Power grid infrastructure

[JTEX]

Unfortunately the downside of unreliable energy(solar,wind) is manufacturing reduction. So parts, batteries, micro processors availability falls. So even living "off the grid" is at risk.

Heah....well.....China is building plenty of power generation,, so their manufacturing will be still going strong!

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[jds holler]

For many of us, our grandparents and even parents grew up "off grid", and things were fine.

Now, if we lose the grid, 80 or 90 percent of the population will die in a year?? That's an ugly thought. jd

 

[6.5 forever]

Some folks have a couple of years of freeze dried food stashed away. Vacuum sealed.

Don't forget split wood and 1000 gallons of water.

 

[JFrank]

I built a zero net energy home several years ago, 3500 sq ft of luxury living with heated floors and a large heat pump for climate control etc. The home owners produced enough power to sell excess back to the power company.
IIRC the system costs about $35,000 at the time.

 

[dryhumor]

A lot of the vulnerability comes from growth adding more and more loads. That, and the odd car or tree fall. Cost comes into play also, fix as fail vs scheduled replacement.

Years ago, I performed monthly inspections of over and underground distribution on an island. Pretty harsh environment. Generally if I found a problem it was addressed and corrected in a week or two. That kind of scrutiny doesn’t happen often.

There were 30-40 PCB transformers I monitored in storage. If I need one, critically, I likely could have placed it back in service. As for new transformers, I didn’t have many spares. And several large transformers had no backups. That is the major flaw in the whole works of grid infrastructure. The lead times on mid size and larger transformers is months. If not years.

 

[Cecil S.]

A lot of the vulnerability comes from growth adding more and more loads. That, and the odd car or tree fall. Cost comes into play also, fix as fail vs scheduled replacement.

Years ago, I performed monthly inspections of over and underground distribution on an island. Pretty harsh environment. Generally if I found a problem it was addressed and corrected in a week or two. That kind of scrutiny doesn’t happen often.

There were 30-40 PCB transformers I monitored in storage. If I need one, critically, I likely could have placed it back in service. As for new transformers, I didn’t have many spares. And several large transformers had no backups. That is the major flaw in the whole works of grid infrastructure. The lead times on mid size and larger transformers is months. If not years.

As I understand it those transformers can be flushed and put back into service. But dont forget to send the PCB back to Westinghouse if I am remembering correctly. Smells like "mothballs Askrill is the bad stuff.