[Fedora-nightlife-list] Nightlife - Power Grid Simulations, Fusion Reactor

[Brown, Henry, DoIT]

fedora-nightlife-list at redhat.com <mailto:fedora-nightlife-list at redhat.com> ,
 
Power grids are now modelled and monitored for energy utilization with EMS/Scada systems.
http://www.sgi.com/pdfs/2320.pdf
Unfortunately they are expensive.  
 
A public domain modelling tool for power grids is modelica:
http://www.modelica.org/
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=/iel5/10559/33412/01583388.pdf?temp=x
However a public domain EMS/Scada to control power grids is not yet available.
http://www.hitachi.com/rev/1998/revoct98/r4_110.pdf
A grid computing architecture may make EMS/Scada simulations more widely available.
http://www.ida.liu.se/~kajny/papers/gps-sims2004-kajny.pdf
Nightlife may be able to pioneer a public domain tool for power grid monitoring/modelling.
By using modelica to build grid models locally a decentralized power grid may be possible.
Using these tools might allow displays of power grids on sandtables, etc. for public use.
http://www.sandtable.org/
Public displays of electric utilization and CO2 production may educate customers on electric demand and global warming.
 
A Nightlife power grid simulator may allow utilities and power coops to compete using new technology (renewables, intelligent metering, etc.) Linux and server farms exasperate this problem by creating electric demand for cooling of server farms for web services(Google, Microsoft, etc.).
http://www.thegreengrid.org/home

Could Nightlife be used to model power grids during peak load periods?
Plugin electric vehicles will charge at night  and could compete with air conditioners. 
This would cause coal burning plants to run at full capacity.
Without adequate modelling more coal plants will be built.
 
The power grid in CA, CO, AZ and NM are centralized around coal.
http://www.cpluhna.nau.edu/Change/power_generation.htm
http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/stories/2003/04/07/story2.html
Centralized power grids are based on fossil fuel economics. Power grids were created to distribute power over long distances to share costs, improve reliability, and reduce energy costs. 
Fossil fuels are burned at great distance from cities and high power transmission lines move the power losing 10-20% in resistance. 
Utility grids have largely been built by local utilities in pieces. Utilities grids interconnect to meet FERC guidelines for reliability.
 
Centralized power has many problems. Recent power corruption scandals in 2001 California power market caused Governor Gray Davis to be replaced. SW Electric utility cartels inflated prices by shutting down plants on hot days.
http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/RangerRick/11273
 
Another scenario is the decentralization of power production using the pre-existing gas turbine model. These peak load power plants can deliver power locally to areas requiring power. Gradual replacement of large power grids with small local grids running clean fusion systems may be an example. Other alternative solar or wind power would need to compete for these local markets. http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/GeneMachine/34906
 
Recent articles have ignored power grid management problems. 
This game shows how power grids work. Used for students.
http://www.amazon.com/Power-Grid-Rio-Grande-Games/dp/B0007YDBLE
Game Description
The object of the game is to supply the most cities with power. Players must acquire the raw materials, like coal, oil, garbage, uranium, fusion to power their plants (except for the highly valuable renewable energy wind/solar plants), making it a constant struggle to upgrade your plants for maximum efficiency while still retaining enough wealth to quickly expand your network to get the cheapest routes
 
Grid Security 
 
Decentralized power grids would be more difficult to destabilize. Redundancy and reliability would be increased with local power production. Efficiency and a reduction in carbon dioxide would improve customer public relations for utilities. This could provide US with a stable, clean and secure power grid.
 
Biggest Power Grid Problem

Right of way problems in many power grids have forced utilities to decentralize systems. Very few new power lines will be built in the US due to these legal problems. Example: In Santa Fe NM the local utility (PNM) has placed a gas turbine on Richards Ave. to balance loads in the Santa Fe. PNM had wanted to gain rights of way on the rail trail to build another high voltage line to sell coal plant power. Due to local resistance PNM placed a gas turbine on Richards Ave.
 
A Utility Power Control center is used to manage a multistate power grid.
Power operators monitor changing power requirements and adjust power plants accordingly.
A series of smaller power grids in cities powered locally by fusion power plants could eventually replace the larger grids.
The fossil cost model would be replaced by a fusion cost model.
A series of distributed small fusion reactors could come online as peak load was required.
Utility control rooms would be replaced by automated small grid systems balancing loads locally.
http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/GeneMachine/77493 <http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/GeneMachine/77493> 
 
Modelling Fusion reactions with Nightlife
 
The rate limiting bottleneck in fusion reactor energy break even relates to stability in magnetic fusion reactors. Plasma interactions may be anticipated by using models of magnetic flux in Polywell reactors.
http://www.talk-polywell.org/bb/viewtopic.php?t=203&highlight=
 
Fusion reactors use  magnets to contain and control plasmas.
These magnets must be monitored and managed in their own small scale power grid.
Power inflow and outflow must be monitored and managed to reach electric power breakeven.
A Modelica Fusion power simulation running on Nightlife may be an example.
 
Decentralized power may be realized through small scale EMS/Scada systems running on low cost distributed Linux systems. Could Nightlife be an example?
 
References:
SCADA references:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCADA
http://spectrum.ieee.org/jan05/2407 <http://spectrum.ieee.org/jan05/2407> 
http://science-community.sciam.com/thread.jspa?threadID=300005637&messageID=300017361

Polywell Fusion references:
http://www.emc2fusion.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polywell http://www.santafenewmexican.com/SantaFeNorthernNM/Robert_Bussard__1928_2007_Physicist_known_for_pursuits_into_fus
http://www.talk-polywell.org/bb/
Virtual Polywell Simulation
http://www.mare.ee/indrek/ephi/
http://www.talk-polywell.org/bb/viewtopic.php?t=203&highlight=
 
 
Henry Brown
henry.brown at state.nm.us
cell 795-3680
office 505 827-2509


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