As far as I know the electric power is produced „fresh“ and transported everywhere via wires. If I turn on a light in my house the demand goes slightly up. Does the power plant then automatically produce more electric power? Or are there huge batteries somewhere that deal with the different demands?
In: Technology
There are sort of batteries. Power plants have big heavy turbines and generators which spin very fast. This stores up lots of energy, like a flywheel. When you turn on a light the energy you consume comes from these flywheels. The electric companies monitors the speed of all this rotating mass and then opens or closes valves to send more or less steam or water through the turbines. This is done automatically but takes a few seconds to take effect.
Part of the issue we are discussing when switching to wind and solar is that these do not have any rotating mass connected to the grid. Wind turbines have some rotating mass but are generally not directly connected to the grid because the speeds do not match. Part of the resurgence of nuclear power lately is because nuclear reactors can provide the grid with this spinning mass that is needed. Other alternatives includes hydro power and geothermal power. But we are also looking into connecting batteries to the grid which acts as a virtual flywheel. There are already some installed, most famously in Australia.
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