if anybody wants to read about these kinds of less regulated "free market" grids (do note that they pop up in both conservative and liberal states), than I recommend reading Shorting the Grid, by Meredith Angwin. good read, and will hopefully bring more awareness to stuff such as grid stability .
https://www.amazon.com/Shorting-Grid-Hidden-Fragility-Electric-ebook/dp/B08KZ51SDP
There is no inherent risk of keeping your AC on during hot days, that is what its for. The problem is when all the houses on the block crank the AC as low as it goes the electrical distribution network is going to struggle to keep up. Recommend this book if you would like to know more about the electrical grid.
I'm currently reading The Grid by Gretchen Bakke, which goes into a lot of detail about our energy infrastructure and why the transition to renewables is wayyy more complicated and difficult than you might think. Would recommend!
> 1) saturate the renewable capacity (i.e. build as many renewables as can adequately supply needs before their variable nature would lead to brownouts.)
I hate to tell you this, but in some areas we are already there. Pick this up and give it a read, you'll be glad you did (I'm working with the author to correct errata):
https://www.amazon.com/Shorting-Grid-Hidden-Fragility-Electric-ebook/dp/B08KZ51SDP
> 2) backfill conventional power with nuclear power until there are no conventional plants left running.
As Angwin writes in "Shorting the Grid", the unreliable "renewables" require 1.14 MW of fast-ramping backup for each MW of unreliable power (NBER study). You can't follow net load that fast with nuclear plants, you need simple-cycle gas turbines. To put it bluntly, "renewables" are a guarantee to natural gas producers that they'll have a market. Further, it's a much bigger market than is justified. If we ran combined-cycle gas plants and no renewables, most parts of the USA would burn LESS gas than using simple-cycle plants plus wind and PV. It would be cheaper overall, too, because of lack of duplication, less need for transmission lines to remote wind farms, etc.
> We just need to stop fighting each other and build. > > Stop fighting renewables. > > Stop fighting nuclear.
The problem is that "renewables" fight everything else, both in grid physics and in politics. Pick this up for a run-down on the details:
https://www.amazon.com/Shorting-Grid-Hidden-Fragility-Electric-ebook/dp/B08KZ51SDP
Basically, absent some major advances in technologies like storage, renewables force the use of 1.14 MW of fast-ramping gas turbines for every MW of capacity. This doesn't play nice with anything else, nuclear included.
I did an EET program in Canada before EE on power systems. We used Electrical Machines, Drives and Power Systems. It covers the operation and application of 3 phase, transformer, motors and alternators plus more industrial stuff. Doesn't get deep into the design but focuses more on the practical explaining the machines and what you'd need to know to work with them without getting into math past phasors.
Here is the book I used for my Energy Devices class, I found it really useful for most anything that you would come across on a beginner level. Electrical Machines, Drives, and Power Systems
We can do what Ontario does, which is to prioritize nuclear over wind & solar (and curtail those resources when they're produced in excess). There is a chapter about Ontario's practice in Meredith Angwin's book, Shorting the Grid. Ontario has some of the lowest power electricity rates in Canada.
The value of stable, reliable, secure base load is (in my view) much more important than fretting about how (or why) we need to integrate less reliable, highly variable generating sources.
Talking about real costs, it's the intermittent renewables that drive up system costs (Carla Beck made this point in the article) because they require reliable, fast-dispatchable backups. The IPP (independent power producer) might be paid $0.05/kWh to supply solar (I have not checked this number) but SaskPower needs to pay to keep gas and hydro on standby for nights. Or start paying for battery/pumped-hydro projects, costs of which should be attributed to intermittents. Four SMRs more-or-less replace our coal capacity (though not in the timeline we need to retire coal) and could basically be run at 100% all the time, then stack on your renewables and adjust for variability with gas/hydro.
Minor detail, SMRs will have 60+ year lifespans, whereas most wind/solar (and gas, I recently learned) projects have 25-30 year lifespans.
I can understand that sentiment. So let me clarify the context of the comment.
We were discussing the threat in terms of physical military attack. In that context the type of redundancy we are talking about (multiple feeds to each substation) is relevant and helpful to the resiliency of the grid as a whole under physical attack.
Now, the problems with the grid that you discuss are different on each case, so I'd like to share some thoughts on each of the examples you present.
If you're interested in learning more about the grid I recommend the book below.
Probably start with something like this to learn how to do it first.
https://www.amazon.com/DIY-Lithium-Batteries-Build-Battery-ebook/dp/B06XRKD15B
This book is super helpful!
Take your time. If you learn properly you will save both time and money in the long run :)
Magnetic Current https://www.amazon.com/dp/1614271143/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_ATES4RXG8R22HHXX4HAW?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Not claiming this video to be real, but from what I can understand, it is possible to use magnets to make electricity. The guy who wrote this book built Coral Palace and was kinda an eccentric genius.
