@KathrynPorter26 One emerging result of this lack of grid inertia would be to add fields of rotating flywheels. Maybe a lot cheaper than fields of batteries!

@hobson1999 Synchronous condensers would be better still

@KathrynPorter26 I must admit I was a bit lost reading this until I realised the equations for vars are e^jωt I don't know when engineers started to think imaginary numbers are real/tangible things instead of mathematical convenience But clearly there is a cult in the field of power generation

@Paradaxii123 I don't think it's generators that are the issue... It's grid operators doing this

@KathrynPorter26 Is it really the case that they "don't properly understand reactive power"? Or is it that the green agenda requires sun and wind and they are moving ahead with it regardless of practicality or cost? It is, as with the rest of the NET ZERO agenda stuff, a case of ideology trumping

@algar2356 I think it's both They've got into bad habits thinking about vars and they've got a bad case of wishful thinking about net zero

@KathrynPorter26 Thank you ! Like most others I have never understood what reactive power really is... Are you saying - in layman´s terms - that the root cause of the recent black-out in Spain etc was due to lack of sufficient reactive power or ...?

@j_cruz19820 No, that's the problem they have now In April they had weird voltage and frequency behaviours but the real problem was that at the same time a bunch of solar turned off for price reasons, causing a drop in frequency, and lots of wind and solar tripped off when it shouldn't have

@KathrynPorter26 We have a Government in Ireland that wants to build a Grid inter connector with Spain , is this not totally crazy ? where is the engineering or economic benefit to the end consumer .

@JoeK1798 Better than trying to connect to Africa. Africa needs to keep all its energy to close energy inequality on the continent

@KathrynPorter26 Solar/wind Inverter suppliers do think about reactive power delivery/absorption and their products take it into account. https://www.sma.de/en/partners...

@MartThorn2024 There's no such thing as "reactive power absorption"

@KathrynPorter26 @MerrynSW It’s also fascinating that thermal control relies on water flow, a source of thermal inertia. Will we see flywheel storage solutions? I wouldn’t be surprised.

@Bernp1953P @MerrynSW We already are...

@KathrynPorter26 There are of course other irrational thoughts and mantras that people hold e.g. that getting rid of one man will bring down energy bills, that building new coal,gas, nuclear will bring down energy bills. They won’t.

@checkweightman At this point the investment catch up for legacy grid and generators is an unavoidable cost We could lower costs by cancelling subsidies and new renewables projects (which cuts grid expansion costs). Buying out legacy renewables might be cheaper than paying ongoing curtailment

@KathrynPorter26 So we need more power generation power and power that can be relied upon 24 hours a day - at least that is what I understand you to be saying.

@paulvmarks Yes We need to pivot to nuclear (reforming regulation to deliver faster and cheaper like South Korea) and we need a plan for more gas generation

@KathrynPorter26 Sounds to me like the to and fro of the electric and magnetic fields is really just the conservation of energy in action - i.e. the energy which is converted into electromagnetic energy by the steam-driven rotation of the very heavy permanent magnet, alternately manifesting as

@Janine511484078 Energy oscillates locally between the fields, so yes there's conservation of l energy, but “reactive power” refers to the rate of that oscillation, not to the total stored energy itself And this energy isn't isolated from real power. Under transient conditions (eg a sudden

@KathrynPorter26 @grok this post makes a good point, how can the risks be mitigated to ensure inverters particularly those tied to batteries in a grid stabilisation role, do not all follow grid voltage drops? Is it feasible have grid batteries supply a constant voltage or would that cause other

@KathrynPorter26 Please help me to understand this: the flywheel effect from large generators that is traditionally used to stabilize the frequency of the grid comes from a certain amount of stored rotational energy. If I have the same amount of energy stored in batteries plus a suitable control

@KathrynPorter26 🚨 “Ghosts on the grid” — or just myths in the making? Kathryn Porter’s latest post claims that reactive power (“vars”) doesn’t exist, that grid-forming inverters “can’t stabilise the grid”, and that we’re sleep-walking into blackouts. It sounds authoritative — until you check

@KathrynPorter26 Killer, and yes: “Treating “vars” as if they were real rather than a mathematical description of field interactions risks building a system with no natural damping, no physical coupling between electric and magnetic fields, and no inherent stability”. You could have also said:

@KathrynPorter26 This problem is across multiple disciplines in our society and it’s very alarming, it means the competence is becoming concentrated in a smaller and smaller cohort that doesn’t have the ability to communicate effectively the disastrous consequences of not following physics and

@KathrynPorter26 Inverter grids are fully feasible. Electronics operate at GHz while grids swing at Hz, giving vast control headroom. Stability depends on coordination and current limits, not any physical impossibility.