texas has had grid problems because of this. It was especially bad in the winter.
> This is like that old fable about the English power companies having to fire up peaker plants during the commercial breaks of soccer games because of so many people putting the kettle on.
This isn't a fable, I've seen interviews with National Grid staff where they talk about tracking the TV schedule. This is one of the reasons why we have pumped-hydro capacity, to handle quick spikes.
I think this issue may end up being less of an issue than the doomsayers go on about. When I looked into this in ~2012 the solution was going to be "smart grids" where components would collaborate. Now, we've pretty much got there with electric cars being relatively smart, energy pricing being quite dynamic on some tariffs, and smart meters understanding that relationship.
- tr_user 4y agoThat sounds like a Texas underinvesting in the grid problem
- dopidopHN 4y agoYes. A few hours driving East, and the only power outage I had in Louisiana were related to weather even. I think the comparison the other poster make is useful. If Louisiana small town can handle AC usage, they should be able to handle charging EV.
- shiftpgdn 4y agoTexas had grid problems because of the natural gas demand was off the charts, along with peaker plants being offline, renewables being offline, and a perfect storm of other issues during an unusually cold spell . I assure you it wasn’t from people running their air conditioning during a freeze.
- danpalmer 4y agoIt happened because they assumed that high demand and gas plants being offline, would be independent events. It turns out if it's very cold people use a lot of power to heat their homes and gas plants can develop issues due to the cold. Renewables weren't a major contributing factor in the winter outage. > I assure you it wasn’t from people running their air conditioning during a freeze. I think conversation is best if you don't assume the other person is an idiot.