when there’s a lot of wind or rain, and the lights dim or flicker for a second, and then immediately kick back on, what is actually happening? I’m asking because it seems like if the power is going to disconnect, it would be from some wire breaking or something. So what is happening when it almost goes out, but it doesn’t?
In: Engineering
Think of a power grid like the road network in a city. When a road gets blocked, traffic is prevented from reaching local destinations, but can re-route through traffic around the block so that it still reaches non-local destinations. Your power grid has similar capabilities. Your power goes out when your “local” power lines go out, or all of the “through” lines to you get blocked.
In addition, there’s some other issues that can lead to more widespread outages, which generally revolve around the system being damaged or taken off line at certain choke points near you (substations, transmission lines).
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