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Smart Power Grid Could Wreak Havoc On Itself
MrSeb writes "Smart power grid monitoring that lets you pick the exact cheapest time to run the dishwasher or recharge your electric car may put too much power (so to speak) in the hands of the consumer, according to a new study by MIT. Researchers say that users receiving minute-by-minute pricing information might cycle off-peak power use more rapidly than utilities can spool up their power plants. In other words, it's OK if you're the only person charging your Chevy Volt at 2am in the morning, but if a whole town does it exactly the same time... there will be issues."
they will quickly become peak hours, I have the upmost faith in our utilities to gouge us for whatever they can
70%? Source, please. If everyone slowly charges their cars over 10-16 hours, this might work, but if many people want to charge their cars at the same time, it will bring the grid down to its knees. An electric car charger can add as much strain to a grid as a whole house.
You entirely missed the point.
By design cars are planned to support multiple charging modes. The most basic designs assume a fast charge and a slow charge. Those charging at night will use the slow charge method.. Furthermore, there has even been discussion on allowing the car to participate in the smart meter network such that it can intelligent switch based on current grid load in the neighborhood.
So long story short, typical charging at night, is fully expected the charge cycle to be spread out over at least 6-8 hours; if not longer.
Its not like the people planning this stuff are absolute fucking idiots. Making such lame assumptions tends to point the finger in the opposite direction.
I've been saying this for years - despite what boosters of electric cars would have you believe, there isn't a magical well of electrical power available at night.
Yes there is. You've been wrong for years.
The utilities have spent the better part of a century either finding customers for the overnight low demand period or optimizing their networks to not generate unneeded power in the first place.
But they haven't found enough customers for overnight electricity to make the demand anything like during the day. As to "optimising the networks", power station capacity that is there during the day is also there at night. Whilst much of it is currently taken off line, if night time power demands increase, then they can leave more of them on-line at night.
Of course there are consequences to changes. But that's a very different thing from there being catastrophic, or even difficult consequences.