Planned power outages


California's 'planned public safety power outages' is one new concept that will require major re-thinking of our infrastructure - and this is a VERY GOOD THING.  It's about time we get away from a 150 year-old concept of centralized power grids.  I hope to see the deconstruction of those massive transmission lines and those ugly neighborhood overhead electrical lines.  We have two solutions at hand (and many more to come):  whole-house battery powerpacks, and microgrids.

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 Last year these frequent 'public safety' power outages bewildered California residents.  The number of complaints and whining about them was excessively unfounded.   In response, many homeowners are installing generators.  This action alone is indicative of our continued laziness, ignorance and/or denial of global warming, and more importantly a failure of the renewable energy industry to seize upon an opportune moment!

 It is unbelievable that one would add to local pollution of dirty exhaust and CO2 levels exacerbating climate change with a fossil fuel generator when there are so many good alternatives.   Let's explore one of the best options:  whole house battery systems.
Battery system

 A short term, more nuanced, approach for a single family dwelling would be to install a whole house battery system that is charged by the utility grid.  These battery packs are readily available for electric vehicles (EVs).  Tesla sells them as 'powerpacks'. One can get a used electric car battery pack for under $3500.  

 Whole house battery systems have been around for over a century.  They became more popular in the 70's after the oil embargo and the first solar PV installations.  In recent years, Tesla (car company) came out with a whole house  'powerpack' that was initially priced at $3,500 (now around $5,000).  The Tesla powerpak was a game changer.  It combined solar PV system (from Solar City) with battery backup and to charge an all-electric car - the first mainstream fossil fuel-free house system.  Utilities took note.

 But one doesn't have to go with a whole house power pack.  There are plenty of lithium batteries (with inverter) selling for $1-2,000 that can easily power your refrigerator, lights and 120v lines for computers/TV/misc; that will last for up to 2 or 3 days.  You can charge the batteries off the utility grid when it's back in operation, or can slowly add solar panels and controls later.  

 But utilities really don't want you to do this.  They're afraid you may discover how easy and affordable it is to generate your own power.  And government is a partner in this.  State, Cities and Counties have all kinds of darconian regulations that discourage homeowners from making their own power.  Yet, rural off-grid folks have been doing this for over 40 years!  I have. 







Generator
Whether you have a gasoline, diesel, propane, or natural gas generator; it will be noisy, polluting, and require constant refueling.  For gasoline and diesel you'll need to add liquid fuel (or have a big holding tank).  

 The upfront cost of a generator will be between $1-3,000.  


 The bigger picture:  supply & demand
In any energy system there's the supply (generating) side and demand (usage) side.  The first thing a utility does when a customer requests electrical service is fill out a load form.  This load form includes initial surge and continuous amperage ratings along with annual operating hours for each appliance.

 Your house
The demand side of this energy system is mostly overlooked.  Most residences' energy loads can be divided into two areas:  hi-surge, big ticket items and low wattage items. 

 Hi-surge, big ticket                                    Low wattage
  Refrigerator                                                Lighting
  Freezer                                                      Entertainment (TV, music)
  Washer                                                      Computer (laptop, desktop,            USB++)
  Dryer
  Microwave
  Toaster

 The hi-surge, big ticket items are the real 'draw' on a whole house energy system. It's convenient and accurate to apply the 80/20 rule here:

 20% of your household energy items use 80% of your energy. 80% of your household energy items use 20% of your energy. 

 Splitting the e-panel to separate these two areas is commonly done in the commercial retail sector.  During the holiday shopping season (wintertime) frequent power outages necessitate some back-up power system.  Most stores opt for small size (5-10kw) generators to power only the 120vac lines which includes check-out stands and minimal perimeter lighting.   Most of the hi-amp draw components are on 480, 3phase circuits which makes splitting an e-panel and installing a transfer switch are relatively easy. 

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on a Larger Scale:  microgrids

 These preventive power outages during the fall to prevent wildfires, presents an opportunity to re-engineer our power grid to a decentralized, locally controlled microgrid.



 

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