Is the Power Grid Too Big?

[NickB79]

http://www.sciencenewsline.com/articles/2014040818120004.html

North America has three power grids, interconnected systems that transmit electricity from hundreds of power plants to millions of consumers. Each grid is huge, because the more power plants and power lines in a grid, the better it can even out local variations in the supply and demand or respond if some part of the grid goes down.

On the other hand, large grids are vulnerable to the rare but significant possibility of a grid-wide blackout like the one in 2003.

"The problem is that grids run close to the edge of their capacity because of economic pressures. Electric companies want to maximize profits, so they don't invest in more equipment than they need," Newman said.

On a hot days, when everyone's air conditioners are on, the grid runs near capacity. If a tree branch knocks down a power line, the grid is usually resilient enough to distribute extra power and make up the difference. But if the grid is already near its critical point and has no extra capacity, there is a small but significant chance that it can collapse like a sandpile.

A conundrum: we need large, heavily interconnected grids if we want to take advantage of widely distributed, sometimes intermittent renewable energy resources (shipping Arizona solar power to Houston or South Dakota wind power to Denver, for example) but this research seems to indicate that such grids could be fundamentally at risk of infrequent but catastrophic power failures.

[msongs]

1. the grid is for corporate profit, not the welfare of the nation and its people nt

[NickB79]

2. So ideally we'd need to nationalize the power grid as a non-profit

But to address the problem the author pointed out, that grids are typically run very close to the edge of operating capacity with little leeway for mistakes because of profits, a nationalized power grid would have to be heavily overbuilt and maintained, which would cost more in taxes.

[quadrature]

3. how much availability is good enough for you?

.99
.999
.9999
some other number?

just curious

[NickB79]

4. Personally? I'm ok with some power interruptions

Where we live, we usually lose power for a day or two every year (usually in the winter when a blizzard rolls in from the Dakotas). We have a wood stove, a back-up generator, and hundreds of books to stay busy, though, so it's not a big deal for us.

As a nation as a whole, however, power failures of the magnitude the authors discuss in their study would be unacceptable from both an economic and political standpoint if they became regular occurrences.

[quadrature]

6. so what is your complaint? ...nt

[NickB79]

7. I didn't think I was complaining

I was pointing out the conundrum of requiring large, interconnected grids to balance the peaks and valleys of renewable energy across large stretches of land vs. the possible inherent instability of such a system (if the authors of the study are correct).

[gejohnston]

5. too big and too centeralized

I'm a strong believer in local power and solar/wind generators on every roof.