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193 points leymed | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0.729s | source
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diggan ◴[] No.44360695[source]
Seems the money shot starts at page 131:

> The ultimate cause of the peninsular electrical zero on April 28th was a phenomenon of overvoltages in the form of a "chain reaction" in which high voltages cause generation disconnections, which in turn causes new increases in voltage and thus new disconnections, and so on.

> 1. The system showed insufficient dynamic voltage control capabilities sufficient to maintain stable voltage

> 2. A series of rhythmic oscillations significantly conditioned the system, modifying its configuration and increasing the difficulties for voltage stabilization.

If I understand it correctly (and like software, typical), it was a positive feedback-loop. Since there wasn't enough voltage control, some other station had to be added but got overloaded instead, also turning off, and then on to the next station.

Late addition: It was very helpful for me to read through the "ANNEX X. BRIEF BASICS OF THE ELECTRIC SYSTEM" (page 168) before trying to read the report itself, as it explains a lot of things that the rest of the report (rightly) assumes you already know.

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1. madaxe_again ◴[] No.44363769[source]
I’ve just read the whole shebang.

While the overall reason for the mass failure you cite is correct - a cascading failure - the interesting bit here are the oscillations that lead to it.

It looks very much like this was driven by algorithmic volatility trading of electricity spots - overproduction, price goes negative, buys placed, production ramps in response to rising price, price rises, sells placed, production falls due to falling price. The period of the oscillations in the grid seen before the blackout suggest a relatively slow cycle, and what they describe in the report sounds very much like this was an interaction between price-driven supply and real world supply.

It does speak to there being inadequate storage available on the grid to smooth demand and therefore pricing, but it also suggests that in certain conditions a harmonic can be set up between the market and price-driven production with catastrophic consequences.

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2. diggan ◴[] No.44366633[source]
> It looks very much like this was driven by algorithmic volatility trading of electricity spots

Yes, + less "reactive power stations" than expected was available (seems the day some unexpectedly went offline, and not enough safeguards/communication to realize this) + a switch between the French import/export that happened at the same time, leading to the overvoltage issue, which then spiraled.

As far as I read the report, there were multiple causes, not a single one like "algorithmic volatility trading of electricity spots" but a combination of the issues where one-by-one, things would have been fine but all together? Shit broke