Spain is about to face the challenge of a "black start"
arstechnica.com
Spain is about to face the challenge of a "black start"
1–10 of 154 posts
Re: Spain is about to face the challenge of a "black start"
#2[dead]
Re: Spain is about to face the challenge of a "black start"
#3But according to production data it has never dropped to zero? Why it would be a black start?
It dropped from about 32GW to about 8GW
source: https://transparency.entsoe.eu/generation/r2/actualGeneratio...
though admittedly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_start mentions that partial shutdown may be also requiring a black start?
Re: Spain is about to face the challenge of a "black start"
#4[dead]
Re: Spain is about to face the challenge of a "black start"
#599% up now. It's pretty impressive how fast they can get the system up and running again considering how seldom they need to do these types of things.
Re: Spain is about to face the challenge of a "black start"
#6This article was published when over half of power was already restored.
Re: Spain is about to face the challenge of a "black start"
#7But according to production data it has never dropped to zero? Why it would be a black start? It dropped from about 32GW to about 8GW source: https://transparency.entsoe.eu/generation/r2/actualGeneratio... though admittedly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_start mentions that partial shutdown may be also requiring a black start?
Dropping from 32 to 8 GW usually means that an interconnected grid has fragmented into islands. If an island has a blackout, you need to black start it and resynchronise it with other islands.
Re: Spain is about to face the challenge of a "black start"
#8Spain is mostly back up.
Plant startup is only the first step.[1] It's load pickup.
Here is a PJM training module on load pickup during system restoration.[2] It gives a sense of how touchy the process is. Power network control has good control over generation and transmission, but limited control over load.
When load is turned on, there are transient loads with different time constants. There's a huge load for the first second as inductors, capacitors, and incandescent filaments start up. That tails off in under a second. There's a second load as motors wind up to speed. Ten seconds or so. Then there's "cold load", where everything in HVAC starts trying to get temperatures back to normal. Maybe half an hour.
There's no mention of computer control. Listening to this, you visualize people running around reading meters and throwing big switches. It's probably people looking at display boards and sending commands to remote big switches, but the concept is the same.
Botching this means voltage or frequency goes out of tolerance, protective devices shut things down, and the system operators have to start over.
More PJM training modules on related subjects.[3]
Unclear what caused this yet. Something caused enough system instability to trip protective devices, but there's no good info yet. Once everybody has a chance to compare all the logging data from different points, it will make more sense.
[1] https://pjm.adobeconnect.com/_a16103949/p622tuwooba/
Re: Spain is about to face the challenge of a "black start"
#9That was a fun 10 hours or so that we were without power in most of Barcelona. Some barrios had ~some~ power but most of us were without.
The one thing that surprised me is how quickly rumors started about power being out in Portugal (true), France (true to an extent), Belgium (false), and the UK (false). Walking back home from work you heard the names of Trump being mentioned as well.
It's a bit scary to personally experience how quickly people can start panicking. On the other hand the bars that had some power had a great afternoon with tons of beer being served before it got too warm :-)
Re: Spain is about to face the challenge of a "black start"
#10How do energy intensive processes like aluminium smelters or window glass producers preven their machines from self destruction ?