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America’s power grid at the limit: the road to electrical blackouts
Communities Digital News ^ | April 23, 2014 | Steve Goreham

Posted on 04/23/2014 7:49:05 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer

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Heroic efforts by grid operators saved large parts of the nation’s heartland from blackouts during record-cold temperature days. Nicholas Akins, CEO of American Electric Power, stated in Congressional testimony, “This country did not just dodge a bullet―we dodged a cannon ball.”

EPA policies, such as the Mercury and Air Toxics rule and the Section 316 Cooling Water Rule, are forcing the closure of many coal-fired plants, which provided 39 percent of US electricity last year. American Electric Power, a provider of about ten percent of the electricity to eastern states, will close almost one-quarter of the firm’s coal-fired generating plants in the next fourteen months. Eighty-nine percent of the power scheduled for closure was needed to meet electricity demand in January. Not all of this capacity has replacement plans.

1 posted on 04/23/2014 7:49:05 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer
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To: Vince Ferrer

Wait until the Obamanoids find out that their messiah’s policies are going to make it tough for them to find a place to plug in their ObamaPhone.


2 posted on 04/23/2014 7:51:16 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Obama's smidgens are coming home to roost.)
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To: FlingWingFlyer

talk about the TSHTF!


3 posted on 04/23/2014 7:52:40 PM PDT by MeshugeMikey ( "Never, never, never give up". Winston Churchill)
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To: Vince Ferrer

Shutting America Down....what a Legacy the Democrats will have..


4 posted on 04/23/2014 7:52:40 PM PDT by goodnesswins (R.I.P. Doherty, Smith, Stevens, Woods.)
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To: Vince Ferrer

What do they all have electric heat and electric stoves there?

We use natural gas for those here.


5 posted on 04/23/2014 8:04:02 PM PDT by sickoflibs (Obama : 'You can keep your doctor if you want. I never tell a lie ')
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To: Kartographer

PING

For the Preppers List


6 posted on 04/23/2014 8:15:34 PM PDT by Shadowstrike (Be polite, Be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet.)
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To: Shadowstrike

There are big problems in the North whenever gas is used for heating and cooking. It is difficult to maintain gas pressure in cold weather because the lower temperatures reduce the volume and pressure. (Boyles Law)


7 posted on 04/23/2014 8:23:30 PM PDT by batterycommander (We will likely still be Majors, passed over twice, sitting in dimly-lit offices in the Pentagon.)
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To: Vince Ferrer

Impossible!! Our President, the magnificent Barack Obama has been focused like a lazier on the infrastructure with his “shovel ready” jobs.


8 posted on 04/23/2014 8:28:10 PM PDT by JimSEA
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To: Vince Ferrer

All of this and soon electric cars as well.


9 posted on 04/23/2014 8:37:20 PM PDT by clearcarbon
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To: Vince Ferrer

I spent 25 years as an engineer in the electricity business until I couldn’t take it any more. The constant meddling by regulators and extreme environmentalists, the take-over of utility boards and chairmanships by extreme environmental kooks, the marketing programs to pay customers to use less of your product, the lack of will to meet the old-fashioned “obligation to serve” and instead utilities kowtowing to the idiots bent on destroying what used to be the world’s greatest generating and T&D system, the constant caving-in to NIMBYism. That industry is an awful place to work...unless you are without scruples and become a corporatist who sucks off the government teat and enriches yourself at the expense of the nation’s welfare.

Good riddance. I haven’t missed it a day since I got out.


10 posted on 04/23/2014 8:39:47 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: JimSEA

After >5 years, is the XL Pipeline almost “Shovel Ready?”


11 posted on 04/23/2014 8:44:43 PM PDT by Graewoulf (Democrats' Obamacare Socialist Health Insur. Tax violates U.S. Constitution AND Anti-Trust Law.)
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To: Vince Ferrer

Every home and business ought to have its own power supply. It’s a matter of national security. The larger grid is fine, too, perhaps as a back up.


12 posted on 04/23/2014 8:49:15 PM PDT by Fester Chugabrew
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To: Vince Ferrer

Where are we going to plug in our electric cars if there is no electricity? Have they no compassion?


13 posted on 04/23/2014 8:49:28 PM PDT by Gritty (Gun controllers aren't afraid of guns but a country where the individual has power-Dan Greenfield)
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To: Vince Ferrer

Will the last real American shut off the light? Oops, I think that was taken care of already. B-P


14 posted on 04/23/2014 9:02:32 PM PDT by Nowhere Man (Mom I miss you! (8-20-1938 to 11-18-2013) Cancer sucks)
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To: goodnesswins

You would think that coming this close to a crisis would cause some of those “deep thinkers” in D.C. to realize that this is maybe not the ideal time to take any of the RELIABLE power sources off-line to replace them with the unproven “green” sources. Their ego is going to be the death of many.


15 posted on 04/23/2014 9:02:44 PM PDT by oldtech
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To: Vince Ferrer

Well it’s clear that we need to take the electrical grid operations out of the hands of the greedy corporations and have the federal government take over.


16 posted on 04/23/2014 9:08:21 PM PDT by oldbrowser (Does the federal government qualify as a terrorist organization?)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Evidently Harry Reid is not on schedule with his Solar Companies to keep things up and running!


17 posted on 04/23/2014 9:21:35 PM PDT by Kackikat
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To: Vince Ferrer

Good. The sooner the grid starts crashing on a regular basis, the better. There is practically no better way to start waking up those in this country who don’t really understand what is going on “behind the scenes”.


18 posted on 04/23/2014 9:22:40 PM PDT by Pox (Good Night. I expect more respect tomorrow.)
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To: Vince Ferrer

ping


19 posted on 04/24/2014 3:33:03 AM PDT by maine yankee (I got my Governor at 'Marden's')
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To: Vince Ferrer; FlingWingFlyer; MeshugeMikey; goodnesswins; sickoflibs; Shadowstrike; clearcarbon; ...

On the map linked below mouse over the colored points and the LMP is the power price per MW. The different colors reflect different prices and also represent “binding constraints” which are bottlenecks on the grid for reasons like power lines down or transformer problems.

Even though this is MISO, which represents MidUS, you can mouse over various colored points in the eastern US from Canada down to Florida.

https://www.misoenergy.org/LMPContourMap/MISO_All.html

At the time of this post power was about $200 MW from the Dakotas to the east coast and down to OK and TN! (That is equal $.20 per KW!)

I watched the entire eastern US grid at max capacity many times this winter. I’ve wondered if shutting down so many coal plants in the east is part of the reason. Many utilities chose to shut down coal plants instead of try and meet the new mercury and NOx control EPA mandates. The average customer doesn’t have a clue what is going on behind the light switch and blames the utilities for rising power prices.

Artificially raise the price of energy and you will kill the economy - no way around it.

MISO real time and predicted wind power; https://www.misoenergy.org/MarketsOperations/RealTimeMarketData/Pages/DayAheadWindForecast.aspx

I pinged everyone on this thread because most people don’t know real time information on the grid is on the web.


20 posted on 04/24/2014 6:52:35 AM PDT by dynoman (Objectivity is the essence of intelligence. - Marylin vos Savant)
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