Rolling blackouts in California have power experts stumped

Post by shortandsweet » Mon, Aug 17, 2020, 10:43 PM UTC

dtwatljfk wrote: post #19

nimbius wrote: post #3

as someone who apprenticed as a lineman briefly, this isnt at all unexpected. Just because you have generating capacity, does not always mean you have capacity in the duty cycle for your transmission infrastructure. Many substations are older, and were never designed to handle high duty and load during climate-change driven weather events. These substations suffer from underreporting as they often dont have remote mo…

> but because NIMBY groups frequently oppose building or augmenting existing substations. Wild claims related to electromagnetism basically kill the project at every level. Can you elaborate? A substation is about to start construction just across the (narrow) street from my child's elementary school.

Post by eggy » Mon, Aug 17, 2020, 10:44 PM UTC

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #84

pc86 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wild claims related to electromagnetism basically kill the project at every level. Serious question, why is the answer to this not a slightly-but-not-much-more-polite version of "That's ridiculous, be quiet." and moving forward?

Because they can vote. Yes, stupid people can vote. This is the main vulnerability of democracy.

Post by jldugger » Mon, Aug 17, 2020, 10:49 PM UTC

zbrozek wrote: post #110

hkmurakami wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do think the recent fires have nudged things towards more undergrounding. I'm familiar with some of the dialogue in similarly rural/affluent peninsula towns, and it's mostly a debate about safety versus cost to underground. There's an effort to underground the utilities near Foothill College by tapping into Santa Clara County Fire's funds for improved fire safety, since they're allowed to use these funds in that sp…

The justification is that there's a particularly high density and quantity of wiring around that fire station (one of two for LAH, IIRC) and that Moody is a major access route for emergency services and evacuation. A giant bundle of wires coming down across the road would strangle a response. A simplistic napkin math computation says that the cost delta in electricity between what Santa Clara pays and what PG&E custo…

Post by Florin_Andrei » Mon, Aug 17, 2020, 10:52 PM UTC

eggy wrote: post #143

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because they can vote. Yes, stupid people can vote. This is the main vulnerability of democracy.

To be clear, the US is a constitutional republic and not a democracy, and the constant use of the word democracy dilutes this fact.

Post by bonestamp2 » Mon, Aug 17, 2020, 10:53 PM UTC

shortandsweet wrote: post #122

nimbius wrote: post #3

as someone who apprenticed as a lineman briefly, this isnt at all unexpected. Just because you have generating capacity, does not always mean you have capacity in the duty cycle for your transmission infrastructure. Many substations are older, and were never designed to handle high duty and load during climate-change driven weather events. These substations suffer from underreporting as they often dont have remote mo…

I'm curious about how you became an apprentice then decided it wasn't for you? These are not easy to get into I've heard. What made you consider it and what made you leave?