Know what's funny? Because of the variable nature of renewables, in their current forms, a larger grid is almost always physically superior, political and business issues aside, simply because it's far less likely to completely fail. And that. THAT alone is why Texas is stupid. A voluntary self-kneecapping, based in the fact that we have oil here, and the grid was entirely nonrenewables as recently as 20 to 30 years ago, so we could have electricity cheaper, if we isolationism'd. Add in the American exceptionalist's state-level exceptionalism. The TX grid is very likely doomed to fail, at some point, all things considered. I'd say like 35% odds within the next five years, with gradually increasing likelihood. Not super keen on market forces after hundreds of Texans froze to death while some energy companies were so, um, "incentivized" that they made literally billion$, and TX energy prices have since gone up, in part, to help gradually pay the debt back to the utility providers, who were somehow permitted to be charged absolutely ridiculous rates by energy producers. The lack of winterization and other regulations and a blatant disregard of climate change predictions, permitted by the same system, are what caused the near-total crash and rolling blackouts. Nothing has actually changed on the regulatory side. When borne out experimentally, the theoretical "financially incentivized to winterize for the next crisis" argument hasn't worked. Now I am thinking about the fascinating process of phase or frequency-shifting the Texas grid to sync up with the national grid. I think it'd be super location dependent, and you probably have to use retarded time (actual term), right? The delay of a light signal between East and West Texas requires consideration, it's probably about 0.1 degrees or so (of 360) out of phase. I think for the best efficiency, the grid should basically ring like a bell, with a 2D planar geometry, kinda analogous to the second (I think?) 3D spherical harmonic. Like electron orbital 2S (edit: nah, now I think it's a cylindrical harmonic mode. I need to revisit quantum). Like a drum head's response if you hit it dead center. That is to say, the larger phase shift to the continental grid could be as big as +/-180 degrees if the two both oscillate at exactly 60 Hz. Or, you could tactically wait(?), because if the grid frequencies are slightly different, which is more likely, they'd eventually align in phase enough to open power connections across the border periodically. Like using a beat frequency to time the exchange of opening connections between increasingly isolated pockets of the TX grid, to gradually bring the two grids in sync. And the precision required to drive the power generation stations or transformer stations (not sure if one or both) into the correct phases may not currently exist, I'm not sure. Service outtages may be required. Fun to game out, but I think it needs computation/modeling to do right, using the known grid architecture. Not having much luck Goggling for it. Hmm.
Synchronizing the grids is easy: at an open circuit breaker between the grids, put a transmission voltage to 115 V transformer on each side. Put two lightbulbs in series between the two sides. When the bulbs go dim, close the breaker. This is how it was done in the old days. The more modern way (maybe 1960s?) is to have a synch scope. Looks kind of like a clock and displays the angle between. Clock points up: close breaker. Today it's done with microprocessor relays that wait until the angle is small and then issue the close signal. The real issue is getting the system secure as fast as possible. This means multiple transmission ties ready to close right away.
Physicist: Engineer: Phase issues lower efficiency and there is no way to pass through an electrical component without altering its phase. This was the traditional engineer's argument against graphic equalizers: each one of those bands of equalization is a filter, and each one of those filters alters the phase of the signal going through it. The more you use equalization, the more you smear the phase of your signal through 180 degrees and the more transients you lose. So... i think it's awesome that you're discussing electron orbitals as they relate to power? But I also think you need to realize that PG&E has isolators and cables that have been hanging in one place since the Gold Rush and their phase performance wasn't assessed when new and has not improved since. AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT Gelles makes the argument that the shift from "stakeholder capitalism" - whereby Ford builds a town for his workers and overpays them so they can afford to buy his cars, whereby Kodak promotes from within and preserves a flat hierarchy for 70 years, whereby GE was known as "generous electric" for their pensions and employee retention strategies - occurred because of the Friedman Doctrine, published in the NYT in 1970, because of Bork's "Antitrust Paradox", published in 1978, and the ascendancy of Jack Welch to chairmanship of General Electric in 1981. What followed was the financialization of industry such that earnings reports could always be synthesized to please shareholders and that shareholders were always pleased by "efficiency", IE firing workers and closing plants. Gelles follows this thread through the destruction of GE and the destruction of GM to the Boeing 737MAX. He goes as far as tracing it to the dominance of AB-InBev. He does not go all the way to This Fucking Abomination But the text is the subtext: "end-stage capitalism" basically refers to "end-stage shareholder capitalism" and it was a bad choice that fucked most of the world over and made an extremely limited group of individuals very wealthy and powerful. The problem with the Texas grid, as you yourself outline, is perverse incentives. Those incentives make sense under shareholder capitalism. They are an obvious maladaptation under stakeholder capitalism. The point of the book, fundamentally, is that shareholder capitalism was a bad idea and the world is waking up to this fact. You're right - people gonna die first. SEE: Boeing. Livelihoods will be destroyed. SEE: NAFTA. And while Marc Andreesen is perfectly within his rights to give Adam Neumann $350m (TO GET INTO APARTMENT RENTALS! WHILE AIRBnB IS EATING SHIT! WHILE RENTS ARE COLLAPSING!), the broader story is that Andreesen is seen as a chump for doing it, not a visionary. Ultimately, people like Marc Andreesen and Jack Welch spend other peoples' money. The market rewarded them for forty, fifty years. Game is changing, though. One of the arguments Wallerstein made towards the end of his life is the whole system is gonna collapse because there's no frontier anymore. Collapse? Or contract? Because ultimately? The solution to energy problems is to use less energy. If I have an i3 and I commute 40 miles to work and back every day, working from home saves 400kWh per month.Now I am thinking about the fascinating process of phase or frequency-shifting the Texas grid to sync up with the national grid.
Half-intentionally baited you to weigh in with this framework, and now I will quote it, for emphasis, in the hopes that it encourages anyone unfamiliar with the concept of shareholder capitalism to familiarize themselves. Also debated including this, but I'm also a pretty firm believer in the value of in-person schooling. THE CHILDREN WILL BE SOCIALIZED PROPER-LIKE. Been half-rewatching 30 Rock recently, while falling asleep, with the (new, to me) knowledge that Alec Baldwin plays Jack Welch, who cameos in one episode (I think, too lazy to IMDB lookup). Boy, have I got another wall-o'-text for you elsewhere in this thread. edit: aaaaaaaand you've already found it.Those incentives make sense under shareholder capitalism. They are an obvious maladaptation under stakeholder capitalism. The point of the book, fundamentally, is that stakeholder capitalism was a bad idea and the world is waking up to this fact.
working from home
The solution to energy problems is to use less energy.
Cool thing about schools is they have school buses and are situated within school districts. Remember - 90% of the population of the United States lives within the greater metropolitan area of somewhere so education happens where you are, not where your parents' paychecks come from. I will, again, recommend Bill McKibben's "Eaarth" because the first half of the book, quaintly, is "global warming is real" and the second half is "the solution is to live locally." Which, granted, pretty much fucks the South, both east and west. But you know what? I'm fine with that right now.