The Tennessee Valley Authority called for temporary energy load reductions, or rolling blackouts as some call them, to stabilize the regional power grid for the first time in its 89-year history amid subzero temperatures Friday morning.
TVA Chief Operating Officer Don Moul told The Tennessean Friday the power operator had to reduce strain on its grid as demand for energy ran nearly 35% higher than expected on a normal winter day, while at the same time a few of its coal and gas energy facilities were down because of the freezing temperatures.
Why Tennessee Valley Authority ordered rolling blackouts in Nashville (dnj.com)
Obviously, this is sort of a “big first” for TVA. But the question is going to be how we propose to fix the system in a way they do not have to do rolling blackouts again or at least keep them to a excruciating minimum. This is when we need to make sure the Green Movement stays the fuck out of the planning, or we are going to be spending millions in solar cell farms and windmills that could not get enough power in winter to charge a cell phone with the unfortunate consequence of not rolling blackouts but full-fledged collapses of power generation.
I believe I will be investing in a dual fuel, electric start generator. Some 10KW should do it.
Up here the liberal morons are clear cutting forests to put solar panels up.as unreliable as commercial power is nowadays you definitely need back up power. The other boondoggle here is “grid tied solar “systems. When the power goes out you dont have power… oh but you can save 20% on your power bill… I would stick with just propane fuel.
Several friends have Champion 12KW generators, I have a Generac, all excellent generators. The Champions come dual fuel, I had to install a tri-fuel setup on my Generac that I bought from US Carburetion, excellent setup. My boy has a diesel generator, bought from government surplus, works great. Keep in mind, the standard generator isn’t the cleanest power for computer crap, but the inverter ones are expensive. Final note, when running my Generac on natural gas, computer thingies love the power, it runs smooth enough to clean up the sine wave, I guess. I’ve had my Generac since Hurricane Ike, it failed me one time when the power relay broke, but my boy figured out that we could lock the start button in Start position, remove the wire to the starter relay and it ran just fine. Not bad for a fourteen year old generator. Don’t worry, I rewired it. LOL
Here in central Florida, I do not have natural gas, so propane or gas are the only options. I have not yet, bought and installed an underground propane tank, which is what is required in order to run the generator longer than three days—I already have the largest above ground tank allowed by state law, and three days is the maximum supply. So… I’ve been storing non-ethanol gas prior to hurricane season. Both bass boats hold almost 50 gallons each, and a dozen 5 gal cans provides more than enough fuel to last a few weeks. Also directed wired my 12kw Champion generator to my service box and built a weatherized sound-deadening box with exhaust system to go over top. Works like a charm. But hate the idea of paying for an underground fuel system, but also hate having to use the space for gas cans.
Back when I was a kid, I remember my father and grandfathers had in their garages, 500 gal. gas storage tanks with pumps, which a gas fuel truck would fill a few times per year. It was cheap and we never stopped at a gas station…except when driving long distances.
We lost power for about 20 hours here in central NH. We used a propane-powered portable generator (a built-in wasn’t practical), which worked pretty well. Overnight the temp was 9°F.
I’m sure glad that we weren’t dependent on “green” electricity for our external power source.
We lost power here yesterday to “ease grid burden” but oddly enough the super ritzy subdivision up the road never lost power. Same for the emergency power blackouts during the summer heat wave that specifically avoided rich neighborhoods like a hopscotch game.
Least ya have lots of experience in emergency prep from all that Florida time eh?