Can someone explain the power grid to me?,,,,this makes no sense,

TheBigGuy

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Fri Aug-15-03 05:35 PM
Original message

Can someone explain the power grid to me?,,,,this makes no sense,

From this map it looks like the US is pretty well interconnected:

So how come these this blackout only affected certain citys.

Id think if Cleveland and Toledo where "out" Columbus and Dayton would be too...

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section321

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Fri Aug-15-03 05:51 PM
Response to Original message

1. OK.... Here goes...

The three shaded areas are not connected. You can't get power from the Texas Grid to the Western Grid.

Within the grids they are all connected, but they mechanisms to break connections if they become overloaded. These connections obviously aren't perfect, but they eventually worked.

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Fri Aug-15-03 05:54 PM
Response to Original message

2. Some cities are better connected than others

There's also the question of whether local generating facilities can ditch their connection to the regional grid (necessary to prevent Bad Things) while keeping connections to the cities they serve. If the disturbances take out a chunk of transmission line between a city and the nearest major generating plant (or major incoming transfer line) then that's that.

You have to think of it in terms of links that are shut down and whether you still have access to power via other links rather than just by location.

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section321

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Fri Aug-15-03 05:58 PM
Response to Reply #2

3. Good point.

Some cities are like leaves at the end of the branch. If whole branch goes out you don't have power. The guy in the next county may the leaf at the end of his branch.

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LynneSin

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Fri Aug-15-03 06:02 PM
Response to Reply #3

4. See my post about PJM Interconnections

Technically that blackout should have headed down the East Coast, but the folks at PJM Interconnections, which work the grid for 7 states in the Midatlantic Region saw the blackout coming and disconnected our region from the grid. They then turned on some backup generators to ensure the folks in our area stayed powered up.

http://www.nbc10.com/news/2408520/detail.html

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demnan

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Fri Aug-15-03 06:03 PM
Response to Original message

5. So why does Texas have its own grid?

Edited on Fri Aug-15-03 06:03 PM by demnan

Is that so Bushler can cut the rest of us off and still have air conditioning in Crawford? :grr:

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incontrovertible

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Fri Aug-15-03 06:21 PM
Response to Reply #5

6. No

Texas has always had its own grid, for as long as there's been a grid to have. It did not spring into independent existence the day Bush became "president"

http://www.ercot.com/AboutERCOT/History.htm

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