Summary of Gretchen Bakke's The Grid

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The first day of Grid Week is in Washington, D. C. The keynote address is given by Stephen Chu, a Nobel Prize–winning physicist and also for a time the U. S. secretary of energy. He tells the executives and engineers about the importance of integrating more renewable power generation.

#2 When there is too much solar, it can cause a blackout. When there is not enough wind, it can cause a blackout. America’s backup power plants are the oldest and dirtiest in the fleet.

#3 The power plants forced to take up the slack when renewables fall still are matched in age with the people in charge of running them. The culture of electricity making has to be transformed.

#4 Electricity is not like water that flows from one place to another. It doesn’t flow downhill, it doesn’t take the shortest path, and it won’t follow one route at the expense of another.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jun 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822532625

IRB Media

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Insights on Gretchen Bakke's The Grid

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The first day of Grid Week is in Washington, D. C. The keynote address is given by Stephen Chu, a Nobel Prize–winning physicist and also for a time the U. S. secretary of energy. He tells the executives and engineers about the importance of integrating more renewable power generation.

#2

When there is too much solar, it can cause a blackout. When there is not enough wind, it can cause a blackout. America’s backup power plants are the oldest and dirtiest in the fleet.

#3

The power plants forced to take up the slack when renewables fall still are matched in age with the people in charge of running them. The culture of electricity making has to be transformed.

#4

Electricity is not like water that flows from one place to another. It doesn’t flow downhill, it doesn’t take the shortest path, and it won’t follow one route at the expense of another.

#5

The electric grid is a just-in-time system that makes and delivers a standardized electrical current everywhere at once. It is a complex system that is kept in balance by enough electricity available to run our machines, but not so much that it rips through and destroys them.

#6

Power plants that generate electricity out of unpredictable fuel sources like the wind, sun, or waves are a problem. They take too long to turn up or down, and when that happens, the controller has no choice but to call for help.

#7

The grid is big, and this is why it is difficult to store electricity. It is difficult to dispose of surplus electricity when it is produced in excess, because it is difficult to store it.

#8

The relationship between renewable energy and our electric grid is also true. When there is too much power on the wires, they overload, or circuits break to protect them, and in so doing they close, rather than open, available paths for excess power to take.

#9

The only option to keep the dams from spilling is to let them operate at close to their maximum capacity. This means that the only thing keeping the fish from drowning is the