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Pastimes : Don't Ask Rambi -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: nasdaqian who wrote (58115)	1/13/2001 3:58:42 AM
From: nihil	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71178

How store electricity? A grid has demand attached, and when you turn on a drain the voltage drops which automatically signals the generators to add power. Nukes usually serve baseload, while there are peaking power generators (usually gas turbines) that can be brought on line quickly. Power is bought and sold in online markets, and if one needs power in California they can buy it and draw it from the left-hand edge of the national grid, and the seller will either generate additional power or buy some from elsewhere. The daily pattern of use is very peaky. The left Coast is four hours behind the right coast. The Pac evening demand is supplied by part of the east coast base, which is wheeled across the country. Transmission costs are surprising small, because as long as any excess capacity exists in a link the owner can ship additional at zero incremental cost. As soon as capacity is reached, the cost becomes infinite (an approximation) and the power must travel along other links in the grid. Grid managers are constantly readjusting load and supplies, shifting power through round about routes, but trying the keep the monetary costs of each distributers at a minimum. It is possible, although disastrous, for the whole system to break down, with one generator shutting down because of excess demands, and this lack shutting down other generators in turn (e.g. the great east cost shutdown in the 70's). Managing power networks is fun. The first serious computers were analog network analyzers.