Power to the People

[kevin_standlee]

This morning while looking for something else, I stumbled upon a fascinating interactive map of the US electricity grid including power plants by type and size. Now I know more about the power plant I pass on I-80 on the way to Fernley, among other things. And that Fernley must be almost right underneath one of the highest-voltage (1000 kV DC!) transmission lines in the country, presumably being used to wheel power from the Pacific Northwest to Southern California.

Comments

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

That interactive map is fantastic! Thanks for pointing it out.

[jeff-morris.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you've got an iPhone or iPad, but in the event you do UP's got a new app available for the steam engines--schedules, routes, information, photos. Thought you might be interested.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Don't tell Homeland Security about this map - they'll take it away.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

My thought exactly.

[rono-60103.livejournal.com]

It didn't take much playing to figure out why the lights went out on September 8.

There is a single connection that runs from central Arizona to San Diego county. I have to presume that this was the one that someone in Yuma accidentally cut. While not apparent by the map, the reports are that San Onofre sits on top of the other main link - the one connecting Orange County to San Diego county - so when it scrammed in response to the power drop, it also took out that link.

Of course for me, sitting at the hotel where I was about to chair a con, seeing the lights go out, and hearing that they were out all over the country, gave me something more to worry about than why a major metropolitan area only has two connections to the rest of the power grid - and why one of those passes through a single power plant - and a nuclear one at that. Clearly our few local stations don't have enough umph to keep the county lit.

[travelswithkuma.livejournal.com]

Nots says weres thes fishes is.

[scott-sanford.livejournal.com]

Silly bear, the fishes are in the rivers! Not necessarily in the hydroelectric plants, though, unless they've been careless fishes.

[petrea-mitchell.livejournal.com]

Now I'm really curious what kind of fuels fall under "Other".