Posted on 03/10/2014 9:10:50 AM PDT by null and void
Transformers are the most vulnerable components in the power grid and they are under attack.
The main components in our power grid distribution system are transformers. They step up the generated voltage to a higher level for more efficient transport over very long lines. Then they step the voltage back down in several stages for final consumption. These transformers are located at the power plants and thousands of substations. They are big and right out in the open. Weather does not bother them, but bullets do. They are the weak links in our power grid.
Last year someone decided to shoot out the transformers at PG&E’s Metcalf substation in Silicon Valley taking the substation out of service. Luckily, PG&E was able to reroute the power to prevent a total blackout. But it took months to get replacement transformers and restore service.
This is a major wake up call to the utilities. Terrorists, or disgruntled customers, can easily take down a substation with a rifle at long range and get away with it. The transformers are defenseless as they are not covered or protected in any way. Furthermore, replacement transformers are hard to come by.
Power transformers are not an off-the-shelf item. Most are custom made to match the utility’s system. Each transformer is unique so requires special manufacturing efforts. It takes months to make small transformers and as many as two years for the big transformers. And they cost a fortune with small ones going for up to $1 million and as much as $10 million for the big ones. In addition, transportation is an issue. How do you ship a monster transformer weighing a couple hundred thousand pounds? So while replacements are possible, it takes a significant amount of time. This could cause a black out for months or longer.
On top of all that, there are only about seven transformer manufacturers in the U.S. And most of these are not typically that busy. Even so it would be a major problem to get fast service from a U.S. company for custom products. Not that many of them make the really big high voltage transformers. However, there are other transformer companies worldwide but service would no doubt be slow, and let’s not mention shipping costs.
Something needs to be done about this, fast. You know how you feel during even a short few hour blackout. It is miserable. Think of all the businesses, hospitals, and government services that depend upon power. It is a scary thought to think we could go without power for months. No doubt the utilities are already taking that California event as a wakeup call. I have not heard what they are doing about it. And just what can be done anyway? Special housings? Bullet proof shielding? Kevlar vests? Utilities could keep a spare or two of the smaller cheaper transformers, but it would be too costly to stock a spare of the larger ones.
Most substations are not that secure. They usually have a chain link fence and maybe even video surveillance but neither of these help when your enemy is a sniper a hundred yards away. Even armed guards are no help. It would not take much of a complex or expensive effort to really disrupt electrical service nationwide. Just ask hurricane and icy winter survivors how bad it is without power for a long time. So what is the solution?
Since the terrorists now know of this cheap and easy way to hurt us, we had better develop some protection. In the meantime, it wouldn’t hurt to get yourself a good generator for back up.
Ehhh, there are some games you cannot play at 250,000 or 350,000 volts. I appreciate your idea and I’m not an expert on these things.
And then wrap the transformers like tanks. With wires that dissipate energy from a bullet or shell.
You’re not supposed to shoot transformers?
...ruh roh...
One tried and true way is to have your squirrel make contact with the uninsulated top wire connection.
A second is to have an osprey place his recently caught fish at the same location.
Snakes have been known to do it but they are much harder to train
You have to unwind and rewind them. Not practical.
They used to be bought in pairs and installed side by side, so that if one blew you could in a couple of hours wire up the spare. Then you can take the bad one out and either fix or order another made.
The problem with transformers are that they are made like suits. They are made according to the part of the grid they have been designed to service.
The only factors that build transformers big enough for our grid are made in Japan and Korea. We only make the smaller ones now.
Transformers do more than step up and step down voltages. They also change the frequency in order to decrease line losses and reduce the heat (another form of loss).
These guys are worried about bullets. You CAN fix windings if you absolutely have to. With EMP, the iron core around which the copper windings are made melt down. Then there is no repair possible.
EMP will also pop holes in the insulators and insulation at various and sundry places in the distribution network, which means you’ve got to deal with the leaks or they will either kill folks and start fires.
You can’t place an emergency order for these like you’d go to Costco to buy a big package of D batteries. That’s why this is a big deal.
Tesla wanted to send electricty from Niagara Falls to Europe without wires. Supposedly he knew how to do it. Problem was ‘metering’ so the ‘bankers’ could get paid. Does anyone know how he was going to do this, and why not do it now? Shazam! No Grid!
You say EMP, by which I take you mean human created?
What about a massive solar flare? Could the end result of one or even a freak storm of several (say a temporary but powerful magnetic anomaly within the Sun) be as catastrophic as a man-made EMP?
I just knew that it would ease your worries.
Another worry wart! I have be assured by other FReepers that there is no such thing as EMP. That EMP is a booger bear of tinfoil hat crowd. (sarc)
You make a very good point with the camo.
And a couple tons of fairly cheap steel plate shielding is pretty low tech insurance.
A coronal mass ejection would have to be a big one, but its already happened. In 1863 there was one so big it made telegraph lines light up, arc, and spark. The aurora it created was so bright it woke miners in California who thought it was morning, but it was o-dark 30 in the morning.
Gamma radiation knocks electrons out of the ionosphere. Because it’s spherical, it lenses those electrons down to the earth’s surface. Long conductors pick those electrons up and load up both sources and sinks. Transformers are a form of a sink. Generators are sources. Generator winding cores would melt down pretty readily too.
Nuclear EMP actually has three parts - E1, E2, and E3. E1 is the part that fries small electronics and semiconductors. E3 is called the long tail part of the pulse, and it can last up to 100 minutes after the initial detonation. I can’t remember what E2 was, but E1 and E3 were what you had to worry about.
You don’t need a big bomb to make it happen. You need a high detonation point (90 to 130 miles up). Lower yield weapons actually work better because the higher the yield the more the initial blast absorbs the gamma yield.
Thus, you should be more worried about idiot regimes getting their paws on a medium range missile than a nuke. Assume they can get a nuke, what you need is a missile that can reach the right altitude before it pops.
There is SOME fallout from a high altitude burst, but for the most part it is the cleanest type of nuclear strike you can do. It’s something you’d use if you were going to come in and colonize a foe.
Simple if you shut it down before it overheats,...
-——— ——— -——— ———— -——— ————
I wonder if that is why the attackers first cut the communication lines. ISTR the control center was some distance away.
Good point. This wasn’t a couple drunk cowboys. It was carefully planned and executed with precision timing and discipline.
On the secondary side of the now much smaller transformer, the AC is rectified to DC again, and regulated to the desired voltage (5V, 12V, etc.)
-=0=- -=0=- -=0=- -=0=- -=0=- -=0=- -=0=- -=0=- -=0=- -=0=- -=0=- -=0=-
Ha ha! You said “rectified”!
Seriously, though... Remember the relatively big selenium rectifiers? I just tossed an old-style battery-charger (auto 6/12 volt) that had one of those in it.
Thank you Bell Labs et.al. for the transistor!
The text is kinda jacked up, but I remember that article.
Bump to mark & read later.
“Snakes have been known to do it but they are much harder to train”
They’ve trained a snake to open doors, the Reptile Commandos can’t be far behind:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxc_55ur-J4
Something about certain points on Earth having a concentration of magnetic lines going through Earth. He wanted to pump electricity into the Earth and retrieve it at other nodes where the magnetic lines exited. Supposedly the government helped shut him down and stole all his papers.
I think it’s eminently doable; I am not at all clear on the economics. The upside is robustness. We should hang the sort of chaps who shoot at transformers, or sabotage dams or point lasers at aircraft or drive 40 in the left lane with their blinkers on.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.