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A comment on Equivalent of 97% of Scotland’s 2020 electricity consumption was from renewables. Parent comment

Re:Equivalent of 97% of Scotland’s 2020 electricity consumpt... by adwn on Friday March 26, 2021 @10:58AM (#26592928)
> You just need space to put them in.

What are you talking about? Just take the three phases from your power outlet and stick them in the ground, with some distance between them. There, zero capital costs, and a nice, mostly resistive load for the power plant. A bad time to be an earthworm, though.

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Re:Equivalent of 97% of Scotland’s 2020 electricity consumpt... by mnw21cam on Friday March 26, 2021 @11:43AM (#26593433)
Yeah, last time that (accidentally, effectively) happened just down the road from here, it caused some rather interesting smells, and that was just a 300A feed (or rather, it blew a 300A fuse - repeatedly - the technician kept just replacing the fuse a few times until I wandered over and told him about the smelly bit of pavement).
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Re:Equivalent of 97% of Scotland’s 2020 electricity consumpt... by adwn on Friday March 26, 2021 @12:43PM (#26594174)
> the technician kept just replacing the fuse a few times

What the fuck?!

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Re:Equivalent of 97% of Scotland’s 2020 electricity consumpt... by mnw21cam on Friday March 26, 2021 @01:20PM (#26594613)
That admittedly was kind of my thought at the time. As he explained to me, often the underground cable will short out due to water ingress (it had rained a lot in the previous few hours), and pumping 300+A through that water could often drive the water off, and resolve the short.

It took a bit of persuading to get him to believe me about the smell of burning plastic and suspiciously dry area of pavement just down the road. Once he believed me, a crew came in, dug the thing up, replaced a section of cable, and relaid tarmac, in a surprisingly short time.

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