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AFAIK there isn't a national power grid in America- there are at least 5 or so State+ size grids, with loads of smaller ones and a whole bunch of interconnects.
by alexchamberlain 4y ago
AFAIK there isn't a national power grid in America- there are at least 5 or so State+ size grids, with loads of smaller ones and a whole bunch of interconnects. I'm fairly sure Texas (ERCOT) has interconnects to other grids.
- Izkata 4y ago5 grids (of which Texas is one), and they're not even just US ones - we share with Canada: https://i.cbc.ca/1.5921020.1613772812!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/how-power-is-shared-in-north-america.jpg https://i.cbc.ca/1.5921020.1613772812!/fileImage/httpImage/i... They're then further subdivided into operators: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_power_transmission_grid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_power_transmiss...
- pharrington 4y agoIn February of last year, a winter storm led to Texas having multi-day power outages, exasperated by the fact that ERCOT does not connect to any other grids.
- alexchamberlain 4y agoAccording to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Interconnection#Ties https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Interconnection#Ties, the Texas grid has DC ties to the Eastern grid, and similar ties into Mexico.
- pharrington 4y agoStrictly speaking - 3 DC ties (from some cursory searching, they seem to only be used for power export) and 1 AC tie, that has only ever been used once. Texas is technically, but not meaningfully, connected to neighboring power grids.
- themitigating 4y agoI saw the term used to describe the various interconnected states but I think it's used because federal regulations can apply if one states connects with at least another, hence national