Re:Texas was minutes away from months-long power outages, of...
by LatteLazy on Thursday February 18, 2021 @05:11PM
(#26186418)
I am also curious, I can't think how it would happen either. Here are 2 guesses that are probably wrong that people can correct:
Maybe, when demand>supply they have to cut demand, but if you cut a whole chunk of grid demand is suddenly a lot less than supply and there is a spike elsewhere causing issues?
I know the frequency of the power supply fluctuates when the there is too much/little power. So if there is too much demand, maybe electronics that work at the correct frequency break at the new bad frequency? Or maybe power stations get out of sink and one pushes positive voltage when the other pushes negative?
Maybe it's a logistical thing: imagine if you have 3 neighbourhoods in a row ABC, and you supply power to A and C from high capacity systems, and power B indirectly from each side. Now, if you want to turn off A (rolling blackout), the operator might not realise that doing so means B has to pull all its power from Cs supply. So Cs supply suddenly sees a 30% jump and maybe the transformers etc can't handle that and catch fire?
Maybe, when demand>supply they have to cut demand, but if you cut a whole chunk of grid demand is suddenly a lot less than supply and there is a spike elsewhere causing issues?
I know the frequency of the power supply fluctuates when the there is too much/little power. So if there is too much demand, maybe electronics that work at the correct frequency break at the new bad frequency? Or maybe power stations get out of sink and one pushes positive voltage when the other pushes negative?
Maybe it's a logistical thing: imagine if you have 3 neighbourhoods in a row ABC, and you supply power to A and C from high capacity systems, and power B indirectly from each side. Now, if you want to turn off A (rolling blackout), the operator might not realise that doing so means B has to pull all its power from Cs supply. So Cs supply suddenly sees a 30% jump and maybe the transformers etc can't handle that and catch fire?
Those are my guesses.