Electrical distribution / Power systems questions!?

Sunday, May 1st, 2011 at 9:49 pm  
Comments (1)

Hello everyone,

I'm studying electricity in school, but I still don't have a firm grasp on electrical power systems and was hoping for some help. I have four main questions. Anyone working in power systems, please share your knowledge!

1. How do each of the various generation schemes (coal / steam turbine, wind farm, nuclear plants, etc) output power at exactly 60Hz? I understand the basics of how a electrical generator works, but I don't understand how they stabilized the output frequency to exactly 60Hz.

2. How do multiple generation points in the system synchronize their outputs to each other? How do all the different power plants and such dump power onto the grid together at the same phase?

3. I guess I don't understand the grid itself overly well. Could anyone explain the concept of the power grid? (for example, is it like multiple net contributors of power (power plants, etc) each acting similiar to batteries in parallel?

4. What happens to excess (unused) power? If a particular system has three 250MW power plants, but the neighborhoods they power only use up 600MW, what happens to the extra unused 150MW? I've heard that people monitor the power input/output and "adjust" the power output from the plants to match the consumers' usage. Is this true, and if so, how is this done? (shutting off generators, running them more slowly, etc). Also, if this is the case, what is done for power generation sources that cannot be human controlled (say, a wind farm; when the wind blows, it turns)?

Thanks in advance.

Where can I find a house plan that incorporates renewable energy and ecologically friendly concepts.?

Saturday, February 12th, 2011 at 2:41 pm  
Comments (3)

I want to build a new house that is as independent from the power grid as possible, and recycles as much water and waste and possible. This is in the Dallas, Texas area. I am interested in solar, wind and hydrogen energy hybrids.

What is the best way to invest in alternative energy?

Friday, February 11th, 2011 at 9:43 am  
Comments (5)

I especially like Wind and Solar!
Ok, let's say I ONLY want to invest in the following:
Solar
Wind
Enhanced insulation material

My secondary investment objective is to promote individual citizen energy independence, so I do not care for biofuels or any other method of controlling any household's energy production externally. This is also a national security issue because, if the power grid were to fail or be shut down somehow for any significant amount of time, we would all suffer when we could have been energy independent, making such sabotage - I mean accidents - less likely to put our energy-dependent society into chaos.

How do they get wind powered electricity to city/power grid?

Monday, August 2nd, 2010 at 2:09 pm  
Comments (2)

I am curious of how they get the electricity produced by a windmill or even solar panel to a city or a city's power grid or city's electric plant. I know obviously they have to send it via wires underground but does anyone have more info on the process like installation, how the electric system (how they send electricity to a grid with out over loading it.

Wind Power?

Friday, September 25th, 2009 at 11:45 pm  
Comments (1)

Hey everyone. I have this stupid science prject coming up and I am doing it on wind power. I was wondering if someone could tell me that when the blades turn, and generate the electricity, where does the electricity go after it is generated? Thanks. And don't tell me to search it up.
What is the power grid?

Why can’t we replace our coal burning and nuclear power plants with renewable energy sources?

Saturday, August 1st, 2009 at 7:50 am  
Comments (12)

For example we have enough wind power in the United States to replace all of the fossil fuel and nuclear power sources in the United States.

Athough wind does not always blow when you need it, it would seem that in a power grid you will always have wind blowing somewhere to put electricity into the grid.

The cost of wind power at 4 cents per kilowatt hour is competitive with the cost of electricity generated by coal and nuclear energy and less than the cost of generating electricity using natural gas.

What is preventing us from replacing our fossil fuel power plants and our nuclear power plants with electricity from renewable non carbon sources?

  
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