Since, and unless electricity has properties I’m not aware of, it’s not possible for electric power plants to produce only and EXACTLY the amount of electricity being drawn at an given time, and not having enough electricity for everyone is a VERY bad thing, I’m assuming the power plants produce enough electricity to meet a predicted average need plus a little extra margin. So, if this understanding is correct, where does that little extra margin go? And what kind of margin are we talking about?
In: Engineering
When more electricity is produced than consumed, the voltage of the grid rises.
As the grid voltage rises, power generators, like solar panels, wind turbines, and thermal power plants, will produce less power, allowing the voltage of the grid to decrease.
Excesses power can also be stored with pumped hydro and grid scale batteries.
Pumped hydro can store energy for days or months, while batteries are good for minutes to hours.
Thermal power generators have spinning components which act as flywheels and can store a few seconds worth of power.
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