I recieved a letter yesterday, telling me that Ausgrid wish to perform maintenance on my meter. Smells like a con to me. In almost 40 years as an electricity consumer, I've never heard of a meter requiring maintenance. I suspect they simply wish to fit my home with a 'smart meter'. I don't want a smart meter.
Anyone else recieved this bullshit?
If they want to fit a smart meter they probably will.
The new meters allow remote reading, which is probably the primary motivation for installing them.
I can't find anything to suggest that people can be forced onto a time of use tariff.
Sylvia.
Smart meters are made that can selective switch circuits remotely and the wheels are already turning in backroom brains wanting to control use in high peak times. tests are already happening in some groups with permission. They are also testing remote control of fridges which have control circuits built in which shut down for short enough periods that food does not go off.
I don't see the point. What happens when the power is restored? Obviously, the pump runs until the temperature returns to the set point. If disconnecting the power has prevented the pump from running earlier, it will now run for that much longer because the temperature has risen further. Net result on energy consumption(leaving out the second order effect of a higher average temperature, which the consumer would compensate for by turning the thermostat down) - nil.
The same applies to air conditioners.
Sylvia.
Sylvia.
Nil net energy saving, but a possible load smoothing?
Taken over thousands of households, I'd be very surprised if there was much noticeable variation in load as refrigerators and/or airconditioners turn themselves on and off. I'd expect the inherent randomness of the process to even things out.
If we're talking about turning them off for hours - load shifting - then things are different, but the temperature in a fridge rises significantly over that timescale, and, of course, it's the last thing one wants with an airconditioner - in effect, to be able to use it only when it's not needed.
Sylvia.
one article
According to that source, the fridge etc. would monitor the incoming mains frequ. and react according to whether it is over or under the nominal 50Hz. I suppose the fridge would switch to a low-power mode where it doesn't run the compressor and lets the temp go higher than normal. Hopefully, the fridge would have previously cooled to a lower than normal temp (running longer when the mains freq. was higher), so ya tinnies wouldn't get to disgusting Pommie temps!
Things are not going to improve over time, why not go solar?
**Too many trees sheilding my roofs. I'm looking at amorphous cells, in series/parallel that may mitigate the worst of the problems.
"F Murtz"
** You would have to be very stupid to swallow one word of that drivel - load and supply frequency are NOT related in the simplistic way being suggested.Blackouts, when they do occur, are not across the *whole supply grid* but particular sub stations that experience faults or overheating of the transformers.
For example: NSW, SA, VIC and QLD are all one grid and so share a common frequency - which is derived and controlled from hydro generators in the Snowy mountains.
Anyone who cares to check the frequency will see that variations from 50Hz are small ( typically +/- 0.1Hz ) and are largely independent of the time of day or weather.
FYI.
Tasmania shares power with VIC via an under sea cable - but that cable uses DC so the frequency in Tasmania is not locked to the main grid.
.... Phil
A short term drop in frequency is an indicator that power demand is momentarily exceeding supply. Essentially it means that the rotational energy in the generators is being consumed, slowing them down. The way this is handled in the normal way of things is for certain generator operators be paid to provide "frequency control" whereby their generators respond to the drop in frequency by throttling up (and to an increase in frequency by throttling down). This ultimately is what keeps the frequency within limits.
But I shudder to think what happens when you have a million appliances around the place that drop their demand when the frequency falls. They then become part of the control feedback loop. That seems more likely to cause blackouts then prevent them.
Sylvia.
** No it is not.
... Phil
The usual cogent argument from Phil.
Think about the physics of it.
Sylvia.
Does anyone know anything about a catastrophic unloading of a generator turbine at the East Perth power station that resulted in the generator rotor literally leaving the building?
Supposedly in the 60's
"Glenn B"
** Pretty much the only way something like that can happen is if the turbine suddenly stops rotating.Like in an instant - if the main bearings totally cease cos there is no lubrication.
Exit one turbine - left stage ...
Right through the wall and into the wild blue younder.
.... Phil
Phil Allison laid this down on his screen :
I believe it happened at the old Wangi Power station in about 1957. Turbine jammed, Alternator,50 megawatts, motored on driven by the rest of NSW and centre bearing left the room thru a window and landed in the transformer yard.
Wangi is on Lake Macquarie not far from Eraring PS.
I heard the East Perth power station from different ex-State Energy Commission guys - I'm not sure I believe them but it seems to be a widespread story. Supposedly some bits ended up in the adjacent river.
Perhaps the east perth story is a time distorted version of the Wangi incident.
Round-up... Copper nails... ;-)
Seriously though, depending on the size of your yard, you might be able to mount the cells on ancillary buildings, or create a frame specifically to hold them - assumign the entirety of the yard isn't obscured by trees.
BTW, the plural is "rooves" - don't let the Septification of the English language get a hold in Australia.
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