New Electricity Record As Heat Wave Grips Country

[george]

New electricity record as heat wave grips country

BANGKOK: -- The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) today reassured the public that it has sufficient reserves to cope with soaring electricity usage over the current heat wave, after yesterday's usage broke all previous records.

According to EGAT figures, Thailand used 19,910.50 megawatts of electricity yesterday, breaking the record set last year.

The EGAT's Deputy Governor, Mr. Kamphuy Jirararuensak, attributed the soaring usage to the hot weather across the country, noting that temperatures had risen to 40 degrees Celsius in many parts of the nation.

EGAT anticipates electricity usage of around 20,700 megawatts during the hot season from March to May, but Mr. Kamphuy insisted that the authority be fully prepared to generate all the electricity the nation needs during this period.

Stressing that there would be no power outages, he said that EGAT reserves were sufficient to cope with the high demand.

Nonetheless, he called on the public to help conserve energy to help prevent money flowing out of the nation's coffers.

--TNA 2005-03-30

[penzman]

Switching off the lighting on a zillion signboards at night could help.

[terdsak_12]

Maybe turning down the air a bit in all dept stores, restaurants etc.

[Digger]

Seems like the fearless leaders plan to save energy by closing gas stations and supermarkets at night has had a huge impact.

[Ajarn]

I think they just hate giving all that money to Laos for their electricity.

The way I look at it, the generators are always working at capacity, and no electricity is stored, so it's either used, or lost....that's the only way to waste it, from my view. If I've got the baht to pay my bills, then I'll use as much as I want... It ain't like wasting gasoline...

Still, I wouldn't might seeing fewer lit billboards, and less of a freeze zone in some stores

[jayenram]

Stressing that there would be no power outages, he said that EGAT reserves were sufficient to cope with the high demand. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ermmm. That'll make a first. Just after I bought my first UPS also and now I don't need it!

[Sarpedon]

Not having the air con blasting out cold air right by the open doors in department stores would help...

[Heng]

If I've got the baht to pay my bills, then I'll use as much as I want... It ain't like wasting gasoline... 

That's probably what the ad companies and department stores are thinking as well. Same policy over at my place as well.

Still, I wouldn't might seeing fewer lit billboards, and less of a freeze zone in some stores 

[Abandon]

Most air con machines are set to a default of 23/24 degrees. Tests by psychologists show that in hot countries that is way below the optimal working temperature for non physical jobs (offices basically) which was found to be around 29 degrees. Each degree colder the air con goes chews up a bigger and bigger amount of power - I hate freezing offices, especially if I have to walk in and out of them. Besides, it makes the girls wear tights, which cannot be good for business.....

[huski]

maybe that is why thais run to the exits as soon as a movie ends in the theatre...

[autonomous_unit]

The way I look at it, the generators are always working at capacity, and no electricity is stored, so it's either used, or lost....that's the only way to waste it, from my view.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Pedant alert: I am not sure if you are joking, but that's not accurate at all! It's not like there is a giant resistor pack where they dump all the excess power nobody consumes, nor a drain where they dump the fuel-oil that isn't being burned.

The generators have to adjust their output, by adjusting their fuel consumption, all the time to keep the voltage up and the power in phase. If there is too sudden a spike in demand, they may shed load so they can ramp it up more slowly. This is one of the causes of short blackouts in the summer. Here, they seem to just let the power quality fluctuate (brownouts) more often than proper load shedding. I gather that this is less feasible in a large grid, because it is difficult to keep the whole thing operating if parts are going out of phase or dropping voltage relative to other parts.

The way to handle large increases in load is to bring extra generators online. This can take many minutes to hours to get them to the point of producing real power, and they may take even longer than that to operate efficiently. Keeping them online and idle avoids the startup time but is also inefficient, kind of like idling your car in gridlocked traffic because you're not quite sure when you'll need to move.

The only generators that really have to "waste" fuel when there is no demand would be solar, or possibly hydro-electric. If the dam is at flood-stage and they cannot reduce the flow but simply must bypass the generator and dump it downstream. At other times, they can hold the water back and keep the "fuel" (gravitational potential energy of water) for later use in the generator.

[aletta]

Always like to use a fan rather than any air conditioning.I came to this lovely country for the hot weather.

[pluto_manibo]

You could have gone to Spain or the Sahara desert for hot weather....Anyhow we will see how you feel after a couple of years, in regards to the hot weather...I was a sun worshiper now I avoid it like the plague....

[Gazza]

Always like to use a fan rather than any air conditioning.I came to this lovely country for the hot weather.

Same as me. Using aircon just makes it feel hotter when I go outside anywhere.

Sometimes I pity the children of my friends who seem to live in a constant aircon environment. They leave their aircon house to go to and from their aircon school in an aircon car/bus then back to their aircon home.

[Jai Dee]

The generators have to adjust their output, by adjusting their fuel consumption, all the time to keep the voltage up and the power in phase. If there is too sudden a spike in demand, they may shed load so they can ramp it up more slowly. This is one of the causes of short blackouts in the summer. Here, they seem to just let the power quality fluctuate (brownouts) more often than proper load shedding. I gather that this is less feasible in a large grid, because it is difficult to keep the whole thing operating if parts are going out of phase or dropping voltage relative to other parts.

The way to handle large increases in load is to bring extra generators online. This can take many minutes to hours to get them to the point of producing real power, and they may take even longer than that to operate efficiently. Keeping them online and idle avoids the startup time but is also inefficient, kind of like idling your car in gridlocked traffic because you're not quite sure when you'll need to move.

The only generators that really have to "waste" fuel when there is no demand would be solar, or possibly hydro-electric. If the dam is at flood-stage and they cannot reduce the flow but simply must bypass the generator and dump it downstream. At other times, they can hold the water back and keep the "fuel" (gravitational potential energy of water) for later use in the generator.

Spot on autonomous_unit,

Your knowledge of load shedding etc indicates to me that you may be in the power station business.

Are you? Just curious...

[autonomous_unit]

Spot on autonomous_unit,

Your knowledge of load shedding etc indicates to me that you may be in the power station business.

Are you?  Just curious...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No, but I lived in California recently where _everyone_ had to know the power business.

[Merlin]

more pedantry:

they couldn't even get the units used right: I expect they probably meant to say megawatt-hours...

[penzman]

A pizza place in Chonburi had the aircon set so cold that all of the windows on 3 sides of the shop were sweating heavily. Some genius working there must have messed around with the settings, no profit for the owner this month.