Power Plants

The truth is …. 60 Hz Alternating Current Kind of Sucks

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The truth is …. 60 Hz Alternating Current Kind of Sucks

Power Lines

In North America, 60 Hz is the standard of alternating current. It was a rather nasty compromise between frequencies, chosen as a “sweet spot” between:

  1. Line losses due to high-frequency currents – The higher the frequency of AC the greater loses due to impedance caused by the voltage and current becoming out of sync due to the induction created by the line (time it takes for the magnetic field to appear and collapse on the wire). It’s not practical to send 400 Hz over any length of wire due to losses.
  2. Size of the transformer needed to step and step down voltage – The higher the frequency of AC, the smaller the transformer needs to be. The magnetic energy in alternating current “exists” in the alternating voltage, so if the voltage is alternating faster, a small transformer can move more power.  Smaller transformers use less copper, they’re cheaper to build, and they’re generally more efficient.
  3. The ability to power light bulbs with minimal smoothing. Incandescent bulbs can be powered directly from 60 Hz alternating current, as it takes more then 1/60th of a second for an incandescent bulb to cool down enough to notice the crossing of zero point. Additionally, with 60 Hz power, a relatively small capacitor can be used to smooth out rectified power to drive an LED light, for fixtures that use a large number of LEDs in series.
  4. The ability to power low-power AC motors. 60 Hz alternating current can and does drive many AC motors, but it does require relatively large motors compared to motors operating at 400 Hz. Not only do 60 Hz alternating current motors require much larger coils then 400 Hz motors, they are less efficient.

Airplanes traditionally use to 400 Hz power, as it saves quite a bit on weight for their electrical motors and transformers. Likewise, traditional automotive alternators generate power in the 400 Hz range, before going through a bridge rectifier and a series of capacitors to smooth out the voltage to direct current. But transferring 400 Hz power, or for that matter boosting and bucking high-current DC can be difficult and prone to electronic failure compared to traditional mains frequency transformers.

But increasingly, we are seeing more uses of high frequency alternating current and direct current, especially in consumer devices. Most modern electronics are powered by switch-mode power supplies, which use high-frequency transformers (as high as 1,000,000 Hz) to safely step down voltage in an isolated fashion. More motors today are driven using inverters, which similarly create a higher-frequency current to provide more power with loss copper and less losses. Controlling the frequency of the current, allows motors to be precisely controlled in their speed, it’s more efficient and accurate then simply chopping off part of the sine wave using thyristor as was done in the olden days to control motor speed.

History of NEW YORK STATE ELECTRIC AND GAS CORPORATION – FundingUniverse

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History of NEW YORK STATE ELECTRIC AND GAS CORPORATION – FundingUniverse

New York State Electric and Gas Corporation (NYSEG) serves central, eastern, and western New York State, an area which, though mostly rural, includes the cities of Binghamton, Elmira, Corning, and Ithaca. Its territory includes one-third of the state's land area and a tenth of its population. With more than 775,000 electric customers and almost 220,000 gas customers, NYSEG serves a diversified population of industry, agriculture, recreational facilities, and colleges and universities.

NYSEG traces its history back to October 28, 1852, when six Ithaca businessmen pledged a total of $75,000 and incorporated as the Ithaca Gas Light Company. The fledgling company soon laid mains and built a coal gas plant. In 1853 Ithaca's streets saw their first lamps.

In the thirty years following the founding of Ithaca Gas Light, the use of methane gas grew steadily. Street lighting was extended beyond affluent business districts, while homeowners and businesses obtained lights for evening hours.

New York’s last coal-burning power plant closes on Lake Ontario shore – The Buffalo News

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New York’s last coal-burning power plant closes on Lake Ontario shore – The Buffalo News

This always was an odd plant is how it was connected to NYSEG' grid. Essentially the output of the plant was connected to NYPA's Niagara - Edic line. The electricity was transfered to the Pennsylvania grid which in turn back feed it to the massive coal fired plant in Homer City outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania which in turn has a 345 kV line that runs from Homer City Pennsylvania to Elmira which powers a lot of the NYSEG electric grid.

But all and all, it's actually a pretty modern coal plant with good scrubbers but uneconomic to operate with the low cost of natural gas and the high cost of the fees associated with moving the energy such a crazy way.

New York Power Authority isolates critical employees on-site

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New York Power Authority isolates critical employees on-site

The New York Power Authority is moving to isolate 85 critical employees at power plant and control room sites across the state to ensure the lights stay on, CEO Gil Quiniones told POLITICO.

The NYPA employees have been tested for the coronavirus and are all expected to be isolated, if they come back negative, by Saturday. The unprecedented step amid the growing health crisis in New York City and across the country reflects NYPA’s importance to the state’s electric system.

The $2.5 Trillion Reason We Can’t Rely on Batteries to Clean up the Grid

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The $2.5 Trillion Reason We Can’t Rely on Batteries to Clean up the Grid

Fluctuating solar and wind power require lots of energy storage, and lithium-ion batteries seem like the obvious choice—but they are far too expensive to play a major role.

It's a problem of magnitude -- not so much an issue of actually storing electricity. Electricity is the difference in atomic potential, it doesn't like to be stored, and while we can store it in small quantities, the amount generated to light whole cities up is a challenge.