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However, solar caused problems in Spain recently due to its lack of mechanical inertia, which brought their grid down due to frequency instability. Fusion woul

by chasil 1y ago

However, solar caused problems in Spain recently due to its lack of mechanical inertia, which brought their grid down due to frequency instability. Fusion would use a conventional turbine with boiling water. Is this a better source of mechanical inertia than hydropower or fission? Is there a better way to solve the problem of frequency instability? Why is this fact downvoted? This article mentions "synthetic inertia;" what are its drawbacks? https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-09/spain-blackout-highlights-critical-need-for-grid-resilience https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-09/spain-bla... https://archive.ph/VI32e https://archive.ph/VI32e

bryanlarsen 1y ago
Solar caused problems in Spain because it was misconfigured. AC inverters are a fabulous source of power stabilization; many grids choose to install batteries and inverters for grid stabilization.
- chasil 1y ago
  The article mentions that largish batteries are needed for synthetic inertia, which I am guessing use A/C inverters. Spain appeared to lack sufficient batteries. Obviously, this configuration of solar and battery banks will work more optimally when they are closer to the equator. Will different types of power grids be required for areas further away, or is it practical to ship power long distances to far Northern/Southern areas?
  - bryanlarsen 1y ago
    Synthetic inertia needs a large DC source. At the time of the outage, solar power was a large DC source.
    - lazide 1y ago
      The power source needs to be able to temporarily/momentarily provide large portions of the grids energy demands to provide what was needed. Something batteries are typically well suited for. Mechanical inertia in generators also tends to do well in these situations. PV panel supply was just not nearly large enough, and if you look at overall PV capacity as a percentage of their grid capacity, it’s pretty obvious it was never going to be enough to stabilize any serious issues.
belter 1y ago
Nobody knows the cause of the energy outage in Spain, Portugal and France... except the U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, a chill for the oil and fracking industry. Could you point to the outage conclusion report?

by chasil 1y ago

bryanlarsen 1y ago

Solar caused problems in Spain because it was misconfigured. AC inverters are a fabulous source of power stabilization; many grids choose to install batteries and inverters for grid stabilization.

chasil 1y ago
The article mentions that largish batteries are needed for synthetic inertia, which I am guessing use A/C inverters. Spain appeared to lack sufficient batteries. Obviously, this configuration of solar and battery banks will work more optimally when they are closer to the equator. Will different types of power grids be required for areas further away, or is it practical to ship power long distances to far Northern/Southern areas?
- bryanlarsen 1y ago
  Synthetic inertia needs a large DC source. At the time of the outage, solar power was a large DC source.
  - lazide 1y ago
    The power source needs to be able to temporarily/momentarily provide large portions of the grids energy demands to provide what was needed. Something batteries are typically well suited for. Mechanical inertia in generators also tends to do well in these situations. PV panel supply was just not nearly large enough, and if you look at overall PV capacity as a percentage of their grid capacity, it’s pretty obvious it was never going to be enough to stabilize any serious issues.

belter 1y ago

Nobody knows the cause of the energy outage in Spain, Portugal and France... except the U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, a chill for the oil and fracking industry. Could you point to the outage conclusion report?