Since I posted about the Maryland high voltage map yesterday, I figured throwing one up for the national grid was appropriate. So without further ado, the national map is shown below
The color code in the key on the lower left shows the distribution Voltage level and just looking at the map shows some significant issues. First off there are very few East West trunks at a higher voltage level, which is a major reason land based wind power is not more economical in North America, ie all the ares with wind have lower voltage distributions, leading to more loss.
The second is how the grid is clustered in the upper midwest, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and then leading across PA with only a few lines. This tight coupling, with fewer lines, and older infrastructure is what drove the blackout of 2003, with First Energy in Ohio being the root cause of a cascading blackout due to a sudden surge on the lines. What was the eventual root cause, a sagging power line touching a tree in northern Ohio, that caused confusion due to a bug in the load balancing s/w, causing an overload on three other lines that then took out everyone.
Can this happen today? Most likely, because while the infrastructure has been upgraded slightly, it is still a massive undertaking and the political and commercial impetus is not there due to the expense of laying HV lines and the associated siwtchgear, roughly $2.0 Million/mile for a 345 kV line, with higher amounts in mountainous terrain(ie Rocky Mountains, hence lower voltage transmission lines cross that region.
So take a look, ask some questions, I'll come back to the issue with wind later in the week after I can dig up an overlay of the US wind map, and solar intensity maps over the national grid to try and show some of the difficulties relating to the grid. More importantly, where do you live and what power plants are there? Now you can see what those enormous towers really carry.
The second is how the grid is clustered in the upper midwest, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and then leading across PA with only a few lines. This tight coupling, with fewer lines, and older infrastructure is what drove the blackout of 2003, with First Energy in Ohio being the root cause of a cascading blackout due to a sudden surge on the lines. What was the eventual root cause, a sagging power line touching a tree in northern Ohio, that caused confusion due to a bug in the load balancing s/w, causing an overload on three other lines that then took out everyone.
Can this happen today? Most likely, because while the infrastructure has been upgraded slightly, it is still a massive undertaking and the political and commercial impetus is not there due to the expense of laying HV lines and the associated siwtchgear, roughly $2.0 Million/mile for a 345 kV line, with higher amounts in mountainous terrain(ie Rocky Mountains, hence lower voltage transmission lines cross that region.
So take a look, ask some questions, I'll come back to the issue with wind later in the week after I can dig up an overlay of the US wind map, and solar intensity maps over the national grid to try and show some of the difficulties relating to the grid. More importantly, where do you live and what power plants are there? Now you can see what those enormous towers really carry.
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