General Bulk Electric System Dispatcher Here, AMA

Welcome to our Community
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Feel free to Sign Up today.
Sign up

rmenergy

Posting Machine
Mar 27, 2021
857
1,158
Hey fellas, just finished up my last scheduled pair of outages for this shift. Hopefully it's slow enough to answer any additional questions anyone may have.
 

Qat

QoQ
Nov 3, 2015
16,385
22,624
Lol. Think that's up for debate. I can't post any photos but will say that I have 6 monitors(largest is about 55-60"), as well as two video walls
Are you alone in a small room, or with many people in a bigger one?

How many important decisions do you make each day, and what are those?

Are decisions clear cut most of the time or more like 50/50?

If you'd sleep for your shift, what are the chances for catastrophic outcome?
 

rmenergy

Posting Machine
Mar 27, 2021
857
1,158
1) Room is 3000ish sq' with 3-4 dispatchers. Engineers & IT come & go as requested.

2)Depends on the shift & level of importance interpreted. Electrical switching (Generator terminal voltage up to 230kV), dives, rescue/retrievals from waterways, load shed, water flow & power scheduling. I could really go on.

3) Any BES operating order is required to have 3-way communication.

4) No sleep is allowed. There are slow shifts where minimal intervention from preschedule is required. There are other shifts where you're attempting to hold the system together.
 

Enock-O-Lypse Now!

Underneath Denver International Airport
Jun 19, 2016
11,743
19,624
Over/Under for chance of a cyber attack that cripples the electrical grid?

Best home generator you'd recommend?

Who's your favorite MMA Fighter?
 

rmenergy

Posting Machine
Mar 27, 2021
857
1,158
Over/Under for chance of a cyber attack that cripples the electrical grid?

Best home generator you'd recommend?

Who's your favorite MMA Fighter?
1) CIP (Critical Infrastructure Protection) is pretty big right now. Completely cripple? <1% chance. Create some regional havoc? I'm going to say maybe.

2) Cummins, Onin(spelling?), Generac, CAT. All good units.

3) Hideo Tokoro. He's not "the best" but I always enjoyed his fights win, lose or draw the guy puts it out there. Chuck would be second because I used to work out at The Pit WAY back in the day. To be more precise, The Pit North for about 95% of the workouts with Luke & his wife.
 

rmenergy

Posting Machine
Mar 27, 2021
857
1,158
Splinty, that is the BA role that I was speaking of several pages back.

The time Hz error is the last component of the ACE formula
ACE=(NIA-NIS)-10B(FA-FS)-IME

NIA= Net Interchange Actual
NIS= " " Scheduled
B= Frequency Bias of control area
FA=Frequency Actual
FS=Frequency Scheduled
IME=Interchange Metering Error

In short, ERCOT was so generation deficient that clocks plugged into the AC socket in you're home would lose time do to low frequency
 

rmenergy

Posting Machine
Mar 27, 2021
857
1,158
To expand(after I further read the entire thing).
This is someone's opinion, probably an engineer who was impacted or following closely via media. Their conclusion is a bit premature IMO. I'm not familiar with the grid in ERCOT's area so I'm deciding to withhold my opinion until NERC completes an investigation & releases its findings. What comes from that report will be the most accurate recording of the entire scenario.
 
M

member 3289

Guest
Most damaging animal to power grids?

Worst tree to plant near power lines?
 

rmenergy

Posting Machine
Mar 27, 2021
857
1,158
1) Any large bird. They can spread their wings & create a phase to phase short.
2) All trees need to be trimmed to their proper distance depending on voltage of the lines. I'm not all that familiar with different trees, just used to processing the work for vegetation management requirements.
 

Qat

QoQ
Nov 3, 2015
16,385
22,624
There have been news about nuclear fusion these days, do you follow things like that and what is your opinion about it?
 

rmenergy

Posting Machine
Mar 27, 2021
857
1,158
There have been news about nuclear fusion these days, do you follow things like that and what is your opinion about it?
I’m not up to date on new nuclear technologies. With the old reactors(through gen3) they are limited in that they don’t provide AGC. They’re an extremely reliable & clean base load source though. I have heard that newer reactors can offer some AGC regulation but not near the ramp rates of natural gas, coal & hydro units.

We really fucked ourselves when outlawing nuclear recycling in this country.
 

Qat

QoQ
Nov 3, 2015
16,385
22,624
I’m not up to date on new nuclear technologies. With the old reactors(through gen3) they are limited in that they don’t provide AGC. They’re an extremely reliable & clean base load source though. I have heard that newer reactors can offer some AGC regulation but not near the ramp rates of natural gas, coal & hydro units.

We really fucked ourselves when outlawing nuclear recycling in this country.
What is AGC?
 

rmenergy

Posting Machine
Mar 27, 2021
857
1,158
Automatic Generation Control.

The BA can control an AGC unit remotely via a sophisticated program that will ramp the units up/down, within their ramp limits as well as market bid limits, to regulate the load/generation balance & control frequency.

There’s more to it than that but I’m on my phone & that’s the jist of it
 

ThatOneDude

Commander in @Chief, Dick Army
First 100
Jan 14, 2015
35,390
34,272
Automatic Generation Control.

The BA can control an AGC unit remotely via a sophisticated program that will ramp the units up/down, within their ramp limits as well as market bid limits, to regulate the load/generation balance & control frequency.

There’s more to it than that but I’m on my phone & that’s the jist of it
Very interesting.
 

rmenergy

Posting Machine
Mar 27, 2021
857
1,158
Well I got called out late last night to cover day shift today. Also have to cover power desk duties (I'm a senior/shift supervisor) since that dispatcher called off as well. That's 78hrs in the last 7 days working both day & night shifts. Had to cancel plans with the family today so wife isn't too happy right now either. So if any of you fucks have questions or topics you would like to discuss, let me know as I'm stuck at this desk until this evening.


View: https://youtu.be/iPM1ifkOQ9s