On 6/27/11 1:19 PM, Matthew Black wrote:
On Fri, 24 Jun 2011 18:29:14 -0400
Jay Ashworth <j...@baylink.com> wrote:
The North American Electric Reliability Council is planning to relax
the standards for how closely power utilities must hold to 60.00Hz.
Here's my absolute favorite quote of all time:
Tweaking the power grid's frequency is expensive and takes a lot of
effort, said Joe McClelland, head of electric reliability for the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
I blinked too after hearing of this. They say it's an economic issue
because it costs millions of dollars to maintain a steady frequency.
Excuse me...we probably spend over $50 billion per year on electricity
and they're complaining about a few million. Talk about pinching pennies!
matthew black
It's not just a cash issue. Frequency controls how power moves through
the grid. Power flows from the higher frequency area to the lower
frequency area (not exactly but close enough for this discussion). It
limits the ability to generate power in areas that have excess and loads
transmission lines with power being used to correct frequency.
Mark
