The operation of an electrical grid is a balancing act – you have to produce *exactly* the same amount of energy as is needed, otherwise bad things happen. I don’t understand how does this rule apply on anything other than the largest scale of things.
I understand that *in general* you can predict a higher load on the grid during Monday evening when everyone is at home, and plan your energy production accordingly. But a power station can’t predict smaller load fluctuations like if I decide to turn on or off my TV at this very moment.
So, how does the electrical grid cope with unpredictable load that differs from the planned & expected one?
In: Engineering
The electric grid doesn’t need to respond to changes as small as you turning a single thing on or off. So many people in your area are constantly turning things on and off that these tiny fluctuations get lost in the noise. The things that the grid does need to respond to are the big trends. The UK has a really interesting example of this, so many people brew a cup of tea in an electric kettle that their grid has a demand spike as everyone gets home from work and makes a cup of tea between 5 and 6 PM. It takes a nation of people all plugging something in at the same time to cause the grid to have to respond quickly.
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