Under construction: Power to the people
Untold electrifying stories
These are stories of global and local electrification that will be written in due time. As I am no expert on these topics, I will also have to seek reviews and corrections from those who are. So, patience is recommended.
Dynamism
Our Gridical Twin
A good number of institutions and organisations have created models for power production, transmission, storage and consumption.
One example is the modelling used by the British think-tank Ember:
We also have presentations of real-time data, like this Danish site:
Models and real-time data could be combined into a digital twin. Not just of the grid as it is, but as it could be under different conditions.
Ideally it, or a subset of it, should be publicly available at cost or for free, depending on data and
Cutting Costs
“Do what you do, but cheaper.” Cost is a great de
Going Gridless
My interest is in the electric grid, but going off-grid has it
Going global
The Interconnector story (in Norwegian)
This story will be in Norwegian, but can be adapted to an European context later.
https://medium.com/p/ff7c949804fb/edit
Economy
“Smart” consumption
Power arbitrage
Arbitrage is risk-free profit from price difference in unsynchronised markets. That is interesting to those who want to get richer quicker, and to see where markets are performing
Also the issue of perverse incentives, when it is more profitable to do wrong than to do right.
Security
Distributed Denial of Service
Could unprotected “smart” consumption (like water heaters and battery chargers that adapt to power prices, thus using power more efficiently) be hacked? What if a synchronised group of compromised consumer boxes were ordered to use more power rather than less in time of grid stress?
The grid can be seen as a communication network, only with a lot more power and complexity behind it. “Smart” systems can create additional risks as they are communication devices. Can we make the grid fail in simulation to prevent it from failing in practice?
AI
Renewable Black start
A full black start is something to be strictly avoided, and are rare occurrences. But if there were one, could it be done with renewable power, and should it?
Solarpunk zombie apocalypse
Combining the utopian visions of solarpunk with more dystopian disaster scenarios, replacing Mad Max-like living of diesel, bunkers, and guns. In a future disaster, would we be more resilient with solar panels and batteries? A little frivolous, but there is a serious side to this as the war in Ukraine and the attacks on the electric grid has shown.
Power and energy
We have four major uses of energy
- Electric devices (commercial and domestic)
- Transport
- Industry (including construction and agriculture)
- Heating and cooling
These fo
