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CA energy companies are being sued to cover damages from last summer's terrible fires in CA. There is good evidence that at least a couple of those fires were started by exploding transformers.....But what caused the transformers to explode?...Could it be the strain caused by overload of the system when the unreliable solar supply petered out and the conventional back-up generation kicked in?
I would think the transformer damage was due to high winds because you rarely see transformer fires on days when the wind is below 20mph. It might be just as simple as an analogy of damaging a corded electric device by yanking the the cord instead of pulling from the plug.
CA energy companies are being sued to cover damages from last summer's terrible fires in CA. There is good evidence that at least a couple of those fires were started by exploding transformers.....But what caused the transformers to explode?...Could it be the strain caused by overload of the system when the unreliable solar supply petered out and the conventional back-up generation kicked in?
The Washington Examiner has credibility issues.
A distribution transformer generally lowers a high voltage low current to a lower voltage and higher current end product. Voltages are fixed, and the amount of current that gets transformed is in direct relation to the load. Transformers can be fused or have breakers or disconnects.
Short out the output of your model train transformer and it will smoke or destroy itself. Connect the 120 volt side of the transformer into a wall socket that has all of the power of the nuclear plants and solar plants in the nation available and it will happily operate normally.
Shorts and lightning and EMPs can damage or destroy transformers. Switching from solar sources to backup generation will not unless there is a failure in phase synchronization, which is an entirely different issue.
If the Washington Examiner were a booking sheet for the local racetrack, it would go out of business.
Anybody with more expertise care to give a critical commentary and relate it to the problem under discussion?
1. No one is currently proposing 100% solar.
2. Other renewables, especially wind have different production profiles. In many areas of the country wind peaks at night. A portfolio of resources is what is needed, not 100% of anything.
3. Making coal and nuclear uneconomic isn't bad. It means they can't compete and should be shut down.
4. Utilities ramp with simple cycle gas turbines, which are cheap to buy and easy to install.
It would help if VOX actually had some input from a grid operator.
2. Other renewables, especially wind have different production profiles. In many areas of the country wind peaks at night. A portfolio of resources is what is needed, not 100% of anything.
3. Making coal and nuclear uneconomic isn't bad. It means they can't compete and should be shut down.
4. Utilities ramp with simple cycle gas turbines, which are cheap to buy and easy to install.
It would help if VOX actually had some input from a grid operator.
That's not a critique. It's just equivalent to answering "Oh, Yeah?"
The new Media Goddess & de facto leader of the Democrat Party, OC is advocating 100% renewables. Your points #3 & #4 are contradictory and mutually exclusive of each other.
We need someone with practical expertise to tell us how bad a problem is this Duck Curve and how easy is it to deal with.
That's not a critique. It's just equivalent to answering "Oh, Yeah?"
The new Media Goddess & de facto leader of the Democrat Party, OC is advocating 100% renewables. Your points #3 & #4 are contradictory and mutually exclusive of each other.
We need someone with practical expertise to tell us how bad a problem is this Duck Curve and how easy is it to deal with.
I watched your video, I do think the the "duck curve" shown in the video is a little over stated.
First, currently there isn't enough solar panel installations to make a real difference in the delivery of electrical power via conventional methods that would cause such a drastic drop in daylight demand of power.
Second, the electrical gird is just that, a grid. All of these power companies supply power along this grid, when power demand is reduced in one area it typically increases in another area, the grid adjust for this. For example, Bonneville Power supplies power mainly to the Northwest, when power demand exceeds the capability of BPA then BPA will request power from another provider, the other provider will route power to make up the demand. When BPA is producing more power than demand then it will route power to areas of the country that need more demand, if there is no increase in demand then it will "take off line" one or two of
it turbines.
When solar power and wind power produce 50% of the power needs of the country then this duck curve will become a real concern. I don't see this happening anytime soon.
I understand the principle-- it's equivalent to "just in time warehousing." The devil is in the details. If you're talking about a manufacturing operation that needs nuts & bolts- as long as you still have a few left when the next delivery arrives, you're good to go...But what if you're Lucy & Ethel on the chocolate assembly line and the next delivery overwhelms your ability to keep up?
What makes you arrive at the 50% number? Is that a guess, an experience or a calculated value? How long does the request for more or less power take to enact? It can't be instantaneous. How long does it take for a transformer to over-heat?
Could this possibly have been a factor in the CA fires? Is it reasonable to think out of hundreds of thousands of transformers involved, only these two broke down from switching problems/overload? No? Why, then were only these two victims of negligent maintenance? Sometimes chit just hoppens.
I understand the principle-- it's equivalent to "just in time warehousing." The devil is in the details. If you're talking about a manufacturing operation that needs nuts & bolts- as long as you still have a few left when the next delivery arrives, you're good to go...But what if you're Lucy & Ethel on the chocolate assembly line and the next delivery overwhelms your ability to keep up?
What makes you arrive at the 50% number? Is that a guess, an experience or a calculated value? How long does the request for more or less power take to enact? It can't be instantaneous. How long does it take for a transformer to over-heat?
Could this possibly have been a factor in the CA fires? Is it reasonable to think out of hundreds of thousands of transformers involved, only these two broke down from switching problems/overload? No? Why, then were only these two victims of negligent maintenance? Sometimes chit just hoppens.
How long does the request for more or less power take to enactYes, it is almost instantaneous, this is why most power companies are connected to the grid.
How long does it take for a transformer to over-heat? This depends on a number of conditions, the age of the transformer, the load the transformer is seeing. A transformer that is seeing no load will not produce excessive heat, the internal heat of a transformer under no load is typically dissipated within the transformer itself. It takes resistance to produce heat, the resistance that a transformer is seeing is equal to the load at the output end of the transformer which is connected to a building. As demand increases on the transformer, supplying the requirements of the building, the more amperage is produced, if everything is functioning properly then amperage equals the demand, there will not be any excess amperage. Now if something happens to short out the output of the transformer, then the amperage will increase to a point of destroying the transformer. Remember that voltage is inversely proportional to amperage. A short circuit will cause the voltage to drop to zero and the amperage to increase until it reaches the operational threshold of the devise supplying the voltage and amperage, then something has to give, in the case of a transformer, the transformer will blow.
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