> Having a grid without sufficient spare capacity to absorb any
> one station
> going off line is madness. I can't believe North America has
> a system, that
> when faced with a sudden excessive drain from another part of
> the grid,
> chooses to shut down more generating stations rather than
> cutting off the
> part of the grid causing the problem.
It's not that simple. These are highly complex systems with very odd
behaviour. There are mathematicians who spend their time researching
these things, because these types of system occur both in man-made and
natural systems.
As I understand it, a failure of the sorts that causes these blackouts
has the potential to actually damage/destroy the transformers and
generating equipment at other power stations. As such, it's not a
matter of having enough capacity, but simply a matter of the
infrastructure protecting itself from real damage.
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