What's going on at the power station when there's a blackout?

[jtvang125]

The power has gone out 3 times this past week. I don't know if it's affecting other areas in SoCal but I'm thinking its because I'm in a sh!tty area. It hasn't been that hot either so I don't understand why it keeps going out. Anyways most of recent rolling blackouts within Ca has been due to too much demand, but what's really going on at the power stations when there's a blackout? Tripped circuit breakers? Blown circuits? What?

 

[ViviTheMage]

I wonder how much energy they save if they shut down all of cali for like an hour...

 

[LS20]

i think it looks something like this
http://www.dailyraider.com/tv/...sonsseason6/clowns.jpg

 

[BoomerD]

Odds are that the failure isn't at the power station...a downed pole, a tripped breaker, a blown transformer...all common causes of power outages. In those situations. things at the power generating plant continue as usual.

 

[TreyRandom]

Originally posted by: jtvang125
...but what's really going on at the power stations when there's a blackout?

Usually a flurry of activity, as they try to restore service.

 

[Pepsi90919]

Originally posted by: TreyRandom

Originally posted by: jtvang125
...but what's really going on at the power stations when there's a blackout?

Usually a flurry of activity, as they try to restore service.

confirmed

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
Odds are that the failure isn't at the power station...a downed pole, a tripped breaker, a blown transformer...all common causes of power outages. In those situations. things at the power generating plant continue as usual.

I always figured this was the case in most minor power outages.

 

[BoomerD]

ACtually, it could be the case in much wider power outages. I worked for an electrical utility for several years. Often, the problem is NOT at the generation plant, but somewhere "downline" from them.

Sure, power plants do suffer outages, but MOST utilities have multiple sources of electricity, so when ONE goes off-line, it doesn't cause an outage.

 

[So]

Nothing is going on at the power station, other than normal operations, 99% of the time. As boomer said, if it's an accidental outage, it's almost certainly because there is something going on much closer to you than the power plant. If it's a rolling blackout, it's because California refuses to build any new power plants, but new people keep moving to the state; in the summer when everyone turns on their AC, there just isn't enough power to go around, so they have to drop load in order to stop under frequency events (simply put: too much power = broken power plant = no lights for anyone).

 

[BoomerD]

Actually, Gray Davis fast-tracked a bunch of new "peaker-plants" after the 2001 energy-raping Kahleeforneeya went through...although many weren't built because the market died once the Enron scam was brought to light. IIRC, there were 6 completed in Northern Kahleeforneeya by 2003..with over 1400 mega-watts of capacity. Sadly, they all run on natural gas, which has driven that cost up by quite a bit, as the gas companies that supply homes now have to compete with the large power plants for natural gas.

The refusal to build new power plants doesn't lie with Kahleeforneeya, but with the power companies themselves...much the same as with the oil companies and refineries...they COULD build new refineries (albeit with heavy environmental restrictions) but it's more profitable to leave a refining shortage (although I sure haven't seen any gas stations out of gas) in place and keep the prices high.

 

[So]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
Actually, Gray Davis fast-tracked a bunch of new "peaker-plants" after the 2001 energy-raping Kahleeforneeya went through...although many weren't built because the market died once the Enron scam was brought to light. IIRC, there were 6 completed in Northern Kahleeforneeya by 2003..with over 1400 mega-watts of capacity. Sadly, they all run on natural gas, which has driven that cost up by quite a bit, as the gas companies that supply homes now have to compete with the large power plants for natural gas.

The refusal to build new power plants doesn't lie with Kahleeforneeya, but with the power companies themselves...much the same as with the oil companies and refineries...they COULD build new refineries (albeit with heavy environmental restrictions) but it's more profitable to leave a refining shortage (although I sure haven't seen any gas stations out of gas) in place and keep the prices high.

I work for a power company, and that's completely wrong. We LOVE to build new plants, and if we could get the permits for good coal and nuclear plants and not have to fear the government turning around and not letting it start up once it's built.

Utilities are regulated, there is no profit in a shortage as we're not allowed to charge whatever we want for power...

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: BoomerD
Actually, Gray Davis fast-tracked a bunch of new "peaker-plants" after the 2001 energy-raping Kahleeforneeya went through...although many weren't built because the market died once the Enron scam was brought to light. IIRC, there were 6 completed in Northern Kahleeforneeya by 2003..with over 1400 mega-watts of capacity. Sadly, they all run on natural gas, which has driven that cost up by quite a bit, as the gas companies that supply homes now have to compete with the large power plants for natural gas.

The refusal to build new power plants doesn't lie with Kahleeforneeya, but with the power companies themselves...much the same as with the oil companies and refineries...they COULD build new refineries (albeit with heavy environmental restrictions) but it's more profitable to leave a refining shortage (although I sure haven't seen any gas stations out of gas) in place and keep the prices high.

I work for a power company, and that's completely wrong. We LOVE to build new plants, and if we could get the permits for good coal and nuclear plants and not have to fear the government turning around and not letting it start up once it's built.

Utilities are regulated, there is no profit in a shortage as we're not allowed to charge whatever we want for power...

If I'm not mistaken several utilities are in the process of submitting the first applications for licenses from the NRC in like the last 30 years.

 

[Fritzo]

"What's going on at the power station when there's a blackout?"

I would say there's a bunch of people saying "IT'S DARK! I CAN'T SEE!"

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
"What's going on at the power station when there's a blackout?"

I would say there's a bunch of people saying "IT'S DARK! I CAN'T SEE!"

:laugh::thumbsup:

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
"What's going on at the power station when there's a blackout?"

I would say there's a bunch of people saying "IT'S DARK! I CAN'T SEE!"

Winnar :thumbsup:

 

[BrownTown]

Originally posted by: MmmSkyscraper

Originally posted by: Fritzo
"What's going on at the power station when there's a blackout?"

I would say there's a bunch of people saying "IT'S DARK! I CAN'T SEE!"

:laugh::thumbsup:

Well actually FWIW large power plants have backup diesel generators so if they lose outside power the light still won't go out . However they will be freaking out, since they will have to shut down all the units until offsite power is restored. Also remember that if the power plant can no longer ship its power out then they won't be able to run all that steam through a turbine and will have to dumb it to keep the plant cool like this one here.

 

[Rubycon]

Text

 

[jagec]

Beer pong?

 

[PepePeru]

men wearing top hats and monocles twirling their handlebar mustaches, of course!