Enjoying my last hot cuppa for several days
2019-Oct-09, Wednesday 11:50![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
texxgadgetThey have been warning us for several months about possible power cuts during high wind conditions.
The time has come.
Ive been telling everyone:
Top off all your gas tanks
Charge phones and laptops
Eat everything in your fridge
Stock up on spare batteries
Last night, I topped off my tank at Costco and it was a near riot there.
It appeared the entire security crew was out at the pumps trying to prevent fights.
Im reminded of the beginning mini series “Revolution”
The parents had lit candles and told the kids they could have all the ice c ream they wanted.
Ive been remembering that scene for 3 days.
This morning Napa & Sonoma Counties took the first power hits.
At noon (In an hour) the cuts will start marching south into the rest of the Bay Area.
Im resigned to the possibility that I will return home to a dark home.
Should the cuts get as far as the office, Ill jump in the car (missing traffic lights and all) and head for the
co-lo where are servers are located and work from there.
Rows and rows of 20 megawatt diesel gen sets can be your friend.
30 years of prioritizing stock dividends and executive bonuses over safety has burned several towns down.
1/3 of the Brush clearing to be done in 1029 has gotten done.
If they burn down another town, we will see PG&E shredded, never to be seen again.
After Santa Rosa burned, they were going to start cutting power on windy days, but only to lines 50 thousand volts and lower.
Lines with both 50 thousand would take out too many people.
Then Paradise burned.
The lines there were 150 thousand volts and it was the entire output of a power plant.
People screamed that they hadn’t shut down those lines.
So no EVERYTHING is on the table.
They are going to give the state of CA a taste of what happens when you shut down lines over 50kv,
and they are going to give us a taste of what happens if we don’t give them a bail out when they ask for it.
Nobody will be compensated for losses due to the power cut.
Work closures, clildcAre issues, food spoilage etc.
After the wind dies down Thursday night, lines have to be inspected and power plants need to be brought on line.
When steam plants completely shut down as will happen today, it takes a day to spin one up again.
Large power plants often cannot do a “cold start”
This means there has to be enough power in the grid to tap off of top get the plant up and running.
There are banks of 100hp blowers in the firebox of each boiler.
There are control systems, lubricating pumps, condensate pumps, filler pumps, mixers for the de-scaling agents in the water etc.
It takes a good part of a megawatt to bring one steam plant back online and even that has to be done in steps.
This is why the grid collapse on the east coast took 2 weeks to recover from.
Im savoring every cup of coffee Ive had this week, not knowing when my next “hot cuppa” will be.
If I make it to Renn Faire, I KNOW Ill get a hot cuppa there and Ill give “Bah” a big hug.
“Blessed is she who makes coffee.”
The bottom line is that some of this is genuine safety that wouldn’t be needed if they had spent the safety money on safety instead of bonuses,
and some of this is making sure they don’t burn another town down, and at least some of this is over reaction too inflict the maxim um pain on the citizens
So that they will be less likely to make demands that PG&E clean up their act.
“Remember 2019? Want us to do it again?”
The time has come.
Ive been telling everyone:
Top off all your gas tanks
Charge phones and laptops
Eat everything in your fridge
Stock up on spare batteries
Last night, I topped off my tank at Costco and it was a near riot there.
It appeared the entire security crew was out at the pumps trying to prevent fights.
Im reminded of the beginning mini series “Revolution”
The parents had lit candles and told the kids they could have all the ice c ream they wanted.
Ive been remembering that scene for 3 days.
This morning Napa & Sonoma Counties took the first power hits.
At noon (In an hour) the cuts will start marching south into the rest of the Bay Area.
Im resigned to the possibility that I will return home to a dark home.
Should the cuts get as far as the office, Ill jump in the car (missing traffic lights and all) and head for the
co-lo where are servers are located and work from there.
Rows and rows of 20 megawatt diesel gen sets can be your friend.
30 years of prioritizing stock dividends and executive bonuses over safety has burned several towns down.
1/3 of the Brush clearing to be done in 1029 has gotten done.
If they burn down another town, we will see PG&E shredded, never to be seen again.
After Santa Rosa burned, they were going to start cutting power on windy days, but only to lines 50 thousand volts and lower.
Lines with both 50 thousand would take out too many people.
Then Paradise burned.
The lines there were 150 thousand volts and it was the entire output of a power plant.
People screamed that they hadn’t shut down those lines.
So no EVERYTHING is on the table.
They are going to give the state of CA a taste of what happens when you shut down lines over 50kv,
and they are going to give us a taste of what happens if we don’t give them a bail out when they ask for it.
Nobody will be compensated for losses due to the power cut.
Work closures, clildcAre issues, food spoilage etc.
After the wind dies down Thursday night, lines have to be inspected and power plants need to be brought on line.
When steam plants completely shut down as will happen today, it takes a day to spin one up again.
Large power plants often cannot do a “cold start”
This means there has to be enough power in the grid to tap off of top get the plant up and running.
There are banks of 100hp blowers in the firebox of each boiler.
There are control systems, lubricating pumps, condensate pumps, filler pumps, mixers for the de-scaling agents in the water etc.
It takes a good part of a megawatt to bring one steam plant back online and even that has to be done in steps.
This is why the grid collapse on the east coast took 2 weeks to recover from.
Im savoring every cup of coffee Ive had this week, not knowing when my next “hot cuppa” will be.
If I make it to Renn Faire, I KNOW Ill get a hot cuppa there and Ill give “Bah” a big hug.
“Blessed is she who makes coffee.”
The bottom line is that some of this is genuine safety that wouldn’t be needed if they had spent the safety money on safety instead of bonuses,
and some of this is making sure they don’t burn another town down, and at least some of this is over reaction too inflict the maxim um pain on the citizens
So that they will be less likely to make demands that PG&E clean up their act.
“Remember 2019? Want us to do it again?”
no subject
Date: 2019-10-10 04:22 (UTC)More folks will be even madder at them, and start clamoring for de-privatization. They are supposed to be responsible to us, but as a private corp, they answer only to shareholders, and feel entitled to fuck all of us over *again*. Some of us old farts remember the 2000 blackouts, as well as the San Bruno gas disaster.
It's a pattern, and it must stop.