Electric machines, drives and power systems by Theodore Wildi. This is the book I used for my EET program. It'll go in depth into 3 phase, different types of motor & generator applications and operation, different transformer configurations and power systems stuff more tailored at utilities. There's also control and plc stuff in there too. It's very practical but there's still a lot of math and it's about as deep as you can go before you need calculus. You'll need to learn complex numbers and how those relate to phasors to understand it.
The book "DIY Lithium Batteries: How to Build Your Own Battery Packs" That can be found here was a really good resource for me when I started building my own battery packs.
It is easy to read, really straight forward and to the point but full of everything you need to know to build a pack.
I just passed mine in December and this was about 8 years after I graduated (kids don't be like me) so I had a lot of cobwebs to dust off. I ended up buying this book. I felt like it went over everything more thoroughly than what I saw on the exam. Each section had a practice exam so I used that as a litmus of how much I needed to study. For some reason the book still has a statics and dynamics section so skip that.
Other suggestions I have are * get a good approved calculator and learn it I used the TI-36x pro. It can do numerical diff and integral calculous, systems of equations, and statistics which helps out on a lot of problems. There is an equivalent Casio that people also suggest, but I spent my life on TI calculators so I stuck with that.
look over the study material and give yourself a schedule and stick to it.
Make sure to concentrate on breadth instead of depth I felt like some questions did really get into a subject, but most could be answered if you had a good general knowledge of the subject.
The Feynman Lectures on Physics, boxed set: The New Millennium Edition
$129.04
Transmission Line Engineer here, The Grid is a great read if you're interested in learning more about the U.S. Electrical Infrastructure
https://www.amazon.com/DIY-Lithium-Batteries-Build-Battery-ebook/dp/B06XRKD15B
This dudes youtube videos are great. his book is also great. Even a layman like myself can understand the risks involved and learn to mitigate them.
still need to finish reading this book. totally support the guy who wrote cause he shares so much knowledge and skills.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0989906701/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
One, I'm not attacking anyone and particularly not the youngsters. I'm trying to speed their progress. I provided plenty of directions on what they should be reading. Go up to my initial comment here. I didn't dismiss Graham completely; instead I suggested people read Zhang first for some proper framework. In particular, his approach is compatible with efficient markets so the premiums are there to be earned by everyone. (More broadly I like to live with an abundance mindset. It's not always zero sum, mi amigo, especially since we are not talking about alpha here.)
You present yourself as a thinking man and professional, but sometimes I wonder if you have a reading comprehension problem or alternatively your reading ability is fine but you are so resistant to the viewpoints of others that you fail to understand them properly before you lash out. I'm no psychologist so I will leave that to your therapist.
Second, go knock yourself out with his lectures (https://www.amazon.com/Feynman-Lectures-Physics-boxed-set/dp/0465023827/) . Not a real test since you are smarter than the average /r/investing bear but give it an honest effort and report back in a month.
I've purchased this book back in 2017, it is pretty good to teach you about all that. The author have a site about lithium batteries, the book is basically his online texts with expanded content. He also sells products related to custom battery packs on other sites, and I believe he even made a crowdfunding campaign for one of them.
For my technologist program focusing on power systems (Canada) we used Electrical Machines, Drives, and Power Systems. It covers industrial control, generators, motors, power electronics, transformers, utilities and some PLC. It's qualitative and focuses on application, construction and operation. It does contain math but it stops at complex algebra for analysis with phasors. Not sure what level you're interested in refreshing but it can go pretty in depth with some heavy readings. I'm in eng school now and although it's not quite an engineering textbook, it kinda falls under the requested categories.
Micah Toll literally wrote the book on the subject.
Here is the book. He also runs a site - ebikeschool.com.
Thanks for the reply, /u/forfunzies808
I'm going to check my local library if they have a copy. I currently possess, access to School of Engineering Videos, Lindeburg and NCEES handbook.
Potential natural events are always best to be viewed as legit. There's no puppeteer behind those strings.
Any extended time without power would cause an incredible amount of devastation. Not outright or direct, but in how we mitigate it and survive--given that we're not good at that anymore without modern "basics" and infrastructure.
Two books; read them:
-Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath
Ok, I'm at least on the right track with this book. It's just a newer addition than the one you linked. I'm almost hesitant to go with the NCEES stuff, but may look into your second linked one if I can find a better price.
I'm about to pull the trigger on this one.
I've done loads of research but apparently this book plus touching up on a few subjects via Google will suffice to pass.
I haven't read the book /u/logosogol posted, but I had this book for school and it's pretty in-depth, with a decent amount of AC/DC fundamentals as well. Sometimes it gets a bit involved but it is mostly pretty practical.