 |
|
Transmission congestion threatens to clog nation's power grid
July 28, 2006Champaign, Ill. - Inadequate investment in the power grid transmission network remains the Achilles heel of the nation's electric system, an engineer who specializes in utility policy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign says.
The electric industry and government regulators have addressed the immediate problems that led to the nation's worst power failure three years ago on Aug. 14, 2003, said George Gross, a U. of I. professor of electrical and computer engineering. This includes mandatory reliability standards for the industry, which were passed by Congress as part of the 2005 Energy Policy Act.
But the broader problems of transmission congestion and bottlenecks continue to threaten the reliability of the grid, particularly during periods of peak demand.
"The August 2003 blackout was a wake-up call for the country to upgrade its transmission grid system," Gross said. "But the truth is that very few major transmission projects have been constructed and, as a result, transmission capacity has failed to keep pace with the expansion of power demand."
In the period between 1988 and 1998, for example, growth in electric demand grew by 30 percent, but growth in transmission capacity was just 15 percent, Gross said.
The 2003 blackout prompted calls for spending of up to $100 billion to reduce bottlenecks and increase capacity of the transmission lines that carry electricity from power plants to homes and businesses.
Instead, investment has lagged behind both power-plant generation and growth in demand for electricity. "Demand growth is forecasted to be 20 percent between 1998-2008, but the increase in transmission capacity is still below 5 percent," Gross said.
"The need to strengthen the existing transmission infrastructure, to expand it and to effectively harness advances in technology constitutes the single most pressing challenge for the country's electricity system."
Gross recommended the introduction of incentives to spur utilities and transmission companies to increase capacity. In addition, state regulatory agencies should show more initiative in encouraging new power networks that cross state lines and serve a regional rather than strictly local purpose.
The August 2003 blackout left more than 50 million people without electricity in Canada and the northeastern U.S. and cost at least $10 billion in lost economic activity.
A heat wave in California this week has resulted in cutbacks in electrical use by government agencies and businesses to avoid the kind of rolling blackouts that plagued the state in 2000 and 2001.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
"The August 2003 blackout was a wake-up call for the country to upgrade its transmission grid system," Gross said. "But the truth is that very few major transmission projects have been constructed and, as a result, transmission capacity has failed to keep pace with the expansion of power demand."
In the period between 1988 and 1998, for example, growth in electric demand grew by 30 percent, but growth in transmission capacity was just 15 percent, Gross said.
The 2003 blackout prompted calls for spending of up to $100 billion to reduce bottlenecks and increase capacity of the transmission lines that carry electricity from power plants to homes and businesses.
Instead, investment has lagged behind both power-plant generation and growth in demand for electricity. "Demand growth is forecasted to be 20 percent between 1998-2008, but the increase in transmission capacity is still below 5 percent," Gross said.
"The need to strengthen the existing transmission infrastructure, to expand it and to effectively harness advances in technology constitutes the single most pressing challenge for the country's electricity system."
Gross recommended the introduction of incentives to spur utilities and transmission companies to increase capacity. In addition, state regulatory agencies should show more initiative in encouraging new power networks that cross state lines and serve a regional rather than strictly local purpose.
The August 2003 blackout left more than 50 million people without electricity in Canada and the northeastern U.S. and cost at least $10 billion in lost economic activity.
A heat wave in California this week has resulted in cutbacks in electrical use by government agencies and businesses to avoid the kind of rolling blackouts that plagued the state in 2000 and 2001.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Power Grid Current Events and Power Grid News RSSA Lightning Strike in Africa Helps Take the Pulse of the Sun
Sunspots, which rotate around the sun's surface, tell us a great deal about our own planet. Scientists rely on them, for instance, to measure the sun's rotation or to prepare long-range forecasts of the Earth's health.
Magazine touts NJIT idea to harness clean energy for NYC
An NJIT architecture professor with an architecture student has designed a network of modular floating docks to harness clean energy for New York City. The proposal was featured this week in Metropolis magazine.
NIST discovers how strain at grain boundaries suppresses high-temperature superconductivity
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have discovered that a reduction in mechanical strain at the boundaries of crystal grains can significantly improve the performance of high-temperature superconductors (HTS).
Report examines limits of national power grid simulations
America's power grid today resembles the country's canal system of the 19th Century. A marvel of engineering for its time, the canal system eventually could not keep pace with the growing demands of transcontinental transportation.
A bright future with solar lanterns for India's poor
Solar energy has the potential to improve the living conditions of poor rural households in India as well as contribute to the country's future energy security, according to Professor Govindasamy Agoramoorthy from Tajen University, who is Tata-Sadguru Visiting Chair, and Dr. Minna Hsu from the National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan.
Electron pairs precede high-temperature superconductivity
Like astronomers tweaking images to gain a more detailed glimpse of distant stars, physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have found ways to sharpen images of the energy spectra in high-temperature superconductors - materials that carry electrical current effortlessly when cooled below a certain temperature.
New evidence on the robustness of metabolic networks
Biological systems are constantly evolving in ways that increase their fitness for survival amidst environmental fluctuations and internal errors.
NIST assists in solar stake-out to improve space weather forecasts
The sun is about to undergo unremitting scrutiny. About six times each minute of every hour for at least five years, a soon-to-be launched NASA satellite will measure the sun's quirky-and sometimes stormy-output of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light.
