Quote:
Originally Posted by oil pan 4
So the power grid is too big to fail?
Ha!
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The interconnected grid is complex and a PITA to control. Much of the cost (almost as much as the generation costs) of our power (Canada) is put into controlling which plants are online and which are not, ramping up standby capacity to deal with peak demand, etc etc. There is much discussion about regulation where wind and solar are available. And how fast the information about what output is available from solar and wind get to the control center.
Another large chunk is maintenance/upgrade of the transmission lines and substation gear. The transformers are hardware and they have a design life. The switches have a life rated in cycles. And stuff just generally wears out.
Our power company (SaskPower) has been upsizing and replacing local distribution stations for about 10 years. The gear replaced was 60+ years old and had a design life of 50 years. So it did well, on average. Not to say that they were not replacing stuff before that .. but since the hardware was past design life, the rate of upgrades increased noticeably. Like maybe 5X - 10X the upgrades.
When overloads and lightning happen, the power meters and relays on our grid act automatically to island (trip and isolate the problem) or re-close (maybe it was a tree across cables and we can close on the fault and 'cook' it clear) or whatever the control scheme is. People get involved starting up replacement stuff, dispatching crews for maintenance, and generally cleaning stuff up or having power generation spinning and ready to take over the loads when trips happen.
There is a reason that the power company gives you so little for excess generation onto the grid, besides the fact that they are *EVIL* ... the power generation is only part of the cost. And it is not even the largest cost.
My power at home trips for a few seconds at a time several times per year. 4 years ago it tripped during a rainstorm and I got a flooded basement. So now I have a standby generator (natural gas) and no insurance on flooding.
At the cabin, summer power loss is normal. Maybe 20 times in 6 months. Usually a few seconds at a time. So far, never over 5 minutes during the heating season.
The more I learn about our local grid, and the grid in general, the more I want my own standby system.
But that's only my opinion!