Ep 196 | Meredith Angwin
Is the U.S. Electric Grid Stable? Policy, Renewables, and Who Is Responsible If The Grid Fails
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The Great Simplification
Description
For many people in the modern world, electricity powers everything we do. Yet we take for granted how power flows in the background, seemingly always accessible to us just by flipping a switch. In fact, most of us are completely unaware of what it takes to generate and transmit the power we so deeply rely on, let alone the policy decisions shaping our electrical grids – or how they might affect reliable access to power. How do today’s electrical grids actually work, and do they align with our long-term goals for human and planetary well-being?
In this episode, Nate is joined by Meredith Angwin for an in-depth overview of the U.S. electrical grid system, its history, and the need for accountability in energy governance. Meredith discusses the infrastructure of the grid, the complexities of grid management, and the implications of shifting to market-based systems. Additionally, she emphasizes the critical importance of resource adequacy and reliability – and the barriers to that in our current policy landscape.
How has the increased use of renewables and natural gas affected the broader dynamics of the grid? If the electrical grid were to fail, who is responsible for the problem, and who should fix it? Ultimately, what variables do we need to consider as we attempt to provide dependable electricity for everyone without jeopardizing the stability of the Earth?
About Meredith Angwin
Meredith Angwin studies and takes part in grid over-sight and governance. For four years, she served on the Coordinating Committee for the Consumer Liaison Group associated with ISO-NE, her local grid operator. She also teaches courses and workshops on the electric grid, and wrote a book titled, Shorting the Grid: The Hidden Fragility of our Electric Grid, analyzing the electrical grid from a physical science and policy perspective.
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. Further, she is an inventor on several patents and was one of the first women to be a project manager at the Electric Power Research Institute where she led projects in renewable and nuclear energy
In French, we have a motto that says that a simple drawing is often better than a long explanation. Jean-Marc Jancovici Carbone 4 President
That’s very understandable because with left atmosphere thinking, one of the problems is that you see everything as a series of problems that must have solutions. Iain McGilchrist Neuroscientist and Philosopher
We can’t have hundreds and hundreds of real relationships that are healthy because that requires time and effort and full attention and awareness of being in real relationship and conversation with the other human. Nate Hagens Director of ISEOF
This is the crux of the whole problem. Individual parts of nature are more valuable than the biocomplexity of nature. Thomas Crowther Founder Restor
Show Notes & Links to Learn More
The TGS team puts together these brief references and show notes for the learning and convenience of our listeners. However, most of the points made in episodes hold more nuance than one link can address, and we encourage you to dig deeper into any of these topics and come to your own informed conclusions.
00:00 – Meredith Angwin, Her Substack blog: The Electric Grandma, Her book: Shorting the Grid
03:07 – Nate’s PhD writing on Net Energy Analysis
03:45 – U.S. power transmission grid map
04:12 – History of U.S. power grid
04:29 – Lyndon B. Johnson electricity campaigns
05:00 – Not everyone in US has access to grid electricity
05:40 – Average American has 60 devices plugged in 24/7, resulting in ~12% of our power use
05:50 – Energy blindness
06:05 – Use of hydroelectric power to build out U.S. electric grid, Publicly-funded projects
06:16 – Northwest public power
06:22 – Tennessee Valley Authority (More info)
07:24 – The Big Short (film)
07:27 – Physical grid (More info) vs. Policy grid
08:00 – Consolidated Edison (More info)
08:38 – Vertically-Integrated (regulated) utility
08:57 – Rate-of-return regulation
09:25 – “Gold-plating” the grid
09:43 – Adam Smith – Invisible Hand
10:37 – Energy market auctions
11:15 – “Single clearing price” approach, highest accepted bid sets the price
12:00 – Price breakdown of utility bill
13:40 – Public Utility Commission
16:15 – 2021 Texas power crisis
17:35 – Renewable energy incentives/subsidies, State database of incentives for renewables
19:05 – Kunz, Hagens, & Balogh: The Influence of Output Variability from Renewable Electricity Generation on Net Energy Calculations
20:00 – Baseload vs. Intermittent power
21:00 – Resource adequacy
22:35 – Interruptible vs. Firm contracts
23:45 – Line pack
26:10 – ISO New England
28:35 – U.S. electric power regions (2016), Eastern Interconnection, Western Interconnection, Texas Interconnection
34:50 – Shift to deregulated markets
35:25 – RTOs don’t have a way to reward reliability (More info in Meredith’s book)
36:10 – Reliability Must Run (RMR) Agreements
38:25 – Grid usages
41:00 – Cost of renewables
43:50 – “The Fatal Trifecta”
45:00 – Grid interconnections, Autocorrelation
46:34 – Transmission system, Line loss, Direct current vs Alternating current
47:50 – Kilovar’s Substack
48:52 – California shift to renewables, Flex alert, Fire risk
50:15 – Jean-Marc Jancovici (TGS Episode 1 + 2), Concept of “Sobriété”
51:45 – Steven Chu (previous Secretary of Energy)
52:45 – Citizens of EU prioritize more affordable energy prices over decreasing consumption or climate neutrality energy
53:09 – Peak oil November 2018, Red Queen Effect, TGS episode on peak oil with Arthur Berman, The Oil Drum
53:15 – AI and the energy sector
54:00 – Northeast U.S. grid fragility
54:15 – Meredith’s Substack post – “North to Canada”
54:50 – DC Grids, DC Ties
55:10 – Northwest U.S. hydroelectric power limits, Aluminum industry
55:50 – Northwest dams and World War II
57:20 – Energy reliability preferred over clean energy
57:35 – Robert Bryce
57:50 – Generac Power Systems, How long you could power your house with a generator
58:40 – 2025 Iberian Peninsula blackout, Pedro Pietro TGS Episode on this
59:00 – Renewables can’t ride through system faults easily
59:50 – Inverters in (wind) energy systems
1:00:20 – Nuclear as baseload for renewables
1:00:45 – Natural gas is largest source of electricity generation
1:01:00 – 0 deaths at Three Mile Island, 0 deaths at Fukushima
1:02:20 – France nuclear expansion, Germany closed down all nuclear
1:03:00 – Meredith’s Substack on the blackout that almost happened in Vermont
1:03:45 – Rube Goldberg Machine
1:04:30 – Common Mode Failure
1:05:25 – Grid Redundancy
1:05:45 – Temperature effects on natural gas pipelines
1:05:55 – Reality Blind by Nate Hagens and DJ White – “You are baseload”
1:08:25 – Thorium – Reserves and Current market, Uranium – Reserves and Current mining
1:08:50 – World’s first thorium nuclear reactor
1:09:05 – Thorium and Molten Salts Reactors, Hyman G. Rickover, Current research
1:11:45 – MISO Grid, ERCOT grid issues
1:14:15 – Utility Dive
1:17:05 – Earth and Humanity Myth and Reality
1:17:27 – Vermont Yankee campaign
1:21:15 – Meredith’s Substack post on Inverters
1:22:30 – Wind Turbine Database in the U.S.
