Tag: The Grid

The Trans Bay Cable and Why it is Important

The Trans Bay Cable and Why it is Important

The Trans Bay Cable and Why it is Important

09/12/18

“What is the Trans Bay Cable and why is it so important for the city of San Francisco?”

 

Grid transmission projects are everywhere where there is a need for electricity. But some are more important than others. Before 2010, the city San Francisco and its southern peninsula were subject to wild grid fluctuations and had to rely on dirty power plants in the center of the city due to its relative geographic isolation from the rest of the state. But soon enough a need for a connection was realized, and The Trans Bay Cable was produced as a result. The Trans Bay Cable is an HVDC current underwater cable that connects San Francisco, California and Pittsburg, California in the East Bay. The cable can provide up to 400 megawatts of power at a DC voltage of ±200 kV( around 40% of San Francisco’s peak power requirements). Once this was completed, San Francisco was able to shut down its central power plants, improving the air quality and carbon emission portfolio of the city. It just goes to show how a little bit of grid planning can make such a huge difference!

 

Image credit Transbay.com

Transformer Cooling Tubes

Transformer Cooling Tubes

Transformer Cooling Tubes

08/12/18

“How can we cool the oil in a transformer?”

 

Transformer oil is vital for winding insulation. However, in order for optimal performance, it must be kept at a cool temperature. So how can we use our engineering mindset to accomplish this? Well, what if we were to simply have the transformer oil circulate in tubes near a cooling source? This is the idea behind Transformer Cooling Tubes and is a staple of transformers in the world.

Negative Energy Pricing

Negative Energy Pricing

Negative Energy Pricing

08/11/18

“Can energy become so cheap that prices become negative?”

 

The more supply relative to demand that cheaper a product is. And energy is no exception to the rule. States such as Germany, California, and Hawaii are now generating so much energy from Distributed Energy Resources and conventional power during low period times that electricity prices are going negative! To avoid great imbalances, these areas are now selling their energy to neighboring states to create grid balance.

Transformer Faults

Transformer Faults

Transformer Faults

08/03/2018

“What happens when transformers go wrong?”

 

Transformers are one of the most important pieces of infrastructure. They are like the pins keeping the yarn that is the grid connected. However, sometimes they have problems such as windings going bad or a broken core, which could have consequences for the grid. Transformer Faults can result in loss of power, voltage overheating, distribution problems, and a myriad of potential problems.

Load Shedding

Load Shedding

Load Shedding

06/04/18

“How can we reduce the load when we don’t have enough supply?”

 

Energy in the grid is always about a balance between supply and demand. And sometimes, the demand outstrips the supply greatly. As a result, appliances on the grid will be forced to shut down to artificially reduce demand and create balance in a practice known as Load Shedding.

Fast-Charging EV Infrastructure

Fast-Charging EV Infrastructure

Fast-Charging EV Infrastructure

05/25/18

“How can we make Electric Vehicle charging faster?”

 

Electric vehicles are seeing an exponential adoption rate. But in spite of their myriads of benefits, they have one serious bottleneck, charge times. Specifically, it can take upwards of 12 hours to charge a single model! Because of this, researchers are working day and night to create Fast-Charging EV Infrastructure that can bring this charging time down to a half hour!

How Tesla’s Big Australian Battery Might Become a Monopoly

How Tesla’s Big Australian Battery Might Become a Monopoly

How Tesla’s Big Australian Battery Might Become a Monopoly

05/21/18

“Why might there be no more ancillary service players in South Australia after Tesla?”

 

California based Tesla Motors recently made headlines by supplying 100 MW of their batteries to the South Australian Hornsdale Power Reserve to help control ancillary services. This project was so efficient that it absorbed 55 percent of all FCAS revenues in South Australia as well as cutting ancillary services pricing by 90 percent. Analysts say that this has been so efficient that it is possible that there will be no more room for competition in South Australia.

Onsite Renewable Energy Monitoring

Onsite Renewable Energy Monitoring

Onsite Renewable Energy Monitoring

05/20/18

“How can we monitor the energy consumption levels of Renewable Energy?”

 

Renewable Energy is one of the fastest growing sectors of all time. However, because of its distributed nature, monitoring the energy consumption levels without an interface can be a great difficulty. Because of this, engineers have developed Onsite Renewable Energy Monitoring to analyze distributed resources in real time!