AzulCrescentlil tidbit about Solar
Not a funni comic and a bit nerdy, but i wanted to write about something that i find cool lol.
Tammi 𝆮 𓃠@AzulCrescent i like how different the power generated by solar panels is. lemme infodump ^^
the DC it generates is not super easy to inject into an AC power grid. big power grids are built all on the assumption of having a spinning turbine somewhere that does the AC alternation. And the frequency has to be kept stable otherwise the equipment breaks or at least blows safeties off and causes a blackout at least. You do not need to worry about all of that if you charge a DC battery.
So injecting solar DC power into the old power grid system requires an inverter to be used and it has a microprocessor inside that tries to match the grids power. and then the processor drives the circuit to output an appropriate ac power.
But because they are not turbines they cannot be used to stabilize the grid itself. So called turbine inertia exists because a turbine keeps spinning even when power is lost, is great because it can react to sudden voltage drops. It can basically react to these drops within milliseconds and provide power to the network when there is a sudden lack of produced power.
This is all new interesting challenges for the system and solar power becomes more relevant it becomes a bigger consideration.
And there is a solution to address this: just add turbines again! But not as producers but as rotating grid stabilizers built from existing old power plant turbines and attaching them to flywheels for example.
Super high important datacenters sometimes also use flywheels as their temporary power backup solution to keep power as smooth as possible during outages to give time for a backup battery system and or generators to kick in without causing any disturbance.
Anyway infodump over :3
the DC it generates is not super easy to inject into an AC power grid. big power grids are built all on the assumption of having a spinning turbine somewhere that does the AC alternation. And the frequency has to be kept stable otherwise the equipment breaks or at least blows safeties off and causes a blackout at least. You do not need to worry about all of that if you charge a DC battery.
So injecting solar DC power into the old power grid system requires an inverter to be used and it has a microprocessor inside that tries to match the grids power. and then the processor drives the circuit to output an appropriate ac power.
But because they are not turbines they cannot be used to stabilize the grid itself. So called turbine inertia exists because a turbine keeps spinning even when power is lost, is great because it can react to sudden voltage drops. It can basically react to these drops within milliseconds and provide power to the network when there is a sudden lack of produced power.
This is all new interesting challenges for the system and solar power becomes more relevant it becomes a bigger consideration.
And there is a solution to address this: just add turbines again! But not as producers but as rotating grid stabilizers built from existing old power plant turbines and attaching them to flywheels for example.
Super high important datacenters sometimes also use flywheels as their temporary power backup solution to keep power as smooth as possible during outages to give time for a backup battery system and or generators to kick in without causing any disturbance.
Anyway infodump over :3