[HN Gopher] Weather intelligence and cutting-edge tech is boosti...
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       Weather intelligence and cutting-edge tech is boosting grid
       capacity by 30%
        
       Author : toomuchtodo
       Score  : 51 points
       Date   : 2024-01-13 19:56 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (electrek.co)
 (TXT) w3m dump (electrek.co)
        
       | jvdvegt wrote:
       | This submission seems a dupe of
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38983687
        
         | bostonpete wrote:
         | How so? The submission you linked is a different article?
        
         | toomuchtodo wrote:
         | My post is the source per HN guidelines vs reblog.
         | 
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
       | lyu07282 wrote:
       | Can someone elaborate on how this works? Is that like optimizing
       | power delivery based on the fact that power lines will have
       | different power losses based on weather/temperature/humidity?
        
         | conjecTech wrote:
         | There is a good Volts[1] episode[2] on it. TL;DR the thing that
         | limits how much power a line can carry is heat dissipation,
         | which depends on weather. We used simple heuristic models to
         | back out what we considered safe operating currents
         | historically, but if you use sensors to enable a more data-
         | intensive approach, you can operate closer to full capacity.
         | 
         | [1] https://www.volts.wtf/
         | 
         | [2] https://open.spotify.com/episode/4sqNcVcXdLF3QFDR6f5Vgd
        
           | tuatoru wrote:
           | So an alternative title is " ... is reducing safety margins
           | by 50%".
           | 
           | (Sensors sense what they are designed to sense, not other
           | things, and sometimes lose calibration.)
        
             | toomuchtodo wrote:
             | Operating with unnecessary margin is wasteful and does not
             | necessarily increase safety.
        
               | gtvwill wrote:
               | Said no ohs advisor ever.
               | 
               | Engineering in buffer for safety is one of the most
               | common practices.
               | 
               | I mean hey if you wanna roll the dice standing up next to
               | some high pressure hydraulic gear on machinery that's
               | running a few psi away from failure because it's super
               | efficient be my guest.
               | 
               | But I'm not gonna enjoy the one day in 10000 when
               | something goes a Lil awry and you get cut in half because
               | old mate ordered hoses without steel sheathing because
               | the unsheathed ones were rated for the same pressure but
               | were cheaper and more cost efficient.
               | 
               | That's some 1950s old world business ideology there.
               | 
               | Also another example. All lifting straps for cranes and
               | lifting hardware is generally capable of 3x to 4x its
               | safe working load. Buffers are everywhere and they save
               | lives.
        
               | AnthonyMouse wrote:
               | Accuracy and safety margins are two different things.
               | 
               | Suppose you have to spec the capacity of a line
               | regardless of what temperature it is, because you're not
               | going to measure it in realtime at all. You estimate the
               | highest temperature will be 105 degrees F, add e.g. a 20%
               | safety margin, and call that the capacity of the line.
               | 
               | That means when it's 40 degrees F, you could be operating
               | with a 200% safety margin, which is unnecessarily
               | conservative and wasteful. Conversely, because you're not
               | measuring the temperature at all, your high temperature
               | estimate could be wrong and there could be a day that
               | it's 115 degrees F, your safety margin is completely gone
               | and the line burns out, because you weren't monitoring
               | the temperature. Whereas if you were, you'd lower the
               | capacity of the line that day and not have problems.
        
             | xnzakg wrote:
             | > So an alternative title is " ... is reducing safety
             | margins by 50%".
             | 
             | Not necessarily. The _actual_ current limit depends on the
             | climate conditions, and with static line rating the safety
             | margin actually varies. So while dynamic line rating might
             | reduce the safety margins when the conditions allow running
             | more current, it can also increase the safety margin in
             | case of a particularly hot summer.
        
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       (page generated 2024-01-13 23:01 UTC)