Rolling Blackouts

[GURPS]

So California is instituting Rolling Blackouts ...... 2 hrs at a time, during the hottest time of the year

this is the same state that wants EVERY New Home to be Electric only, and wants EVERY Home Converted from Natural Gas to 100 % Electric

Seems a bit myopic or short sighted ... but we are talking about a state run by democrats

 

[Bonehead]

Not to mention the wear and tear on cycling an electrical system like that, it is recipe for failure of all kinds of components and circuits.

 

[Gilligan]

Not to mention the wear and tear on cycling an electrical system like that, it is recipe for failure of all kinds of components and circuits.

That!. One of the most problematic "components" in the wind power grids we help support is the the transformers. They do not like to be exposed to large variations in power throughput, something that is an intrinsic part of any wind power system.

 

[phreddyp]

That!. One of the most problematic "components" in the wind power grids we help support is the the transformers. They do not like to be exposed to large variations in power throughput, something that is an intrinsic part of any wind power system.

Just another one of the hidden costs of trying to go green.

 

[glhs837]

You can go electric, but the system needs storage to buffer and distribute. You can make regional storage systems, or get crazy like Australia where they have made a virtual power plant with I think 5,000 houses all having battery storage. Reduces load at peak, stores off-pek, and gives homeowners backup for a few hours of shortage. SInce CAs issue in addition to them foolishly reducing generation is that the summer fires require them to isolate parts of the grid to reduce the chances of more fires from dry vegetation hitting energized components, they could set grid storage strategically to power those isolated parts when they do need to cut them off.

 

[phreddyp]

The bottom line is the California electrical system along with the state itself is a cluster F**k .

 

[jazz lady]

My cousin and her family lives in Torrance, outside of LA, and it is scorching there so the blackouts are uncomfortable to say the least. But theirs have been for an hour at a time. Between those, high taxes, earthquakes, wildfires, gridlock traffic, and a host of other problems dealt with daily, I am thankful I don't like there. Oh, and she's a teacher, too.

 

[GURPS]

or get crazy like Australia where they have made a virtual power plant with I think 5,000 houses all having battery storage.

I saw a news article in the past 2 weeks ... Musk is breaking ground in AZ or NV on the worlds largest storage system

 

[glhs837]

I saw a news article in the past 2 weeks ... Musk is breaking ground in AZ or NV on the worlds largest storage system

There are two major effort in Australia. There's the Hornsdale Power Reserve, I think it's currently the largest battery storage system out there, fed mainly from a wind farm. Owned by a French company and built initially in less than six months as a bet between Musk and an Aussie politician. Bascially acts as a huge buffer, feeding the grid as needed to level out demand. Normally, thats done with gas fired "peaker plants", very expensive to keep idle and even moreso to run. Unlike peaker plants, however, it can respond in milliseconds and with far more discretion on what it feeds. Made that French company millions while saving the Austrailian utility even more and lowering power bills to consumers. That was using the first gen Tesla "PowerPacks". They are set to I think double that facilities capacity using the newer interation, the "Megapack". While the PowerPack could feed a small neighboorhood, the Megapack was built from the ground up as a grid level device. Comes as a plug and play unit, just add more and plug them in. Everything you need is in the box.

The second one is a newer concept called a "Virtual Power Plant". I think they did 5,000 houses with solar on the roof and residential Powerwall battery storage. Unique in this though is that since the gubmint paid for it, they get to do things with it. Like using some of that stored power like Hornsdale, to level out demand, but with the benefit that during outages, the homeowners can stay powered for a little while. They are currently deciding to upgrade that to 50,000 houses.

Grid storage fed by renewables is best, but even fed by the grid during offpeak for use during peak to level load makes a huge difference.

https://electrek.co/guides/tesla-megapack/

Wille be interesting to see what developments on battery day will do to this side of the business.

 

[Bonehead]

I have seen large battery banks do some weird sheot. I wonder about this type of tech and it's safety. I need to learn more about this.

 

[GURPS]

 

[glhs837]

Thats why Teslas batteries are always liquid cooled and come with a full thermal energy managment system. . And of course, the grid storage environment much safer than the automotive one

 

[GURPS]

So .... apparently the blackouts are from a lack of Green Energy ..... after 6 the solar output drops, but not until after 8 does the demand drop

so much for shutting down the Nat Gas Generation

I guess CaliFu needs a few 100 megawatts of storage ... to offset the solar power generation losses

 

[GURPS]

California Blackouts: It's Not Just the Heat, It's Also the Anti-Nuclear Power Stupidity

According to the San Jose Mercury News, California electricity grid operators had warned in September 2019 that power shortages might become increasingly common when heat waves hit over the coming years. The current situation was thankfully not worse since California still has some natural gas power plants in operation that can be ramped up to supply energy when renewable supplies fail.

"Some folks in the environmental community want to shut down all the gas plants. That would be a disaster," said Jan Smutny-Jones, CEO of the Independent Energy Producers Association, a trade association representing solar, wind, geothemal, and gas power plants, to the Mercury News. "Last night [Sunday] 60 percent of the power in the ISO [Independent System Operator] was being produced by those gas plants. They are your insurance policy to get through heat waves."

Reuters reported that California's grid operators estimated that peak electricity consumption earlier this week might exceed available supply statewide by as much as 4,400 megawatts—roughly equivalent to the amount needed to power 3.3 million homes.

In a particularly obtuse report on NPR's Morning Edition today, Union of Concerned Scientists energy analyst Mark Specht asserted, "the solution is definitely not more natural gas plants. Really if anything this is an indication that California should speed up its investments in clean energy and energy storage."

 

[glhs837]

So .... apparently the blackouts are from a lack of Green Energy ..... after 6 the solar output drops, but not until after 8 does the demand drop

so much for shutting down the Nat Gas Generation

I guess CaliFu needs a few 100 megawatts of storage ... to offset the solar power generation losses

Ventura county is adding 100 MWs for themselves. https://electrek.co/2020/06/17/tesla-massive-megapack-projec-replaces-gas-peaker-plant/

 

[Sneakers]

And every time there is a blackout, how many people run outside and fire up their fossil fuel generators to cover the outage? Bet the greenies didn't think about that either.