Grid Issues

I’m hearing some reports out of Europe about them already having grid issues. They are experiencing a lot of short outages right now. So far it’s not too big a deal, but time will tell. With Russian gas cut off people have switched to using electrical options. That puts strain on an already maxed out grid.

Here in the US we will definitely have more and more issues. The heat in the western US is a double blow. Demand for AC is up, but electricity generation from hydro is down. Drought takes its toll. The Midwest has issued conservation requests. Those requests could turn into demands. The Texas grid is a mess, but that’s by design. 

Here in New England I’m thinking we won’t do too badly during the warmer months. Winter might be an issue. New England uses a lot of #2 heating oil, which is basically diesel. Prices are so bad that electric heaters are looking like a better deal. That will cause unexpected demands. 

High gas prices increase demands for more electric cars. Hopefully the grid will expand to meet demands. Actually, we’d probably be better off with a much more distributed power system, but that’s a blog for another day. 

As for my personal situation I plan on not buying heating oil this coming winter. Wood, some electrical heat, and reducing the heated areas of the house should work. A good part of my electrical needs have been met with solar electric. However, it can’t handle running electric heaters. Those draw from the grid. I do have the option of switching the whole house over to my solar electric system. It takes about five minutes to go down the basement to tie the power panels together and to cut the grid connection. You really don’t want to backflow power down the grid. The linesmen don’t like that at all. While I can run just about everything on my battery bank, the solar panels won’t keep up with the increased demand. It’s fine for a short while. 

If we could keep our locally generated grid power local we’d be in great shape. We have a lot of hydro, wind, some distributed grid tied solar and a biomass plant. Unfortunately that all dumps into the regional grid. If you want reliable power you have to make it yourself. 

So it looks like there are going to be some inconveniences -at the very least. No reason to panic, but reason to prepare.

-Sixbears