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
You don’t have to produce the exact amount as what’s consumed, most generating stations aren’t operating at capacity, if demand is close to exceeding capacity additional facilities are added to the grid.
Your fridge that draws 16A at 120V which is about .3 A at 5000V which is a common voltage for a generating station to put out. Or about 0.00025% of a typical generating stations capcity of 600MW.
Latest Answers