The national grid go to great effort to generate just enough electricity to keep everything going, but the now batteries or storage. Where does unused electricity go?
In: Engineering
Minor discrepancies between supply and demand only result in changes in the voltage and frequency of the supply. Effectively the end-users are either force-fed or starved, but by such a small amount that nobody notices.
It heats up water. Most power plants are near rivers/lakes.
They very, very, very seldom have to do this.
The “main” power generators (nuclear, coal,…..) handle the base load and aux. power generators (gas turbines which can be started and stopped quickly) handle the peak loads.
You will note that the voltage output may vary from 122 to 118v (target is 120). This occurs as peak loads increase and decrease.
They monitor and predict peak loads very accurately and account for it in their “master plan”.
There really isn’t any. They turn generators on and off by demand. There is currently no batteries or other storage on the grid, besides hydroelectric plants that pump water back up when there is excess power.
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