How much can the supply of energy deviate from the demand. By a percent or two? Are there also artificial demand services that can help match supply and demand?
Good questions. I can’t give a precise answer, but I know that supply has to follow demand pretty closely. If supply starts to lag, then the rate that the alternating current alternates starts to decline, and if it gets below a certain tolerance, most generators will either automatically shut down or face significant damage. As for demand response, there are some systems that turn off devices automatically, but I don’t know if the adjustments are governed by a system that is based on the supply/demand balance. That seems unlikely to me, because that balance is always subject to small adjustments as devices are turned on and off, and it doesn’t seem to me that cutting demand on and off to follow those changes would be very inefficient. There are, however, generators that can change output quickly, mostly natural gas combustion turbines and hydroelectric generators, and these are used to follow demand.
How much can the supply of energy deviate from the demand. By a percent or two? Are there also artificial demand services that can help match supply and demand?
Good questions. I can’t give a precise answer, but I know that supply has to follow demand pretty closely. If supply starts to lag, then the rate that the alternating current alternates starts to decline, and if it gets below a certain tolerance, most generators will either automatically shut down or face significant damage. As for demand response, there are some systems that turn off devices automatically, but I don’t know if the adjustments are governed by a system that is based on the supply/demand balance. That seems unlikely to me, because that balance is always subject to small adjustments as devices are turned on and off, and it doesn’t seem to me that cutting demand on and off to follow those changes would be very inefficient. There are, however, generators that can change output quickly, mostly natural gas combustion turbines and hydroelectric generators, and these are used to follow demand.