Heat to test East Coast power grid

[phantom power]

Overall, the electrical grid covering the heat-afflicted East Coast and Midwest has handled power demands. The grid can manage usage as much as 15% higher than the expected "peak" demand, says John Moura of the North American Electric Reliability Corp., a group that monitors the grid.

Because of the economy, Moura adds, peak summer power demand nationwide is down about 35 gigawatts, a 4% drop from industry estimates made in 2008.

...

"The worst part of this heat wave is that lows at night will only drop into the 80s due to the extremely high humidity," says AccuWeather meteorologist Henry Margusity. "This means there will be no time for people to cool off."

Nor will there be time for pole-mounted transformers to cool. In 2006's record year for power demands, for example, Sacramento weathered 11 days of 110-degree temperature, causing transformers in Northern California to burst into flames.

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/news/extremes/2011-07-21-east-coast-power-grid-heat-electricity_n.htm

[MineralMan]

1. For the folks on the East Coast, what happened in

The Twin Cities in Minnesota may be helpful. On the hottest days, we had neighborhood power outages caused by the heat. Nothing city wide, but lots of smaller outages. Typically, they were caused by overloaded transformers or blown breakers in the system. As everyone who had them turned on their air conditioning, the load went up. This was made worse by the higher unemployment numbers, which were made even larger by all the non-working state employees in the shutdown.

It wasn't a disaster, but it wasn't any fun for those whose power was disrupted. I imagine the same can be expected elsewhere. Note: In my neighborhood, the entire system was upgraded a few years ago, after hot weather kept blowing transformers and breakers. It's doing fine in this heat wave.

[AC_Mem]

2. My family is in Cleveland Ohio

They have has power outages for hours at a time over the past week or two. My mother is on oxygen 24/7 with emphysema and COPD and this creates a very dangerous situation for her. I'm not sure if the power grid there cannot handle the increased power needs or what is going on but they are ROASTING and their food is going bad from the constant lack of electricity.

This is the type of thing that we need to use tax dollars for. We need to increase taxes on the wealthy so that they pay their fair share, pull money out of the other countries we fund through war and bring our troops home and start investing from the inside out, not the outside in.

Honestly - most average Americans can see this. How can the decision makers just not care!

Fix our power grids, develop solar power and wind power, repair the roads and bridges, take a good look at our transportation systems, invest in education, support the workers of this nation and protect America from within.

Is that so hard to comprehend? My 7 year old granddaughter can understand this!!!

Shine on,
Annette

[OakCliffDem]

3. High summer power demands are a perfect example of why we need a smart grid

We need a smart grid with smart meters and programmable appliances in the home. When the consumer demand exceeds the capabilities of the grid to supply the power, the main office can use the backhaul communications on the power lines to dial back the thermostats on air conditioners and hot water heaters to balance out the load and prevent blackouts. Smart meters could be used to selectively cutout users that had previously agreed to temporary outages (to receive a lower electric rate) and further control the load.

By having central control over high current appliances, rolling blackouts could be avoided and everyone would benefit.