Re: Grand Apagon - Electricity (not) in Spain

On 2025-04-30 11:59, Liz Tuddenham wrote:

Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> wrote:
 

... pumped hydro storage has the spinning
turbines, but grid scale batteries have invereters, which can reacta lot
faster than any spinning turbine,

 I thought the stabilising effect of a spinning turbine was because it
*didn't* react quickly.
 The grid frequency begins to fall so energy from the moving parts is
converted to electrical power which is fed into the grid to increase.
the frequency.  This results in a loss of stored mechanical energy which
causes the turbine to begin slowing down - which is detected by the
control system and used to feed more water/gas/steam into the turbine so
its speed is returned to normal.

I understand that the turbine doesn't actually slow down, because the generator starts working as a synchronous motor drawing energy from the network instead; this is detected by the control system and feeds more water/gas/steam, etc.
As long as the network keeps the frequency.

 The interface between the stored mechanical energy and the electrical
energy demand has an almost instant response and is inherently stable
without needing elaborate control algorithms.
 

--
Cheers, Carlos.