THE BIGGEST THREAT TO GRID STABILITY

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& Other Revelations from the Local Power Channel

 

All illustrations courtesy Local Power Inc

By Roy L Hales

April 10, 2015 (San Diego's East County) - Local Power Inc compares one of the Biggest threats to grid stability to a traffic jam. It is a direct consequence of population centers relying on distant power sources. The nations power lines are full of electricity that travels hundreds of miles before it is used. When too much energy converges on a local substation, it overheats, there are black-outs or brown-outs, and costly upgrades are needed. An obvious alternative solution is to develop sources close to where the power is needed, so that more transient electricity can be taken off the grid. This is one of the many revelations on the Local Power Channel, a branded channel on the ECOreport.

The five web pages of this channel are a distillation of more than twenty years of experience. More than 1,300 community-based electricity services (called Community Choice Aggregations, or CCAs) have come into being since Paul Fenn co-authored America’s first landmark CCA bill.

All illustrations courtesy Local Power Inc

When cities develop their CCA programs, they gain control over the types of energy they want to use, and the locations from which they are sourced The primary source of electricity being used by California's investor owned utilities is gas fueled power plants and 86% of that natural gas comes from out of state. CCAs can develop more local sources (like solar, geothermal, landfill gas etc), which increases the number of local jobs and expands the tax base, and reduces price volatility from fluctuating fuel costs.

Fenn insists that the local power is also the fastest way to tackle Climate change. The biggest single contributor to our planet's growing carbon emissions is our electrical system. Replacing this largely fossil fuel-based energy system can cost effectively reduce carbon emissions and avert catastrophic changes in the Earth’s climate. If every city developed its own massive municipal public works project, the nation wouldn't need such a transcontinental superhighway of high-voltage direct current transmission wires. If America did this, the nation may be well on the way to solving the Climate Crises in the next decade. The alternative is not a future we can afford. 

Read more about this, and related CCA issues, on the Local Power Channel http://theecoreport.com/the-local-power-channel/


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Comments

2 bad.

2 bad we do not have something like a Public Utilities Commission to fix these problems?