[epithermal]

For the electrical engineers out there: does this make sense? FYI: Mason County is in Washington state

[sinanju]

As if this is somehow going to make wind power more practicable.

If anyone out there actually thinks that “smart grid” technology is anything other than a Trojan horse to allow Big Brother to ration our electricity on an individual basis, stand up and be heard.

[a fool in paradise]

Sounds like rationing to me.

More micromanaging everyone’s homes.

[KarlInOhio]

Power companies would love to be able to shut off air conditioners remotely to keep from having black-outs, brown-outs, turning on expensive auxiliary generators or buying on the open market at extremely high rates. When you hear "smart grid" think "No AC between 3pm and 6pm".

Additionally they would love to be able to charge different rates at different times of the day and charge extra for non-sine wave power (think motors which take current at a different phase than the voltage and computers which tend to use a spike of current right at the voltage peak).

[bert]

When the wind stops, the internet goes off

[Little Bill]

They are tapped out in their ability to meet peak power demands and want to appear Green, not build transmission, so you suffer.

[dirtboy]

Smart Grid Project Will Let Wind Farms “Talk” To Appliances

Yeah, they can tell appliances that, since the wind just started gusting to 50mph, that a power surge is on the way that will fry their circuit boards. Whoo-hoo!

[tickmeister]

Actually this is a good idea. Big problem with wind is that you got to have spinning backup at a real power plant in case the wind stops, and it takes hours to get a turbine up and running. Houses that have electric heat, air conditioning, and water heaters could thus function as a massive battery bank. Extra energy could heat the water another ten degrees or so, or simply warm up or cool down the houses a few degrees. When wind was a slower, the opposite could happen. The modulation wouldn’t even need to be enough to be noticed to make a huge difference.

I do the same thing personally now, as I heat exclusively with wood and have a minimal air conditioner. The temperature in my house varies probably 20 degrees over the course of a year and I don’t suffer at all. The body has adjustment mechanisms for this.

Of course if you are a girlyman who is terminally distressed by a couple of degrees of temperature change it won’t work for you.

Having said all that, I still am not sure that wind generators will ever recover the initial investment either in dollars or BTU’s. The people pushing them will not answer that question.

[JD_UTDallas]

Don’t see why this wouldn’t work all this is using the thermal inertia of 50 gallons of hot water in an insulated tank to buffer power draws. With say a 20 degree delta from max temp to min temp a significant load can be drawn or shed by commanding in real time thousands of heaters to turn on or off. A simple mixing valve at the outlet can provide constant temp water even a large tank delta T. As a note I used to live in the Austin and the muni electric boffins will install a FREE high-tech thermostat in your place…if you allow them to use the thermal inertia of your house in 15 minuet to 30 min time increments. They remote shut down thousands of AC units at peak times for 15-30 min the average house should only go up in temp a few degrees in that time.