Mains frequency in different locations of the country?

[schmitt trigger]

Yep.
Surprisingly I didn't know that until just a few years ago. I thought we were all one system from coast to coast.

Well, the interconnections have begun. Although they will be thru HVDC links.
Read about the three amigas:

http://www.tresamigasllc.com/

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

To the OP/TS. I'm US based. In some parts of the US there is residential 3 phase which would either be 208 V Y or 240 delta. Residential is 240 split phase 0r 120-0-120V.

I did some research in Demand side management and it was interesting.

So, yes, we can allow the utility to turn off an electric water heater if you have one or an air-conditioner. The utility also announces "peak energy savings days". You do your part and reduce your peak during x and Y ours, they give you a credit.

We do have "smart metering" and can, but I don't look at your consumption. from what I understand it's Zigbee and cell.

Not sure of all of the rate structures, but some incorporate peak metering.

Canada is primarily hydro and that electricity is super cheap.

You can get furnaces that are dual-fuel or can essentially use a heat-pump or natural gas. If I was in Canada, Canadian logistics might be tough, So, you would heat via heat-pump and then fossel fuels if the outside temperature gets too low.

In the US, it might be more complicated than that.


When you look at stuff from a utility perspective, they have nuclear, Hydro, gas turbines, wind, solar for the most part. Nuclear and hydro isn't easy to throttle.
Wind, you have to take when you can get it.

Solar is interesting from a power company point of view. If the solar farms run by the power company they can use it to locally correct the power factor because of the inverter technology.

Residential solar is mostly grid tie. Not sure if PFC is implemented at this level.

Metering gets weird, because if you use the solar power you produce , it's a 1:1 reduction in your bill. If you produce more than you need, you sell back to the utility at the wholesale rate. So if your working during the day, it really only helps on weekends or if you could "schedule" your dishwashing during the hottest part of the day. Then peak metering and all that other mess starts coming into play.

Solar is nice for the utility because its abundant when the sun is the hottest and the AC is used. At the same time, our brick house acts as thermal storage and it starts to release heat into the home when the sun goes down. That and dinner is also high demand.

We don't know when the utility company is having a bad day, but the utility company predicts and tells us when they expect a bad day. This "peak energy savings" day probably occurred 4x during the summer. You don't have to sign up for it.

The "billing" method that I'm currently using does not offer an "active incentive" except for 4x or so per year. They can turn off the AC which is no big deal. I think the max allowed is like 20 minutes at a a time.

Some incentives like insulation, 98% efficient furnaces, energy audits, LED and CFL lighting will save you money. Personally, I'm not at 100% LED or CFL YET. There is a light in the house that is on an autonomic timer that stays on from 1 hr after dusk t 11:30 PM every day. A LED LED night light that is dark triggered is active 24/7 for the bathroom and a 7W incadesent light that is mostly on under the Kitchen counter when it's dark.

Two reading lights are 3-way LEDs.

One bedroom light is a High intensity lamp (12 V bulb) with a UPS attached. I have a low wattage headboard lamp that I may change in the future.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Sounds efficient but when someone rips the neutral line off a pole someplace nearby for that feeder set everyone's lights and electronics go POP shortly after!

Not at all, theoretically (and if the load across phases is perfectly balanced) then it wouldn't make any difference at all - and even in reality, because the load is spread reasonably evenly, then the 240V will only drift a little either way.

There's also relatively few poles for this to happen to, the vast majority of the UK National Grid is under ground.

There was a major power outage where I work the other year, a LARGE sub-station 'exploded' - one building was completely destroyed - there was no grid power for a month or two, and the power companies installed multiple generators (container sized) at various sites all across the affected area. I never found out the actual cause of the explosion, but it seemed a bit coincidental that a week before there was a break-in at the site - presumably stupid thieves trying to steal cable? - if it was the same people again, then they were 'vaporised' as no remains were found

 

[dr pepper]

Might be worth investigating if you can find a webpage that tells you the power the grid is supplying at any one time, I wouldnt be surprised these days if there is such a site, then use that to tell you how loaded things are.
Also radio 4 on 198 khz Lw transimits phase modulated data that controls power switches, I dont know a great deal about it but that might be a source of info you could use, only thing is Lw is going to be scrapped once the equipment is worn out.

 

[tomizett]

a webpage that tells you the power the grid is supplying at any one time

Yes, there is - shows you what generator types are supplying how much load, etc, as well.
Sadly I'm damned if I can remember the name of it - "grid stats" or something?

 

[tomizett]

Yep, here it is:
https://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/
n'joy!

 

[tcmtech]

When you look at stuff from a utility perspective, they have nuclear, Hydro, gas turbines, wind, solar for the most part. Nuclear and hydro isn't easy to throttle.

Actually the only primary generating sources that are not easy to throttle are the large boiler system based sources which are most often Nuclear and Coal. Everything else has a throttle response time of minutes or less. Especially Hydroelectric. Their response time is only as slow as their valves and turbine blade pitch adjustment mechanisms can react which in national grid equivalent time frames is near instantaneous.

 

[dr pepper]

Thats a cool website, it doesnt look like response time is good enough to show kettles & adverts though.

I spose as slow response for big gens will make it a little easier to keep the speed stable.