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A power engineer on the Iberian grid collapse: It makes me very afraid for Britain
The Telegraph ^ | May 1, 2025 | Capell Aris

Posted on 05/07/2025 9:03:12 AM PDT by Pontiac

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To: rlmorel
Maybe later to us than to them, but it is going to happen.

Maybe not.

The inertia for building nuclear power plants is building and Trump is a supporter.

21 posted on 05/07/2025 10:03:47 AM PDT by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
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To: Pontiac

“From my college days I remember learning that DC was not good at long distance transmission. Yet, Britain and Ireland are transmitting DC across the Channel.”

a couple of things about that claim make zero sense:

1. DC power was a dead-end back in the first days of the fight between DC and AC power because DC power plants essentially had to be built on every block due to distance limitations of transmitting DC power ... the power that lit the Chicago World’s Fair was AC power delivered from Niagara Falls ...

2. AC-to-DC conversion and then DC-to-AC conversion would be necessary for DC power to be injected into and then extracted form said DC link ... that would require MASSIVE motor-generators on each end of said DC link to do this. why not just transmit AC to start with?


22 posted on 05/07/2025 10:30:30 AM PDT by catnipman ((A Vote For The Lesser Of Two Evils Still Counts As A Vote For Evil))
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To: Pontiac

I think you, me, Trump, and some very important advisors of his are simpatico on this issue.

I hope so. I see it as a travesty that we are not building more, modern, safe nuclear plants with new designs that are modular and can be run at the municipal power level.

Think of all the new jobs it would create in addition to the power.


23 posted on 05/07/2025 10:38:15 AM PDT by rlmorel ("A people that elect corrupt politicians are not victims...but accomplices." George Orwell)
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To: dfwgator
It’s hard to imagine since the Left hates coal, that back in the 80s their biggest issue was stopping Thatcher from shutting down the coal mines.

Back in the late 70s I worked in the Nuclear industry. I also lived a mile or so away from a coal mine. Some local leftists got the mine workers union all fired up against nuclear and they even set up a propaganda table outside a local grocery store. I stopped and talked to some of the miners there and they didn’t know squat about nuclear energy. The lefties told them that nuclear energy would put them out of work. I told them that if the lefties managed to kill nuclear, coal would be their next target.

Sure enough, that mine is now long gone. The lefties don’t give a damn what your fuel source is. They are against anything that works.

24 posted on 05/07/2025 10:39:24 AM PDT by Ditto
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To: Pontiac

Oopsie. There has to be a backup or standby for everything else to synchronize to, in order to bring them back online. That’s most likely a fossil fueled machine.


25 posted on 05/07/2025 10:39:59 AM PDT by Professional Engineer (Looks like I'll have to buy the White Album again.)
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To: Pontiac

Sometimes the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. Especial if the Gates family is applying heavy duty Sun-Block.


26 posted on 05/07/2025 10:48:03 AM PDT by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again," )
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To: Pontiac
Website requires you to enter a Email address

I have a small list of the email addresses of email scammers that I use for just this purpose.

27 posted on 05/07/2025 10:51:17 AM PDT by Hot Tabasco
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To: Ditto

The head of National Union of Mineworkers, Arthur Scargill, was a full-blown Communist, who only used the mineworkers for his own personal goal of overthrowing the British government and imposing a Communist dictatorship.


28 posted on 05/07/2025 11:11:53 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Professional Engineer
Oopsie. There has to be a backup or standby for everything else to synchronize to, in order to bring them back online.

Black Start Plants are most often Hydro-plants or Gas Turbine Plants.

They have the fewest auxiliary systems requiring power for start up.

29 posted on 05/07/2025 11:16:56 AM PDT by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
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To: Pontiac

Screw Britain. They made their own bed, and can sleep in it. They never learned any lessons from two World Wars, not even after we saved their asses twice. They’re getting what their hand calls for. The British Empire “where the sun never sets” now wants to dim the sun on its own people. They have shit weather as it is. Must be they want to kill more of their people than fix the problems they already have.


30 posted on 05/07/2025 4:48:25 PM PDT by mass55th (“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” ― John Wayne)
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To: ComputerGuy

There are still many who think the “alternative sources” will fill the bill with our electrical needs & this is a good explanation as to why they will not. Some folks are just convinced that solar & wind do a good job & it’s hard to convince them otherwise.


31 posted on 05/07/2025 9:39:09 PM PDT by oldtech
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To: JadeEmperor
But for underwater transmission there is another huge issue which makes AC less practical - the large capacitance of the underdwater cable.?

You can just tune that out...a few ferrite rings will soon take care of it.

32 posted on 05/10/2025 2:24:22 PM PDT by spokeshave (Proud Boys, Angry Dads. Grumpy Grandads & Curmudgeon<p.s)
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To: catnipman

- a couple of things about that claim make zero sense:

1. DC power was a dead-end back in the first days of the fight between DC and AC power because DC power plants essentially had to be built on every block due to distance limitations of transmitting DC power ... the power that lit the Chicago World’s Fair was AC power delivered from Niagara Falls ...

2. AC-to-DC conversion and then DC-to-AC conversion would be necessary for DC power to be injected into and then extracted form said DC link ... that would require MASSIVE motor-generators on each end of said DC link to do this. why not just transmit AC to start with?-

Converting high power AC to DC and back from DC to AC is used with solid state Insular Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBT) or Thyristor switching elements not motors and generators.

Also, the bulk, long-haul power transmission is cheaper by HVDC vs HVAC including the cost of converters. You will see more long-haul bulk power by HVDC in the future.

On the other side HVDC transmission will not provide rotating inertia to the grid.


33 posted on 05/18/2025 6:40:42 PM PDT by bosco24
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