Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by 6thaccount2 2553 days ago
The user is probably a transmission level grid operator. These exist at most decent sized utilities (Entergy, AEP, Duke), although it is possible there is a TOP (transmission operator company) that is not the same as the utility.

There are also organizations like the RTO/ISO that also act like air traffic controllers for the grid by keeping it reliable. They also are usually responsible for committing and dispatching generation for dozens of utilities collectively to save money (by banding together, you need to carry less reserves or backup power and can leverage economies of scale). In North America these organizations are (CAISO, SPP, ERCOT, MISO, PJM, NYISO, and ISO-NE). All of these organizations practice black-start drills (I used to help run them) and have NERC certified operators.
2 comments
hfkajshfaks 2553 days ago
"The user is probably a transmission level grid operator. "

Close. My dad's a power engineer, specifically grid protection.

link
6thaccount2 2553 days ago
If he's doing grid protection he's probably in distribution engineering and they would be pretty involved with a black start drill from as in they or the line crews with their boots on the ground as not all of that procedure can be initiated remotely I'd imagine.

The transmission level engineers and operators will call the shots as far as how the high level stuff goes down. In other words they'll issue a directive to get unit x online and then close in breaker b and clear a path to unit y while picking up load at z. The actual process from the end of the people doing that work is likely to be significantly more detailed.

link
hfkajshfaks 2553 days ago
"If he's doing grid protection he's probably in distribution engineering and they would be pretty involved with a black start drill from as in they or the line crews with their boots on the ground as not all of that procedure can be initiated remotely I'd imagine."

And has a nosy son ;)

link
MisterTea 2553 days ago
Honestly, I know that entire procedure myself as it's listed on a few different sites, one being the wikipedia blackout article. Then again this kind of stuff interests me so I read up on it.
link
6thaccount2 2553 days ago
I'm not sure you fully understand, or maybe it's me that misunderstands what you're saying :)

Each utility generally has its own black-start procedures. One utility might start two diesel generators (only really used for black-start) and then slowly start energizing the path to various loads and other generators. That utility and it's parent RTO/ISO train on that scenario several times a year and have the procedure printed in a binder within reach.

Something I've found interesting is that many of these plans are ~35 years old and we're created before computers were super common place for these kinds of things. The point being people weren't doing graph and optimization algorithms to determine the optimal paths. There has been a little university research and national lab research into this recently and I've heard they've helped certain utilities that they worked with determine some improvements, which is always exciting.

link