http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/Score-one-for-small-scale-distributed-power-tp518737p518751.html
absorbing fluctuations in wind power on the big island of Hawai'i.
> One advantage of the current approach is that if some component goes
> down
> the grid is still there (usually!) and end users may never even know
> there
> was a problem. Does this scale down? If Truchas' turbine stripped its
> gears could the one at Trampas provide backup?
>
> Frank
> ---
> Frank C. Wimberly 505 995-8715 or 505
> 670-9918 (mobile)
> 140 Calle Ojo Feliz
>
[hidden email]
> or
[hidden email]
> Santa Fe, NM 87505
>
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/wimberly>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Carl Tollander
> To:
[hidden email] ; The Friday Morning Complexity Coffee Group
> Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2003 7:11 PM
> Subject: RE: [FRIAM] Score one for small-scale distributed power
>
>
> "due to natural causes"
> Once again, the invisible hand presents us with an invisible finger.
>
> I would think that small-scale power (neighborhood microturbines or
> constellations thereof) might damp out the effects of the large scale
> failures (and associated grime-waves), not get rid of them entirely.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
[hidden email] [mailto:
[hidden email]]On
> Behalf Of Belinda Wong-Swanson
> Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2003 4:20 PM
> To:
[hidden email];
[hidden email]
> Subject: [FRIAM] Score one for small-scale distributed power
>
>
> Power Outages Hit
> New York, Other Cities
>
> NEW YORK -- A massive power blackout hit U.S. and Canadian cities
> Thursday,
> closing nuclear power plants in Ohio and New York state, driving
> workers in
> New York City and Toronto into the streets, and shutting subways in
> blistering heat. The blackout apparently was due to natural causes and
> there
> was no sign of terrorism, officials in New York and Washington said.
>
> New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it was likely the blackout
> started in the Niagara Falls area and quickly spread.
>
>
> Reporting by Stacy Forster and Carl Bialik of The Wall Street Journal
> Online, with contributions from the Associated Press and Dow Jones
> Newswires.
>
>
>
> "It was probably a natural occurrence which disrupted the power system
> up
> there and apparently for reasons we don't know it cascaded down
> through New
> York state over into Connecticut, as far south as New Jersey and as
> far west
> as Ohio," he said.
>
> A senior law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity,
> said
> the Federal Bureau of Investigation had determined the blackout was a
> "natural occurrence" and there was no evidence of terrorism, and that
> the
> Homeland Security Department agreed.
>
> Power was slowly returning to New York state by 6 p.m., about two hours
> after the outage, Mr. Bloomberg told reporters at City Hall. Still, he
> said
> it would be "hours, not minutes" before power was fully restored to
> New York
> City. In New York, the blackout affected subways, elevators and
> airports,
> including John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports.
>
> Many Workers Are Stranded
>
> Thousands of Manhattan workers were sent home early from work into the
> 90-degree heat, but many had no easy way of getting home.
>
> At the Canal Street subway station downtown, streams of people emerged
> covered in grime.
>
> Anthony Daliva, a computer technician from New Jersey who works
> downtown,
> was among them. He described being on the train when it stopped right
> past
> the station. After being trapped for about an hour in what he
> described as
> incredible heat -- and darkness except for emergency lights -- he and
> others
> climbed between the trains and up a ladder on the side of track toward
> the
> street light. His blue shirt and khaki pants were covered in dirt.
>
> Near Canal Street, Erika Pietsch, a TV producer who lives in Astoria,
> Queens, across the East River, said she had to evacuate her building.
> "I'm
> trying to figure out my plan of attack to get home," she said.
>
> Traffic lights were out. Mike Greenfield, a construction estimator, was
> stuck in traffic on Watts Street near the Holland Tunnel, where police
> were
> directing traffic. Mr. Greenfield was coming back from Queens headed
> west to
> Freehold, N.J., and says he is used to bad traffic. "It's like this
> everyday," he said.
>
> Ralph St. Pierre said he was on the subway in between stations when the
> power went out and the train stopped. He said he followed the
> conductor out
> of the tunnel. Later, people could be seen streaming out of subway
> stations.
>
> Several ice-cream stores in Manhattan said they wouldn't be giving away
> their goods, which are melting without power for refrigeration. "I
> don't
> want to give it out," said Steven Chan, proprietor of a Baskin Robbins
> in
> the Lower East Side neighborhood. "Otherwise, there would be a riot."
