PHL1365 t1_itnt03m wrote on October 25, 2022 at 12:28 AM

Reply to comment by 685327594 in eli5: how long would power stay on if the power company abandoned their post? by larsattacks94

I can see where modern plants would have some type of "dead-man switch" or "heartbeat" safety system where it would shut itself down if there were no human responses to periodic prompts.

685327594 t1_itnttg7 wrote on October 25, 2022 at 12:34 AM

There's no "dead man's switch". The issue is simply the ephemeral nature of electricity. For the grid to work everything has to remain in perfect balance. It really doesn't take long for it to drift of course without a guiding hand.

Ishidan01 t1_itos37p wrote on October 25, 2022 at 5:15 AM

>For the grid to work everything has to remain in perfect balance.

As all things should be.

/you may now discuss the effects of only 50 percent, instead of all, of the operators and technicians disappearing without warning

PHL1365 t1_itnw0pm wrote on October 25, 2022 at 12:49 AM

Well, in theory, that balance could be achieved through software/automation. But it would not be considered reliable enough to run without some level of human oversight. Kind of like Tesla's self-driving mode.

usmcmech t1_itnz3z6 wrote on October 25, 2022 at 1:11 AM

In theory yes it could.

However in reality it means phone calls from the grid managers to individual power plant control rooms.

“Hey we need you to take 500MW offline in 30 minutes”

Snoo57672 t1_itogq1k wrote on October 25, 2022 at 3:24 AM

Yep. Happens every morning. Then they call me that night and ask for it right back. We wouldn't even make a shift change before the grid shit