The politics of hertz in Central Europe

[ianganderton]

Just read this article and thought it worth sharing here

Why the Baltic states are reconfiguring their electric grids

They fear a Russian shutdown

www.economist.com

Amazing the amount of time some of the Baltic states have outages and how that is controlled

I wonder what structural changes are needed to move their grid from alignment with Russia to Europe

I wonder what noticeable differences if any that the change over will make for consumers. Eg are there any changes in say frequency or voltage that will affect appliances or devices

strong case for energy independence for consumers in this region. You’d be happy to have a good battery bank and solar array during the summer anyway. Winters are pretty extreme in this region

 

[efficientPV]

There was a documentary years ago on the grid in Georgia called Power Trip. Note there is some other crap movie by that name. It makes you wonder why they have any power at all.

 

[nosys70]

yep , in 2018 our clocks were running late because the baltics countries (mainly Serbia and Kosovo) engaged a political war with the grid.

[Press Release] Continuing frequency deviation in the Continental European Power System originating in Serbia/Kosovo: Political solution urgently needed in addition to technical.

www.entsoe.eu

Basically, in europe, when there is an overload of the grid, the 50Hz frequency drift low (because alternators have to work harder and then run slower)
Since a lot of industrial devices synchronize with the grid, even a fraction of hertz produce effect over weeks.
in total the delay was up to 6 minutes.
you can check realtime what is the frequency here

Indicateurs actuels du réseau

Swissgrid recueille en permanence données, les analyse et optimise ainsi l’utilisation du réseau. Grâce à des critères détaillés, nous mesurons l’état du réseau de transport en Suisse.

www.swissgrid.ch

the main point is if each country import or export power and influence the other country's grid.

Probably it is the part of the plan of Russia to plan readiness for third world war.
They already isolate from internet (so if internet shut down, they can still run their own),
They also launched their own GPS network (with GLONASS)
now they are trying to isolate from the european grid.
They are probably secure for Gaz (they are a big provider for europe) and petrol.

 

[anschluss]

because the baltics countries (mainly Serbia and Kosovo)

Aside from political speculations which I believe to be somewhat off-topic in this forum, I suggest at the very least please not to confuse the Baltic and the Balkan...

 

[nosys70]

sorry , typo, but the principle stays the same. Baltics and Balkans share more or less the same problems against energetic dependance with Russia and relative close geographical proximity.
In western europe, we get the same dependance to russia (with Gaz) , but the relative distance and the fact we can afford to pay creates another situation.