3 ms·
"the lack of compatibility between regional power utility grids." For folks outside the country, the grids here are actually like 19th century European railroa
by jmadsen 11y ago
"the lack of compatibility between regional power utility grids."
For folks outside the country, the grids here are actually like 19th century European railroad gauges in different countries. Meaning, after the tsunami in the north, when the nuclear power plants were shut down, they literally could not move electricity from one part of the country to another where it was needed (or could, but it was crazily difficult).
- pjc50 11y agoI'll just note that, since you need AC-DC conversion for a battery anyway, you could build one with two converters connected to two grids ... (Good illustration of sunk costs though. Presumably it's prohibitively expensive to merge the grids.)
- dvdkhlng 11y agoYes, japan is split into a 60 Hz (west) and a 50 Hz (east) power distribution systems. They do have four main frequency converter stations that can move power between the two networks, three of them are shown on this power distribution map: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_Shinano#/media/File:Power_Grid_of_Japan_as_of_2008.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_Shinano#/media/File:Power... Taken together they have a capacity of around one Gigawatt. Here is some more information on the used technology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higashi-Shimizu_Frequency_Converter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higashi-Shimizu_Frequency_Conv... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakuma_Dam#HVDC_frequency_converter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakuma_Dam#HVDC_frequency_conv...
- Ntrails 11y agoTaken together they have a capacity of around one Gigawatt. Not even enough to power a flux capacitor :(
- vermontdevil 11y agoHow did that happen?
- dvdkhlng 11y agoQuoting from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Japan#National_grid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Japan#National_grid "The two grids were originally developed by separate companies. [..] In 1885 demand had grown enough that TELCO bought generation equipment from AEG of Germany. The same happened in the western parts of Japan with General Electric being the supplier to Osaka Electric Lamp. GE's equipment used the US standard 60 Hz while AEG's equipment used the European standard of 50 Hz." AFAIK they never managed to convert the network to a common frequency due to cost concerns and politics.