3 ms·

I am curious about the power grid situation in Europe. Assume the rate of AC usage was as high as the US (or god forbid Japan), how far behind is the grid infra

by bob1029 4mo ago

I am curious about the power grid situation in Europe. Assume the rate of AC usage was as high as the US (or god forbid Japan), how far behind is the grid infrastructure from where it needs to be? ERCOT (Texas) has daily swings of up to 50 gigawatts of power in the summer. I am pretty sure it is the most volatile US grid in terms of the demand side. A lot of the transmission infrastructure is purpose built for this exact problem.

m4rtink 4mo ago
There are massive distributed solar deployments (eg. people putting cheap solar panels on their roofs, often backed by batteries) happening right now, those should help offset AC demands quite nicely.
- bob1029 4mo ago
  The problem with solar (at least in Texas) is that the buildings store heat long enough that the peak of the HVAC demand curve coincides with when solar begins to taper off really hard. 5-6pm is when maximum HVAC demand occurs around here.
  - robocat 4mo ago
    I would guess once there's enough solar generation installed, it would push prices low enough to make it worth decreasing stored heat by precooling
    - bob1029 4mo ago
      Variable electricity rates are the best way to encourage the user base to actually do this. I was on Griddy for 2 years and had a system where I'd run my AC hard up until 4pm and then I'd set it to 78F until the rates came back down. Unfortunately these schemes were made illegal for the consumer segment in Texas because most people are complete dumbasses and need to be pandered to politically when anything unexpected happens to them (2021 winter power crisis).
      - fragmede 4mo ago
        Which were the people that were "dumbasses" in that situation, and why?
petre 4mo ago
They don't have any problem with impact from EVs on the grid, but god forbid AC units. One could obviously solve the peoblem with rooftop solar, which peaks just when you need AC the most.

by bob1029 4mo ago

m4rtink 4mo ago

There are massive distributed solar deployments (eg. people putting cheap solar panels on their roofs, often backed by batteries) happening right now, those should help offset AC demands quite nicely.

bob1029 4mo ago
The problem with solar (at least in Texas) is that the buildings store heat long enough that the peak of the HVAC demand curve coincides with when solar begins to taper off really hard. 5-6pm is when maximum HVAC demand occurs around here.
- robocat 4mo ago
  I would guess once there's enough solar generation installed, it would push prices low enough to make it worth decreasing stored heat by precooling
  - bob1029 4mo ago
    Variable electricity rates are the best way to encourage the user base to actually do this. I was on Griddy for 2 years and had a system where I'd run my AC hard up until 4pm and then I'd set it to 78F until the rates came back down. Unfortunately these schemes were made illegal for the consumer segment in Texas because most people are complete dumbasses and need to be pandered to politically when anything unexpected happens to them (2021 winter power crisis).
    - fragmede 4mo ago
      Which were the people that were "dumbasses" in that situation, and why?

petre 4mo ago

They don't have any problem with impact from EVs on the grid, but god forbid AC units. One could obviously solve the peoblem with rooftop solar, which peaks just when you need AC the most.