Oxygen ions for fuel cells get loose at low(er) temperatures
Seeking to understand a new fuel cell material, a research team working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in collaboration with the University of Liverpool, has uncovered a novel structure that moves oxygen ions through the cell at substantially lower temperatures than previously thought possible.
Work with power grids leads to cell biology discovery
Gene therapy, in which a working gene is inserted into a cell to replace a faulty or absent gene, is a promising experimental technique for the prevention and treatment of disease.
More Power Grid Current Events and Power Grid News Articles
 |
Power Grid by Rio Grande Power Grid is the updated release of the Friedemann Friese crayon game Funkenschlag. The latest cooperative publishing effort from Friedemann Friese and Rio Grande Games, removes the crayon aspect from network building in the original edition while retaining the fluctuating commodities market like McMulti and an auction round intensity reminiscent of The Princes of Florence. The object of Power Grid is to supply the most cities with power when someone's network gains a predetermined size. In this new edition, players mark pre-existing routes between cities for connection, and then bid against each other to purchase the power plants that they use to power their cities. However, as plants are purchased, newer more efficient plants become available, so by merely purchasing you're... |
 |
Rio Grande Games Power Grid deck by Rio Grande This expansion is a whole new set of cards for this great game. It also includes rules showing you several ways to use the new cards. Please Note: A copy of Power Grid is required to play this expansion. |
 |
Rio Grande Games Power Grid expansion 1 by Rio Grande This is an expansion pack, so you will need the Power Grid game to use it. As with the original, the board has a different map on each side: France and Italy. Along with the maps are small rule changes to reflect the power culture in these two countries. France, a land that has embraced nuclear power, has an earlier start with atomic plants and more uranium available. Italy has more waste, but fewer coal and oil resources. The result is not just new maps, but new ways to play this great game! |
 |
Rio Grande Games Power Grid expansion 2 by Rio Grande Game Description: Two new maps for Power Grid. This is an expansion pack, so you will need the Power Grid game to play with it. As with the original, the board has a different map on each side: Benelux on one side and Central Europe on the other. Along with the maps are small rule changes to reflect the power culture in these two countries. As the Benelux countries support ecological power, players may have greater opportunities to acquire such power plants. Also, oil is more available and coal less available in these countries. As Poland has large coal supplies, coal will be much more plentiful then elsewhere in Central Europe. However, due to political stands taken by some countries, players may be limited in their access to nuclear power. The result is not just new maps, but new ways... |
 |
Power Grid China & Korea Expansion by Rio Grande Games An expansion for the game "Power Grid" by Friedeman Friese. The base game is required to play. This expansion contains maps for China and Korea. |
 |
Power Grid by Rio Grande Games The object of Power Grid is to supply the most cities with power when someone's network gains a predetermined size. In this new edition, players mark pre-existing routes between cities for connection, and then vie against other players to purchase the power planets that you use to supply the power. However, as plants are purchased, newer and more efficient plants become available so you're effectively allowing others to access to superior equipment. Additionally, players must acquire the raw materials like coat, oil, garbage, or uranium to power the plants, making it a constant struggle to upgrade your plants for maximum efficiency. This family strategy board game is for 2 to 6 players and takes about two hours to play. |
 |
Puerto Rico by Rio Grande The players are plantation owners in Puerto Rico in the days when ships had sails. Growing up to five different kind of crops: Corn, Indigo, Coffee, Sugar and Tobacco, they must try to run their business more efficiently than their close competitors; growing crops and storing them efficiently, developing San Juan with useful buildings, deploying their colonists to best effect, selling crops at the right time, and most importantly, shipping their goods back to Europe for maximum benefit. A novel game system lets players choose the order of the phases in each turn by allowing each player to choose a role from those remaining when it is their turn. No role can be selected twice in the same round. The player who selects the best roles to advance their position during the game will win. |
 |
Agricola ZMG 7026 by Z-Man Agricola |
 |
Ticket to Ride by Days of Wonder October 2, 1900. 28 years to the day that noted London eccentric, Phileas Fogg accepted and then won a L20,000 bet that he could travel "Around the World in 80 Days". Now at the dawn of the century it was time for a new "impossible journey". Some old friends have gathered to celebrate Fogg's impetuous and lucrative gamble--and to propose a new wager of their own. The stakes: $1 Million in a winner-takes-all competition. The objective: to see which of them can travel by rail to the most cities in North America--in just 7 days. The journey begins immediately. Ticket to Ride is a cross-country train adventure where players collect cards of various types of train cars that enable them to claim railway routes connecting cities throughout North America. Included in this popular game made by... |
 |
Dominion by Rio Grande In Dominion, each player starts with an identical, very small deck of cards. In the center of the table is a selection of other cards the players can "buy" as they can afford them. Through their selection of cards to buy, and how they play their hands as they draw them, the players construct their deck on the fly, striving for the most efficient path to the precious victory points by game end. You are a monarch, like your parents before you, a ruler of a small pleasant kingdom of rivers and evergreens. Unlike your parents, however, you have hopes and dreams! You want a bigger and more pleasant kingdom, with more rivers and a wider variety of trees. You want a Dominion! In all directions lie fiefs, freeholds, and feodums. All are small bits of land, controlled by petty lords and verging on... |
| © 2009 BrightSurf.com |