>
> In Toronto, Canada's largest city, workers also fled their buildings
> after
> the blackout hit shortly after 4 p.m. EDT. There also were widespread
> outages in Ottawa, the capital.
>
> Traffic lights were out throughout downtown Cleveland and other major
> cities, creating havoc at the beginning of rush hour.
>
> There were reports of outages in northern New Jersey and in several
> Vermont
> towns. In Connecticut, Metro-North Railroad service was knocked out.
> Lights
> flickered at state government buildings in Hartford.
>
> Every prison in New York state reported a loss of power and switched to
> backup generators, said James Flateau, a spokesman for the state
> Department
> of Corrections.
>
> In Albany, N.Y., several people were trapped in elevators in Empire
> State
> Plaza, but most had been freed by 5 p.m. People in New York City lined
> up 10
> deep or more at pay phones, with cellphone service disrupted in some
> areas.
>
> Mike Saltzman, a spokesman for New York Power Authority, a state-owned
> utility in White Plains, N.Y., said its two largest hydroelectric
> plants,
> including Niagara Falls and St. Lawrence-FDR, were operating. He said
> he did
> not know the status of 18 other smaller plants.
>
> "There is no evidence of any terrorism at this point," said Michael
> Sheehan,
> deputy commissioner for terrorism of New York City's Police Department.
> "We've talked to Washington and there are rumors, but none of them pans
> out."
>
> Top New York police officers gathered at the department's operations
> center
> downtown where the focus was on the ramifications of the blackout
> rather
> than its cause. "We're more concerned about getting the traffic lights
> running and making sure the city is okay than what caused it," a police
> spokesman said at the center.
>
> Nuclear Reactors Shut Down
>
> Four nuclear power reactors -- two in New York and two in Ohio --
> reported
> they were shut down because of the loss of off-site power, according
> to the
> Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Bethesda, Md. They were the two Indian
> Point reactors in New York state, and the Perry and Fermi nuclear power
> plants in Ohio.
>
> The North American Electric Reliability Council, an industry group
> responsible for monitoring the integrity of the system, said the power
> outages were "widespread and appear to be centered around Lake Erie,
> although they are affecting the entire eastern interconnection."
>
> "We do not know the cause at present but will continue to evaluate the
> situation," said Ellen Vancko, speaking for the council.
>
> Planes Are Grounded
>
> The Federal Aviation Administration instituted airport ground stops at
> Cleveland, Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark, N.J. That meant planes from
> other
> cities heading to those four airports could not take off. However, air
> traffic control facilities had backup power, and planes already in the
> air
> could land at those airports, said Laura Brown, speaking for the FAA.
>
> At the Homeland Security Department, spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said
> federal
> officials were still gathering information and had not determined a
> cause.
>
> The department "is working with state and local officials and the
> energy
> sector to determine the cause of the outage as well as what response
> measures may be needed to be taken," he said. He said everyone should
> "listen and heed the advice of the local authorities."
>
> Verizon Communications Inc., the largest local telephone company in the
> northeastern U.S., said its network is operating normally and has not
> been
> affected by a widespread power outage.
>
> Securities regulators were optimistic that U.S. markets would open as
> scheduled Friday. "There's no talk about not opening," said Annette
> Nazareth, Securities and Exchange Commission market regulation
> director.
> Power was in place through the close of trading Thursday and Mr.
> Nazareth
> said the Depository Trust Co. had cleared trades for the day before
> power
> failed.
>
> The blackouts rivaled those in the West on Aug. 11, 1996, when heat,
> sagging
> power lines and unusually high demand for electricity caused an outage
> that
> affected four million customers in nine states, one of the most severe
> outages in U.S. history.
>
> A blackout in New York City in 1977 left some nine million people
> without
> electricity for up to 25 hours.
>
> Updated August 14, 2003 6:08 p.m.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Belinda Wong-Swanson, Principal
> Innov8 LLC, 624 Agua Fria, Santa Fe, NM 87501
> www.innov8llc.com
> email:
[hidden email]
> tel: 505-660-7948
> fax: 505-474-4659
>
>
>
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> Meets Fridays 9AM @ Jane's Cafe
> Lecture schedule, archives, unsubscribe, etc.:
>
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