Posted on 12/31/2008 10:56:43 AM PST by newbie2008
Back in May 2008, I wrote a post on the US Electric Grid. With the Obama administration taking over shortly, I expect there will be more discussion about upgrading the US electric grid, so below the fold is a re-post of the earlier essay.
One obstacle to upgrading the grid not discussed in my earlier post is the issue of the differing costs of electricity around the country, depending on the fuel used to produce the electricity (natural gas tends to produce high-cost electricity; coal and nuclear produce lower cost electricity). As the grid currently operates, the limitations of the grid tend to discourage huge long-distance redistribution of electric power. If the impact of a new electric grid back-bone is to start evening-out electric rates across the country, customers currently in low-cost areas will tend to oppose the change, because their rates may be higher. This could create a significant obstacle to passing legislation to upgrade the grid.
I am not sure whether this will be an issue in practice. With the grid upgrade, areas currently with inadequate local electrical production will more easily be able to import electricity from elsewhere, so their costs may be lower, not considering the cost of the grid upgrade. Rates in areas which are currently low-cost will increase to the extent that customers are charged for the new grid upgrades, but it is not clear that they will increase otherwise. If low-cost utilities are able to sell some base-production that might otherwise go to waste, the grid could theoretically lower costs to even currently low-cost customers.
It heats up the wires and is dissipated into the air.
Obama’s plan to “share the watt”?
Actually, the electricity can go considerable distances. Especially if High Voltage Direct Current is used. There is at least one such link in the United States (but I’m not finding an on-line reference for it at the moment)
From Wikipedia:
“The longest HVDC link in the world is currently the Inga-Shaba 1700 km (1056 mile) 600 MW link connecting the Inga Dam to the Shaba copper mine, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HVDC
I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with our electric gr
Politicians are famous for ignoring laws they don't care for;especially irritating to them are the laws of nature,including laws of physics.
Same power level, but lower currents equal less resistance drop.
It's not perfect by any means, but is one reasonable engineering solution.
The real problem is political. Communists like single supplier solutions. To them one rilly rilly rilly big ultramega power plant that they control is the ideal solution.
To me, a vast network of vest pocket power sources is much more robust and immune to a single point failure or attack.
Up here in Maine, anyone who doesn't have a wood stove, kerosene lamps and access to water without power is double dumb.
We have become a nation totally dependent on that thin wire from the house to the phone pole. That is putting our lives in the hands of someone else and trusting all will be well. More people need to have the means of survival within their own control. During the 100 year Ice Storm of 1998, I was without power - no flush! - for 19 days in January...in Maine.
My wood stove provided me with heat, a cooking surface and the greatest wash-tub baths. My well gave me water. My kerosene lamps gave me light - in addition, more heat.
If you can't have a wood stove, you can heat with kerosene lamps - whether one room or more.
For example, years ago, I ran out of oil (before I had my wood stove) in the middle of mid-Feb, 20 degrees BELOW outside. It was a Friday night. No way to get a delivery.
The house was at 70 degrees when the furnace went out. I lit two lamps in the living room, two in the kitchen/dining area and one in the bathroom...corresponding with the number of hot air registers from the furnace.
An hour later, the temp was 72 - and remained so for the week end. The heat from a lamp is so hot you can't hold your hand over it - and is constant - unlike a furnace register.
So, at the least, keep your lamps trimmed and your oil supply filled.
And have, at bare minimum, two weeks of food on hand (NOT IN THE FREEZER)...
We conservatives spout "independence" - but how many of us can BE independent if juice stops coming through the wire?
HVDC link within the United States:
The Pacific DC Intertie (also called Path 65) is an electric power transmission line that transmits electricity from the Pacific Northwest to the Los Angeles area using high voltage direct current (HVDC). The line capacity is 3,100 megawatts, which is enough to serve two to three million Los Angeles households and is 48.7% of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) electrical system’s peak capacity.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_DC_Intertie
which referenced:
^ Sharon Bernstein and Amanda Covarrubias, Times Staff Writers (September 10, 2006). “Heat Wave Caught DWP Unprepared”. L.A. Times online. Retrieved on 2006-09-11.
Diversity can be a good thing! Wood heat, Kerosene backup. Coal stoves or wood pellet stoves where those are easy to feed. Make your own 'lectric if you can, it doesn't mean your off the grid, just enough to keep things going while the grid is down.
I thought it was to kill the kilowatt.
Ah yes. I worked on the Sylmar inverting station as a student engineer after it was destroyed by the ‘71 earthquake, It was an awe inspiring set up.
My question about the electric grid is this. When everyone is forced to get an electric car, what happens when everyone charges their car every night, at the same time? Especially when nobody is allowed to build a new power plant?
With the grid being maxxed out already, and no new capacity, I suspect much of America will be subjected to 3rd world brownouts and blackouts.
Just a little concerned here if you know what I mean.
Millard COunty (UT) to SoCal (LA Water and POwer)
Sorry and a DC line betwen North and South Islands of NZ.
LOL
“Actually, the electricity can go considerable distances. Especially if High Voltage Direct Current is used. There is at least one such link in the United States (but I’m not finding an on-line reference for it at the moment)”
AEP has extensive experience building extra-high-voltage 765-kV transmission lines and owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes 2,100 miles of 765-kV transmission lines, more than all other U.S. transmission systems combined.
http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/081212/0460030.html
superconductor electric power transmission using next-generation, high-temperature superconductor (HTS) wire may be a way to send electricity large distances to other grid systems.
Even though the resistance to current flow is zero, there are energy losses. Superconducting hysteresis loss (AC loss)is the resistance to the change in magnetic field is alternating current systems. Other energy losses are heat leak through the insulation and through the terminations at the ends of the superconductor, and dielectric losses in the material between the conductors.
Even with various energy losses, it will be possible to transmit huge amounts of power over distances not seen before.
One more item of concern. I know of at least 3 power plant propositions killed in Missouri due to “environmental concerns” in the past 2 years, another plant built is currently locked up by injunction because the proper permits were not obtained, and one additional nuclear reactor in the early stages of planning, with more opposition.
My concern is, in relationship to regional capacity and uniform availability and consumer rates, is that if regional plant construction is continuously being blocked by environmentalist litigation, how can we expect any sharing of capacity to areas underserved. The solution is to allow the private construction in those underserved areas. Transmission costs will be minimized over shorter distances. A reliable power supply is more easily managed in a smaller region. And there is a lot of private capital available for those projects, yet the government holds the permission slip for all domestic energy. If the government kills every proposed project, then the government has essentially nationalized the power grid. And the way government manages (or mismanages) every other business they interfere in, this lame idea of a government operated grid concerns me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.