[Lowfer] Power Outages

[Bill Ashlock]

I'm having some moments of reflection after reading the excellent 
information provided over the last few days to this reflector on this power 
outage topic. Some questions can be posed:

1. Are we still joking about the main reason the FCC denied approval of US 
the low frequency band? Perhaps the power companies told the FCC the real 
truth on how unstable the system actually is? If this is the case and the 
stability were improved, could it make for possible FCC approval somewhere 
in the not too distant future?

2. It appears that the larger the grid, the more profitable it becomes to 
the individual power suppliers. One example:  If there is a need for more 
power anywhere in the grid a suppler one thousand miles away can pump it in 
- right at his set of power lines. Sort of the analogy of a huge reservoir 
that can be replenished at any location. I'm sure from a cost per Kw-hr the 
power users make out the best as the size of the grid increases.

3. It appears, on the other hand, that the larger the grid, the more 
unstable (or sensitivity to blackouts) the system becomes. I hate to say it 
but it looks like if we continue to use this type of generating hardware the 
Federal government is going to have to be the body that establishes the 
limit in the size and degree of permissible interconnections of the grid. 
Turns out the state of Massachusetts is connected to the same grid that shut 
down on Thursday, but only at two points. Not sure why. Apparently this was 
the reason, however, that most of the state survived the disaster.

Other thoughts on the implications of large grids?

Bill A

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