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Widespread power outage in Spain and Portugal
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Re: Widespread power outage in Spain and Portugal
#792[flagged]
Re: Widespread power outage in Spain and Portugal
#793Earlier quoted context omitted.
The fewer resources we dedicate to grid resilience and modernization, the harder black starts become. And as grids get more complex and interdependent, recovering from total failure becomes exponentially harder. A rare but sobering opportunity to reflect on something we usually take for granted: electricity. We live in societies where everything depends on the grid — from logistics and healthcare to communications an…
Just to highlight this: the last significant power outage in Western/middle Europe was 2003. [1] That's 20 years without any significant problems in the grid, apart from small localized outages. It's not hard to start taking things for granted if it works perfectly for 20 years. Many people don't even have cash anymore, either in their wallet or at home. In case of a longer power outage a significant part of the popu…
But but but, muh crypto is the future
I often wonder if we should leave energy/telecommunications in a state where they can and do fail with some degree of frequency that reminds us to have a back up plan that works.
I had thought that the (relatively) recent lockdowns had taught us how fragile our systems are, and that people need a local cache of shelf stable foods, currency, and community (who else discovered that they had neighbours during that time!)
For something like this, a local electricity generation system (solar panels, wind/water turbines, or even a ICE generator) would go a long way to ensuring people continued to have electricity for important things (freezers)
Re: Widespread power outage in Spain and Portugal
#794Earlier quoted context omitted.
In another life I worked as an engineer commissioning oil rigs and I’ve seen how tricky even a small-scale black start can be. On a rig, we simulate total power loss and have to hand-crank a tiny air compressor just to start a small emergency generator, which then powers the compressors needed to fire up the big ~7MW main generators. It's a delicate chain reaction — and that's just for one isolated platform. A full g…
bringing islands together requires one to synchronize both -- frequency and phase. It is super difficult for large generators and transmission lines. transient heat dissipation can be a real bummer.
One of the very most critical parts of a solar system is the grid tie.
Re: Widespread power outage in Spain and Portugal
#795Earlier quoted context omitted.
> hand-crank a tiny air compressor Is that what Dr. Sattler is doing in this scene from Jurassic Park ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoW4vXnkhJw
How did you remember this scene?!
When you watched Jurassic Park in a theater in your formative years, it tended to leave an impression.
Re: Widespread power outage in Spain and Portugal
#796Earlier quoted context omitted.
In another life I worked as an engineer commissioning oil rigs and I’ve seen how tricky even a small-scale black start can be. On a rig, we simulate total power loss and have to hand-crank a tiny air compressor just to start a small emergency generator, which then powers the compressors needed to fire up the big ~7MW main generators. It's a delicate chain reaction — and that's just for one isolated platform. A full g…
bringing islands together requires one to synchronize both -- frequency and phase. It is super difficult for large generators and transmission lines. transient heat dissipation can be a real bummer.
They can use GPS to synchronise or back-to-back DC if available.
Re: Widespread power outage in Spain and Portugal
#797I live in Madrid, and when the electricity came back around 22:00, people started cheering and celebrating in the street. You could hear how each neighbourhood was going back online.
It’s funny to think how the moment is goes off you feel nothing, but hearing that many people produce noise and express happiness makes your body notice instantly, a sensation we often describe as electric.
Re: Widespread power outage in Spain and Portugal
#798Earlier quoted context omitted.
Whoever downvoted, a comment explaining why would be nice, when the cell tower generators are out, and there is only phone battery left, offline communication options could be useful, I'm glad I'm not in that position right now.
Maybe because you don’t have to ask ChatGPT for what could have been a simple web search.
When I Googled it, the apps listed include Firechat, Signal and Briar. Signal is centralised, Firechat is dead, and I don't think Briar are current either? I wish it was a simple web search. Even Deep Research needed the ML pot to be mixed around a few times until it gave an good answer.
Re: Widespread power outage in Spain and Portugal
#799Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Many people don't even have cash anymore, either in their wallet or at home. Even if you have cash many shops would not sell anything in case of a mass outage because registers are just clients which depend on a cloud to register a transaction. Not reliable but cheap when it works.
In a multi-day event like we are talking about here, couldn't a shop owner revert to a paper ledger? I mean, it would suck and transactions would take much longer but if the alternative is people starving or having your inventory looted by a desperate mob, a nineteenth century solution seems preferable.
They can and do. They will also do deep cuts on prices/give away for free for refrigerated and frozen goods because those will just get tossed and neighborhood goodwill is still a thing in some places.
Re: Widespread power outage in Spain and Portugal
#800Earlier quoted context omitted.
bringing islands together requires one to synchronize both -- frequency and phase. It is super difficult for large generators and transmission lines. transient heat dissipation can be a real bummer.
They can use GPS to synchronise or back-to-back DC if available.
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