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
Basically it comes down to size. Sometimes when you turn on a large appliance the lights will dim a little. That’s because you’re drawing too much power from a small section of the grid.
Now multiply that one house by thousands and homes and buisnesses the grid as a whole won’t be affected by turning on the garbage disposal in your house.
The other factor is that devices have a range that they work at. We say it’s 120v and 60hz but the voltage and frequency isn’t always the same. Enough lightswitches may cause the grid to dip a little, but it’s not enough to notice the difference.
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