Meredith Angwin
As a working chemist, Meredith Angwin headed projects that lowered pollution and increased reliability on the electric grid. Her work included pollution control for nitrogen oxides in gas-fired combustion turbines and corrosion control in geothermal and nuclear systems.
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Shorting The Grid
by Meredith Angwin
Shorting the Grid, The Hidden Fragility of Our Electric Grid is an exposé of the insider-ruled practices of the “deregulated” areas of the United States electric grid. The grid in these areas is managed by a regional transmission organization (RTO). Within these organizations, no group is responsible or accountable for grid reliability. The RTO areas have higher retail electricity prices, no way for ordinary citizens to influence decisions, and a more fragile grid. Using the rules and history of the New England grid as an example, the book shows how RTO areas are moving steadily to a future of “rolling blackouts” where the grid operator deliberately cuts power to one section of the grid after another.
Electricity is the Mother Network
In his endorsement of Shorting the Grid, Robert Bryce wrote that “all of those networks (that we depend upon) rely on the mother network: the electric grid.” Indeed, we depend on it. And we need to manage it in a manner that leads to reliability. Five minute auctions, requirements for fuel neutrality, duplicative and contentious “capacity auctions”—-these do not promote grid reliability.
Reliable Electricity in Winter? FERC, Are You Listening?
Winter Weather As I wrote in Shorting the Grid, the quest for reliable electricity in the winter in New England is far more difficult than it needs to be. The root of the problem is the FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) rules for areas like New England. This...
Guest Post: John McClaughry Review of Shorting the Grid by
Shorting is Published! Shorting the Grid: The Hidden Fragility of Our Electric Grid is published and available. Shorting was published on October 19. I definitely need to do a catch-up post with some links to podcasts and so forth. I have been on some great podcasts...
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