Project: Wacky Watts
Client: Wacky Watts
Link: https://wackywatts.com/
Date: 2019
Wacky Watts
Did you know that every time you turn on a lamp or a TV, an additional power plant has to switch on, or the one that is already operating has to increase its output to match your demand? Guess what happens when you turn that TV off. The power plants need to reduce how much electricity they produce because we can’t yet store AC (alternating current) cost-effectively using batteries and other technologies. (By the way this is all changing as you read this, thanks to people like South Africa’s Elon Musk and companies like Tesla). Why is this important you might ask? The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) requires that the Independent System Operators (ISO), Balancing Authorities (BA) and Regional Transmission Operators (RTO) operate the U.S. electrical grids safely, efficiently and reliably. That means keeping the electricity on with something like a 99.9% availability rate! The ISOs and RTOs have to be able to determine how much power is needed every five minutes or so and where it will be needed, not just for today but tomorrow as well. Also, these grid operators must plan for the annual system peak power requirements (the U.S. still uses more electricity during the summer months), which means the experts must really forecast for the next few years. They forecast for about sixty-nine power areas across the U.S. and have to schedule the thousands of generating plants to meet our electricity needs. So, the next time you meet a power plant or grid operator, give him or her a hug!