News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on The Threat to Americas Electrical Grid Is Bigger Than Imagined. Parent comment

Re:The Threat to Americas Electrical Grid Is Bigger Than Ima... by bagrow on Sunday September 11, 2016 @04:18PM (#12475446)
Restarting a down grid is nontrivial. Small power stations are used to kickstart the larger stations. Think of the starter motor in a car. Now do all of this while precisely maintaining 60 Hz (in the US) everywhere.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Threat to Americas Electrical Grid Is Bigger Than Ima... by ridgeguy on Sunday September 11, 2016 @04:26PM (#12475495)
This is called a "black start". [1] Definitely nontrivial.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_start

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Threat to Americas Electrical Grid Is Bigger Than Ima... by astrodust on Sunday September 11, 2016 @08:38PM (#12476470)
Can they still do it the old fashioned way with a telephone to coordinate and an oscilloscope to line up the phase?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Threat to Americas Electrical Grid Is Bigger Than Ima... by tonteldoos on Sunday September 11, 2016 @11:29PM (#12477006)
Back in 2014-ish, when Eskom in South Africa was having particular problems with blackouts, they discussed this possibility. Some estimates on restart times were given at the time, but this is the only reference I could find now: https://africacheck.org/reports/does-south-african-face-an-e...
[ Parent | on HN ]