What did you hear?

[ponytug]

They will point the finger the other direction to avoid liability, we logged 12.5 hours on the generator

What kind and size of generator(s) do you have? Single, or three phase?

All the best,

Peter

 

[Portuguese Farmer]

What kind and size of generator(s) do you have? Single, or three phase?

All the best,

Peter

Single/three phase Hyundai 8.1 diesel, most homes here are single phase 230 we chose the dual phase in case it was needed in the shop, three phase hook up here is expensive.

 

[Sigarms]

Wow...

Took me a minute to comprehend it was the entire country.

Had to get an idea of size. Spain and Portugal has a combined area of 230,000 square miles, in comparison California is 165,000 square miles.

Local to my area, Spain alone is larger in size than North and South Carolina combined.

What's scary is I can't even comprehend an entire US state losing all of it's power off it's grid at the same time...

Didn't read or hear anything about the power outage there until I came across this post.

Did come across this as the latest story I could find

'More days' needed to identify Spain's blackout origin: govt

Spain's government said on Sunday it needed "several more days" to work out what caused its nationwide blackout on April 28, which also affected Portugal and parts of southwest France.

www.thelocal.es

 

[5030]

What's scary is I can't even comprehend an entire US state losing all of it's power off it's grid at the same time..

I can and have experienced it about 15 years ago when a large chunk of the midwest lost power for almost a week due to cascading grid failure. A transmission line on Ohio shorted out and caused a cascading effect that lasted about week here in Michigan and prompted me to purchase the 2 standby gensets I own.

 

[5030]

What makes me apprehensive is the way the US is shifting to solar and wind power and what will be the results of it should a failure occur???? Like I said, no sun = no juice and no wind = no juice.

I do know the national grid here has been lacking in upgrades and upkeep so only a matter of time when it fails.

 

[JRH02]

This household is off grid since the construction 'dry in' and roof was competed 16 years ago. Solar was put in place before windows and doors were installed. We didn't have a choice as there are zero utilities or services available. So we planned it from the beginning. We also knew WE would have to take responsibility for consumption into our own hands. And to have suitable backup capabilities. Including a backup to our backup. As a result there are no power failures or outages.

I'm trying to be courteous here but will say this: most people are completely irresponsible regarding their habits and use of utility power. Slothful comes to mind. Add to that the public, for profit power companies who have you over a barrel. Also 'officials' who you have delegated the responsibility for a mandatory resource that are making absolutely terrible decisions.

Whether the Texas weather event, the Spain/Portugal failure or some folk who shoot distribution transformers with a rifle all of these events could have been engineered in advance for substitution and failover. How a nuke plant is used is different than a coal plant and different than a hydro dam is different from RE generation. Who would build such a utility based so strongly on a variable resource without adequate backup systems in place. And regarding this whole Spain/Portugal failure if you think they don't know EXACTLY what happened or the cause you are kidding yourself. This is damage control mode right now. In actuality some heads need to roll over this but it will fall to a few scapegoats in the end.

I fully expect some hate for saying the above. But get ready as there will be more of these failures to come and maybe to a power provider near you. Best wishes, really.

 

[MossRoad]

And what are your thoughts on the story(s) you herd about our "blackout" here in Portugal and Spain this past Monday that lasted 10/13 hours?

I heard that if it would have happened in the US there would have been mass looting and murders.

 

[KennyG]

I heard that if it would have happened in the US there would have been mass looting and murders.

Only in certain areas.

 

[newbury]

I heard that if it would have happened in the US there would have been mass looting and murders.

Which we have a lot of already

 

[JRH02]

Which we have a lot of already

And if you are the only one in the 'neighborhood' with your lights on and the sound of a generator running expect some looting and hate because you must have some food that hasn't rotted yet.