Once again the evidence that centralized power production is a colossal dinosaur is overwhelming. The intermittent nature of renewable energy which is manageable at a microgrid distributed level is highly problematic at the high voltage transmission level.
The North American Electric Reliability Corp. says in a report scheduled for release Monday that unless appropriate measures are taken to improve transmission of electricity, rules reducing carbon dioxide emissions by utilities could impair the reliability of the power grid. The corporation is the industry body authorized by the U.S. government to enforce reliability rules for the interlocking system of electrical power generation and transmission.
Such carbon-reduction rules are already in place in 27 American states and four Canadian provinces, and new ones could be mandated nationally in both countries. They may force changes in the utility industry, the group said, including the shutting down of coal plants that are located near load centers, and substituting power from wind turbines or solar plants in remote areas.
These actions would impose new demands on a transmission system that was never designed for large power transfers over extremely long distances.
So why persist on flogging a dead iron horse? With the privatization of electrical production, an essential service, profit and the subsequent need to control the market mandates a centralized model. Presently, fewer than ten multinational corporations control the world’s electricity. Decentralizing wrests control from these corporate giants and significantly reduces dependence upon them as a supplier of essential needs.
Not to sound too trite but decentralizing puts the power into the hands of the people, literally and figuratively and even metaphorically.
