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.
Yes. Our government does. They had Tesla's place ransacked immediately after he died. Why not do it now? Follow the Benjamins. Who would have benefited the most from this technology being hidden? Who would have paid the most for it at the time?
As some day it may happen that a victim must be found,
I’ve got a little list – I’ve got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be underground,
And who never would be missed – who never would be missed
I wonder how long before they can make transformers with a 3D printer?
There are also some vulnerable choke points in our goods transportation networks.
That’s exactly the article I had in mind. Sheesh, not 10 years old, more like 25. I remeber the remarks about the embrittlement marker, too.
Wall warts can use small windings because they limit the energy supplied to the transformer. "Switch-Mode Power Supply"
The better solution from a "limit the losses in event of failure" point of view, for power transmission, is to do less of it. Generate power local to the points of consumption.
Trees are apt to short out (to ground) the power conductors coming in and going out. Substations are built in clearings for good reason.
They can't change the frequency, and if they did, it would lead to all sorts of interesting effects ;-) What transformers can do (and in fact, are physcially destined to do) is change the phase angle relationship between incoming power and outgoing power - something called "power factor."
True. but even the partial protection from the areas not directly under the goesinta and goesouta power lines would help. Shorter growing varieties and/or routine trimming could be used even in those areas.
Where that is not practical, even a simple cinder block wall could provide shielding and concealment
That is the ultimate solution.
No centralized grid, no centralized vulnerability.
Something that causes every big government/central planner screaming nightmares. A structure they can't shut down or throttle by fiat.
Makes me nervous as the high tension power lines just a half-mile from my house run from the Monticello nuclear plant to downtown Minneapolis.
A half-dozen key switching stations and you’ll black-out most of Central Minnesota.
Lemons, lemonade. An aggressive body armor company should start promoting its new line of custom transformer armor!
Interesting.
Ping for a snake-training opportunity.
Like the book One Second After. What is the range of such a thing, as in square miles, if you know?
LOL I saw that one in ginormous size at the Children’s Museum in Indianapolis.
Not really a transformer. That would be a one to one induction coil. Transformers, by definition, change voltage.
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