National Grid comes close to failing

[Bill]

Here’s an important story that didn’t make the national news, probably due to it happening on the anniversary of the Israel attack and ongoing troubles out that way.

Apparently the National Grid took a bit of a hit during the night when one of the North Sea interconnectors failed. This resulted in a sudden drop in both the voltage and frequency of the mains supply and caused thousands of the homes with solar panels and batteries across the UK to automatically switch into emergency mode to help in maintain supplies.

Here’s the notification they all received.

Unsurprisingly, some of the grumpy people thought they were hard done by in view of how much the energy companies were making but if it were me, I’d be more than happy to think I’d helped the country in some small way.

 

Bill 😊

[Evil Sid]

tried the link but it just takes me to the solar and battery facebook page.

no sign of any message or notification, being a private group maybe only members can access them.

[Bill]

Ey sorry about that. here's what it said.

Great news – this morning you helped the power grid recover from a close call. Earlier today there was a rapid loss of electricity generation on the grid, which led to a big imbalance of supply and demand. We automatically exported from your battery for around 30 minutes to help out.

The event has now passed, and we have reverted your battery to its original settings.

If your battery was able to help, we have paid you 50p per kWh for the energy you exported.

To my knowledge, this is the first time the grid has ever done this but I reckon that it’s a thing that will become commonplace in the future.

 

Bill 😊

[Evil Sid]

so you might get a can of pop out of it at the bargain basement...🤦‍♂️

so how many kwh would they have used in 30 minutes?

[Observer II]

4 hours ago, Bill said:

 but I reckon that it’s a thing that will become commonplace in the future.

 

Bill 😊

Think we can count on that.   😠

[Bill]

I’m sure that at any other time, coming so close to a national power outage would have made the headlines. I don’t have the exact details, but the North Sea Link interconnector tripped at 8.45am during peak demand resulting in a sudden loss of 1.4GW. The mains frequency sank to 49.6Hz which was probably what triggered the emergency backup procedures.

I doubt at the moment there’s enough of these systems in use to make up the entire 1.4 GW deficiency as the average home solar battery capacity is only about 10 kWh but it would have helped. A bit of further reading and it seems most people were happy to receive two or three times the normal rate for supplying the grid and that’d be a good bit more than a can of pop. 😊

 

Bill 😊

[ninearches]

Not be long before all the gym based exercise bikes are fitted with dynamos to feed the grid.

[Evil Sid]

an idea i put forward quite a while back along with getting prisoners on treadmills to provide power for their entertainment inside. two hours a day per prisoner would make quite generating plant and provide them with exercise at the same time....🏃‍♂️

 

[Observer II]

According to Nigel, our energy is one of the most expensive now,   so God knows how expensive it will get as net-zero kicks in.    Perhaps we could extend Bonfire Night throughout the Winter, let the Grumpies huddle round it and put their baked potatoes in ? !     Liebour must realise they'll be kicked out in 4 years, so wrecking the Country would seem their objective.    😠

[Observer II]

Just heard a comment on a political discussion, that buried cable transmission would be cheaper than pylons, but may take longer to build.   If so, why is mad Ed pushing pylons ?    

[Confused52]

2 hours ago, Observer II said:

Just heard a comment on a political discussion, that buried cable transmission would be cheaper than pylons, but may take longer to build.   If so, why is mad Ed pushing pylons ?    

Because what you quoted there has never been true.

[Observer II]

So what is "true" ?    It's clear that energy prices will rise even further as our gas and oil are closed down; they are still pushing heat pumps that, like EVs, no one wants; all in the name of net zero., when we're already at 1% having outsourced our industrial capabities to India and China.      

[Confused52]

What is true is that providing electricity grid capacity using pylons is cheaper than burying cable of the equivalent capacity; your quote said the opposite.

[Observer II]

Well, I'm quoting a Tory MP in discussion with a panel, the Liebour MP didn't correct him, so I presumed he was correct.    

[Confused52]

25 minutes ago, Observer II said:

Well, I'm quoting a Tory MP in discussion with a panel, the Liebour MP didn't correct him, so I presumed he was correct.    

And ...

[Observer II]

and I've just seen a pod from Preston Journalist,  saying the same thing.   He says from a study commissioned by the Conservatives claims that pylons are the more expensive option.    😉

[Confused52]

The study used by National grid was published by the IET. See Microsoft Word - IET Final Feb 2012.doc (nationalgrid.com)

It contains the quote "The report finds that the cost of installing new power connections underground, using existing technologies, is always more expensive than installing overhead lines. The report also identifies factors that have an impact on costs - such as terrain, route lengths and power capacity."

as well as this table: