[R-390] electric cars

[Randy and Sherry Guttery]

On 2/23/2011 6:35 AM, Mike Carroll wrote:
> Hey guys and girls:
>
> Way , way off topic.  I'll be brief.
I'll also be brief - Mississippi Power is taking it 
seriously - though only as part of an overall plan to meet 
demand "down the road".  With the difficulties in building 
new Nuc plants - they have decided to make maximum advantage 
of Mississippi's natural resources - and are pursuing a plan 
of building several power plants right at coal fields - and 
using state-of-the-art gasification processes that result in 
(comparatively) low emissions. The are also embarking on a 
system wide upgrade of equipment and personnel training for 
"intelligent grid" management that gets the power where it's 
needed in the most efficient way possible.  One thing 
mentioned here was that you can only raise the voltage so 
much before things go bad. That's true as far as ultimate 
delivery is concerned, but not with distribution. What 
Mississippi power is doing - is upgrading their equipment to 
handle way more voltage than it could originally.  This 
includes upgrading insulators, switches, reactors, etc. - 
and of course transformers.  By upping the voltage 
considerably - at the current demand levels - it 
significantly reduces the amperage their distribution system 
must deliver (which is the real issue in losses) - and as 
demand increases over the years - the system will be able to 
handle that within it's "current" capacity. They are 
installing a massive amount of fiber optics so that they can 
"look" at their system right to the meters - (and even read 
many of those meters without someone having to physically do 
it)... and adjust their system to best efficiency.

Now this isn't as far off topic as one might initially 
think: we enjoy using our radios - including our 390A & 
391.  Directly across the street from our house is a primary 
incoming distribution feed for the downtown area of the City 
of Meridian - running at 100KV.  Until Mississippi power 
started this upgrade - the leakage along that line at times 
made any serious reception here impossible (even seriously 
impacting local AM broadcast stations at times). Once they 
upgraded the insulators, etc. on those lines - interference 
dropped dramatically - often less than from "other" local 
noise sources.  They even "survey" their distribution lines 
every-so-often to make sure everything is OK...

This caught our attention - and it comes through (seems 
like) about once a year...

http://www.glimpsesofmeridian.com/gom-14.html


Coming back to the electric car "thing"- there is always an 
option to run higher voltages into locations - as needed - 
stepping those down "on the spot" as needed.  Higher 
voltages (seriously higher - not the 130V vs 120V kind - but 
more like 13.6 KV vs. 7800V).  That "step" alone cuts the 
current by roughly 40% to deliver the same KWH...  So some 
people may have a "purpose built" polepig in their garage to 
charge the car(s) - which would have little affect on the 
neighbors...

just my .02

-- 
randy guttery

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