PV Gap

Clifton Said:

national grid shut power off due to non payment and i have 1 1/2 yr old child in the home they want 1 thsd?

We Answered:

start making payments

Ron Said:

Where would the electric current go if everyone on the power grid were to shut the master power switch off?

We Answered:

The current would not go anywhere. It would just stop. The load - the customers - dictate the current and the power. A single generation station has control of frequency and voltage. Not much else.

If you were to coordinate one million customers to simultaneously turn off power, equivalent to the power station opening its output breaker while at full load, it would then dependant on the electrical protection relay scheme of the power plant. The frequency and voltage output of the power plant would rise a lot. Some plants have trips associated with excessive frequency - somewhere between 62 and 64 Hz - and some have trips associated with excessive line voltage or excessive volts/hertz. Some of these trips have a time delay with them to allow for the automatic controls to lower the voltage and frequency before tripping the generator's output breaker.

Dependant on the type of power plant many other things will happen. For a gas turbine plant the gas valve on the GT will throttle back really quickly. That's about it. For a steam plant the throttle valve for the steam turbine will throttle back really quickly, but back up steam pressure and probably lift a steam safety before the fuel can be reduced to lower the heat to the boiler. A hydro plant will just quickly reduce the flow of water to its turbines. Might shutdown the power plant, might not.

To the Mormon Engineer - Which energy source that produces electricity for our consumption in the US comes from the middle east. Very frickin little you moron. Quit perpetuating your republicunt propaganda

Felix Said:

What is the current draw or even the KWH draw of a battery powered car charging off a home's energy grid?

We Answered:

Very low. I do not think anybody will notice the difference. Drive safely ./;-))

Gas engines are very inefficient, maybe 5 % of the energy is converted into actual drive. Electric motors are very efficient, about 70% for DC motors, so, figure it out yourself.