NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/sci/electron/23301

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-24 | 1.7 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!mizar.cc.umanitoba.ca!bison!sys6626!inqmind!bills
From: [e-mail] (Bill Shymanski)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: DC to AC on large scale???
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 93 21:58:37 CST
References: <[e-mail]>
Organization: The Inquiring Mind BBS  1 204 488-1607
Lines: 26

[e-mail] writes:

> While visiting my uncle in Calif. over Christmas break, he posed a question f
> me... Just so I have an answer for him (and myself too... It's an odd one)
> could someone help me out???
>
> He is an assistant city engineer for Adelanto, CA, and told me that the way
> their power is distributed to a large substation is Direct Current!  He said
> that the DC is then 'phased' or 'converted' so that there is a three-phase AC
> line to the city distribution grid.  Neither of us have any idea how this cou
> be accomplished at such power levels (an entire valley, I think!)
>
  Right now the lights and computer here are being run by a whacking
great large DC to AC converter system; in this part of the world, we
generate electricity in the far North at 60HZ AC, convert it to DC,
ship it 800 km south, and re-convert to 3 phase 60 HZ 230KV, which is
fed into the regular grid.  I believe total converter capacity in the
province is something like 2000 megawatts.  Never heard of DC to
AC converstion being used at the "municipal" level but I suppose it
could be done - seems a little unlikely, but two neighbouring
grids are sometimes interconnected by a back-to-back AC/DC/AC link
for good reasons.
   Bill

[e-mail]
The Inquiring Mind BBS, Winnipeg, Manitoba  204 488-1607