Why is California Blaming Wildfires on a Small Percentage of Downed Powerlines? (Part 1)

MasterResource.org ^ | November 13, 2019 | Wayne Lusvardi

[WLusvardi]

“California’s reliance on hydropower and proliferation of remote, centralized renewable energy plants; the mandated environmental mothballing of 19 coastal natural gas power plants located close to customers; redundant transmission lines for green power; and seasonal wind blasts, results in lethal blast-furnace-like wildfires that leave trees alone but incinerate houses.”

“California leaders and opinion-makers must first abandon their blame game and diagnose the problem more clearly than using clichés like ‘global warming,’ ‘Donald Trump,’ ‘greed’ or even ‘not enough clear cutting,’ if they are going to responsibly deal with the dangerous unintended consequences of de-modernizing its electric grid.”

[Texas Eagle]

Because they don’t want to admit that they are part of The UN Agenda 21 re-wilding effort.

[butlerweave]

If everyone installs their own Solar and Wind they can rip out all the power lines and BINGO no more fires ,LOL

[metmom]

Because the government wants an excuse to take over the utility companies and control the people.

[jz638]

Because they couldn’t figure out how to pin this one on the Jews for once ? /s

I don’t understand how you can take the vast wonder of a state like California, with all of its natural gifts, and turn it into such a zoo. I mean, I know how it can start to happen, but I don’t understand how it gets so much farther along the path to chaos. They’re now at the point where substantial chunks of the state are polluted with homeless, constantly at risk of fire or power outage, and crushed under pension debts and administrative burden. That’s not even considering traffic or that train to nowhere.

Lots of people vote with their feet, but even lefty leaning voters have to be thinking about what they’re continuing to put up with and be sick of it. Don’t they?

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

Wind is a big part of the power in California. Windmills have to shut down when wind speeds get too high. If they dont they blow apart at the higher RPMs. I suspect the bottom line is they do not have the power when winds get too high. The whole fire thing is a ruse. The green monster rears up when the winds get high and bites them in the ass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5X73VT5dA4

[bagster]

Because the government wants an excuse to take over the utility companies and control the people.

BOOM!

I was just about to type that.

#CantBeMoreObvious

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Why is California Blaming Wildfires on a Small Percentage of Downed Powerlines? (Part 1)

That BS story has gotta work better than the truth.

[Jonty30]

Because the state wants to own the power.

[Pajamajan]

CLEAR THE BRUSH!

[oldasrocks]

I’m so sure the guberment will do a better job with the power lines (sarc)

[lapsus calami]

 

 

Yup, just as well as North Korea. Maybe we'll get to see their proposed electric bullet train run on time one of these days, too.

 

 

[The_Media_never_lie]

The power lines do not have to be downed to start a fire. The wind, if strong enough, can blow phases together, causing an arc in the air. The arc can ignite combustible material on the ground.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

Bookmark

[realcleanguy]

California policy created the situation and the dangers. I know, I live here.

[Dogbert41]

"CLEAR THE BRUSH!"

...But all the endangered spotted ticks and disease bearing mosquitoes, all the hantavirus carrying mice will die!!!

[minnesota_bound]

They would need to look in a mirror of who is to blame.

[Plumres]

Democrats have to blame someone or something for everything that causes them pains. They are never the cause of anything bad.

[WLusvardi]

Reply to The_Media_Never_Lie Powerline arcs are detectable (see below) Detection of Arc in the Transmission Power Lines Article · August 2012 with  P. Kostyla Wroclaw University of Science and Technology Abstract One- and three-phase automatic reclosing of power lines, after short circuit shutdown, is a very effective way to improve the reliability of power delivery. Re-closing while the fault is not cleared can be dangerous for some electrical appliances. This paper provides a description of two optimization methods concerning the detection of arc in the transmission power lines. The first method is based on least squares approach (LS) and second on total least squares approach (TLS). In order to identify a short-circuit arc, it is proposed to use the degree of distortion of the voltage curve at the beginning of the line, therefore the both methods are based on the estimation of parameters in real-time voltage signals and an analysis of error estimation. An artificial neural network has been proposed to solve the problem in real time. The problems are formulated as optimization tasks and solved using the steepest descent continuous-time optimization algorithm. The network based on the TLS criterion realizes the optimization process under the assumption that the signal model can also be deteriorated (frequency or sampling interval fluctuation and so forth). In comparison to LS estimation, the TLS estimation effect is more reliable when higher sampling frequency and a wider sampling window is applied. The benefit of this research is the innovative possibility of fast detection of arcing faults in real time.

[The_Media_never_lie]

When I worked as an electrical engineer at electric utilities, we had equipment that used the algorithms you mentioned. We could also look at fault waveforms and locate faults manually. At that time neither method was perfect, with either outperforming based on the situation.

Most power lines are built for moderate to extreme conditions. A transmission line can be designed for extreme wind conditions, but that gets very expensive. A power line cannot easily be retrofit for extreme conditions.

Ideally, generation should be built somewhat close to load centers. California’s environmentalists, however, oppose constructing power plants near California cities. This has created tie condition of having to transporting many megawatts of power through many miles of tinderbox land in windy conditions.