HOW A BLACKOUT CAN OCCUR

1.0 TITLE : Describe in detail and by deriving the necessary equation, the operation of
a generator connected to a grid in terms of its terminal voltage and
frequency. Using these facts and a simple discussion, describe how a
blackout can occur.

2.0 INTRODUCTION :

A Grid system is essentially an infrastructure that allows location independent access to the
resources and services that are provided by geographically distributed machines and networks. One
of the fundamental operations needed to support location-independent computing is resource
discovery. Generally, resource discovery schemes maintain and query a resource status database.
Dissemination of the resource status information is one of the key operations required to keep the
resource status databases consistent.

The deployment of faster networking infrastructures and the availability of powerful

microprocessors have positioned network computing as a cost-effective alternative to the traditional
computing approaches. The Grid is defined as a generalized, large-scale network computing system
that is formed by aggregating the services provided several distributed resources. A Grid can
potentially provide pervasive, dependable, consistent, and cost-effective access to the diverse
services provided by the distributed resources and support problem solving environments that may
be constructed using such resources. One of the key motivations for constructing Grids is to provide
application-level connectivity among the various machines so that resources and services supported
by the individual systems can be shared in a Global fashion. To enable such sharing, it is necessary
for the Grid architecture to support several services and resource discovery is one of them.

In a Grid system, the resource discovery service may operate in conjunction with the
resource management service. When a client requests service, along with the request it presents a
set of attributes that should be satisfied by a candidate resource. The resource discovery process
may be responsible for generating a set of best possible candidates for the given set of attributes.
The scheduling heuristics that are part of the resource management mechanism may allocate the
best resource(s) from the set based on the some criterion. For example, the resource management
may solicit bids from the potential candidates and select the resource with the highest bid to serve
the request. Along with other services, resource discovery is necessary to support resources going
off-line and coming on-line. Further, the cascaded operation of resource discovery followed by
resource allocation can be efficient in an heterogeneous dynamic system such as the Grid.

3.0 GRID CONNECTION

The electrical grid (also known as the electrical power network) in the grandest sense consists of
three distinct operations:
3.1. Electricity generation
3.2. Electric power transmission
3.3. Electricity distribution

Generating plants are usually located near a source of water, and away from heavily populated
areas. The electric power which is generated is stepped up to a higher voltage at which it connects
to the transmission network. The transmission network will move the power long distances often
across state lines, and sometimes across international boundaries until it reaches its wholesale
customer. Upon arrival at the substation, the power will be stepped down in voltage from a
transmission level voltage to a distribution level voltage. As it exits the substation, it enters the
distribution wiring. Finally, upon arrival at the service location, the power is stepped down again
from the distribution voltage to the required service voltage.

4.0 THE OPERATION OF A GENERATOR CONNECTED TO A GRID

(In terms of its terminal voltage and frequency)

The electrical grid provide maximum reliability and operating flexibility. These networks are
te most economical and effective method in serving the high density loads in metropolitan cities.
The grid is simultaneously supplied from several feeders. In the grid network, no consumer outage
is caused by switching off the primary feeder for scheduled maintenance.

Voltage regulation is improved since power flow to the consumer is through several
transformers operating in parallel. The grid can handle abrupt load change and disturbances
associated with large motor starting, without severe voltage dips or surge. A strong grid network is
sufficiently stiff and a fault in one unit does not disrupt voltage outside the sensitive load tolerance
limits.

Regardless of where power plants are located, their power must be brought from the plant to
the users, and that's the purpose of the electricity grid. The grid consists of two infrastructures: the
high-voltage transmission systems, which carry electricity from the power plants and transmit it
hundreds of miles away, and the lower-voltage distribution systems, which draw electricity from the
transmission lines and distribute it to individual customers.

High voltage is used for transmission lines to minimize electrical losses; however, high
voltage is impractical for distribution lines. The interface between the two is the electrical
substation, which features transformers that "step down" the transmission voltages—ranging from
138 kV to 765 kV—to lower voltages for the distribution systems. Transformers located along the
distribution lines further step down the voltage to 120 V or 240 V for household use.

Substations also include electrical switchgear and circuit breakers to protect the transformers
and the transmission system from electrical failures on the distribution lines. Circuit breakers are
also located along the distribution lines to locally isolate electrical problems (such as short circuits
caused by downed power lines).

A node in the Grid has several attributes that can be categorized as rate-based attributes and
non rate-based attributes. Examples of rate-based attributes include CPU speed, FLOP rating,
sustained memory access rate, and sustained disk access rate. A node in a Grid can be characterized
by a vector where each element of the vector is an attribute-value pair.

The Grid potential is based on the computing power or operating rate of a node. Therefore, to
characterize a node for deriving the Grid potential only rate-based
attributes are considered.
Let X = á x0 = a0 , x1 = a1,... xN -1 = a N-1ñ ,
where xi = rate-based attribute of the system
ai = its value at a given time.

Let F be a set of functions { f0, f1,K, fk-1} , where fi operates on the set X to return a scalar value
li = fi (x0, x1,... xN -1) .
Depending on the system, different functions may be defined for it. The functions essentially form
weighted sums of the attributes that can be interpreted as different types of potentials.
For example, the function lc = fc (x0 , x1,... xN-1) may be interpreted as the compute potential of the
system and another function ls = fs (x0 , x1,... xN-1) may be interpreted as the secondary storage
potential. While the compute potential fc may be based on attributes that relate to the processing
rate of the node the storage potential fs may be based on attributes that relate to the performance of
the storage subsystem. Further, we could have functions that compute application specific potentials
that could be useful if the Grid is used exclusively for particular sets of applications.

5.0 HOW A BLACKOUT CAN OCCUR

The term "blackout" can bring to mind several different images, depending upon your past
experiences. For sometime it can be mean of the lights going out for a short period of time during a
thunderstorm. A blackout is a complete interruption of power in a given service area. Blackout is
where power is lost completely. "Load shedding" or a rolling blackout is a common term for a
controlled way of rotating available generation capacity between various districts or customers, thus
avoiding wide area total blackouts.Rolling blackouts are controlled and usually preplanned
interruptions of service. A brownout is a partial, temporary reduction in system voltage or total
system capacity.

Blackouts come without warning, last for indeterminate periods, and are typically caused by
catastrophic equipment failure or severe weather. The nature and cause of the blackout determines
who is affected. Blackouts occur for a number of reasons. Although most are associated with
weather, the impact can be wide ranging. Weather can blow down a single distribution feeder
affecting a small region, or an ice storm can take out a major portion of a transmission grid affecting
millions of people for days.

6.0 CONCLUSIONS

The grid always comes from a diversity of power sources, which may include coal, nuclear,
natural gas, oil, and renewable energy sources such as hydropower, biomass, wind, and solar power.
This is often referred to as "system power" because it is the standard power mixture that supplies
the transmission system. There are financial and contractual means of tying an individual generating
source, such as a wind farm, with an individual user in a meaningful way, but it is still true that the
electricity one draws from the grid is always system power.

7.0 REFERENCES :

1. Electric Power Distribution, A. S. Pabla, McGraw-Hill Professional Engineering, 2004.

2. System Of Electrical Supply And Distribution, C Duncan,E G Stocks, Stam Press Ltd, 1990.
3. Direct Current Transmission, Edward Wilson Kimbark, Wiley-Interscience, 1971.
4. Guide To Electrical Power Distribution Systems, Anthony J. Pansini, Prentice Hall, 1992
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_power_transmission
6. http://www.cs.umanitoba.ca/~anrl/PUBS/grid2000_gp.pdf