Can Power Plants be linked?

[bencarl]

Hi All,
I have two power plants on my map, one is very reliable and the other is not. Can I link the two plants or feed a universal power grid to stabilize the power supply to the areas fed by the weaker plant?

Thanks

[SBGaming]

I believe you can, although the main bottleneck is going to be the High Voltage Power Lines. High Voltage Power lines cap out at 13MW of power throughput. Even if you were to connect two Power Plants together with a Switch, and send out the power to another town with the third connection on the switch via a single High Voltage line, that line is going to be limited to 13MW. Need more power out that direction, you'll need to run a second line of High Voltage wire in parallel out to a second Transformer to further distribute power.

[MachaQueso]

My experience is that switches will allow power to flow only one way.

If you connect 2 power plants and put a switch to a city between them, the switch will allow flow from only one plant regardless of the quality but if it shuts down the other takes over.

In short, it won't solve fluctuations, only shutdown redundancy.

[rkelly17]

Originally posted by MachaQueso:

My experience is that switches will allow power to flow only one way.

If you connect 2 power plants and put a switch to a city between them, the switch will allow flow from only one plant regardless of the quality but if it shuts down the other takes over.

In short, it won't solve fluctuations, only shutdown redundancy.

This is interesting, MachaQueso. My grid seems to work both ways as I start by hooking up to a border station and buying power to get going. Then, when I have a well-functioning power plant, I begin selling power at the same border point. Wouldn't power have to flow both ways for this to work? What am I missing?

[forzion]

I have tried to have two powerplants connected throu switch. Main problem ísť that this way you limit your powerplants output to 22 MW if you connect its two high woltage outputs to onother one.

The main issue is that power does not flow through the powerplant but you can supprt two high voltage switches by two power plants. With 13 MW you can supply a small city, about 10.000-15,000 thousand workers and use mid voltage lines to power some industries.

I think to have two powerplants connected is a viable strategy, but I was though that one powerplant has higher output. Have now 4 powerplants and two are connected to supply one city just because I have no better use for that high voltage connection and this way I still can export some power even though I had to cut my exports because my primary power plant is running on the edge of its capacity supplying whole city with my steel industry.

[pryt]

I follow that simple rule, that a power plant has 3 medium voltage exits and 2 high voltage, so, I can use 3 medium, and 2 high connected to one transformer each, which results in 3 + 6 + 6 = 13 substations to be fully supported. If I need more than 13 substations I build another power plant.

So far I did not have any flickerings anymore during the night. The only switch I used is a high voltage one for the steel mill, although I'm not sure it's really needed.

The only issue I run into is coal, but that can be solved with more coal mines. (Steel really eats coal like nothing else.)

[tKitashiro]

These approaches are called "Grid connection" in the real world.
(Other "Power system linkages" etc.)

In this linkages, Power sources(power plants) and distribution networks exist as independent entities and are realized by connecting power sources to shared distribution networks.
(There are also cases where networks are intentionally separated, for stable power supply and demand)

In reality, the maximum capacity of the Distribution grid is Overall terminus electricity demands and limited by Current(A) and Voltage(V) according to circuit capacity(Breaker) on Distribution Grids.
Power transmission exceeding demand causes overload and shutdown of the entire linkage, and excessive demand overloads the generator causing rev speed and voltage drop and further shutdown of the entire linkage(chain-reaction blackout).

but, There seems to be no need to consider overload in the game. no problem, more source connections is more electricity supplies.

P.S.
Power(W) is not originally unit of measure of electricity(this is Energy "Amount" unit) and is not a unit of that moment capacity on Grid or Breaker, but on the game, All electricity seems to be based on "Power"(W, Wh).

[MachaQueso]

Originally posted by MachaQueso:

My experience is that switches will allow power to flow only one way.

If you connect 2 power plants and put a switch to a city between them, the switch will allow flow from only one plant regardless of the quality but if it shuts down the other takes over.

In short, it won't solve fluctuations, only shutdown redundancy.

Originally posted by rkelly17:

Originally posted by MachaQueso:

My experience is that switches will allow power to flow only one way.

If you connect 2 power plants and put a switch to a city between them, the switch will allow flow from only one plant regardless of the quality but if it shuts down the other takes over.

In short, it won't solve fluctuations, only shutdown redundancy.

This is interesting, MachaQueso. My grid seems to work both ways as I start by hooking up to a border station and buying power to get going. Then, when I have a well-functioning power plant, I begin selling power at the same border point. Wouldn't power have to flow both ways for this to work? What am I missing?

My observation is the switch works on an "all or nothing" way. So two power plants feeding a city through a switch will not feed it simultaneously. If power plant 1 is unstable but still supplying the city, the city power will fluctuate regardless of having stable power available from power plant 2. The switch will only allow power from plant 2 if plant 1 goes down.

[bencarl]

Great discussion,
The problem I'm trying to solve is the unstable plant keeps shutting down for some reason. All I want to do is fill in those times when the unstable plant is off. Ultimately, I need to find out why the plant is unstable. I think it's a worker problem.

[MrigKash]

I placed two power plants next to each other. Connected them. One worked while the other did not work at all. I disconnected them and fed them to distant points. Both started working.

[tKitashiro]

Originally posted by bencarl:

Great discussion,
The problem I'm trying to solve is the unstable plant keeps shutting down for some reason. All I want to do is fill in those times when the unstable plant is off. Ultimately, I need to find out why the plant is unstable. I think it's a worker problem.

@bencarl.
Workers in this game will not work overtime until replacement personnel comes in, they will "Warp" to home when their Working-shift(8h) is complete.

Therefore, to keep Industrial facilities operating at full capacity 24/356 days, it is necessary to have a Worker(residential area) that always supplies at least Three times the capacity of the facilities, and Frequent operation of public transportation.

As a matter of fact, it is impossible to always maintain 100% generator efficiency, but coal plant limit of worker capacity is 20, so Needed more than 60 workers a day will be supplied for operating at maximum efficiency.
(Of course, also need stable coal supplies)

Reference:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721108735

[cobalt]

Originally posted by protik_maitra:

I placed two power plants next to each other. Connected them. One worked while the other did not work at all. I disconnected them and fed them to distant points. Both started working.

Yes, power stations will not load balance (share the load). A lot of the time when you have powers stations that are operating well the best solution for power seem to be isolated HV grids (one per power station), that way tracking down problems/overloads is simplified to just one area.

[bencarl]

I have at least 80 workers living right in front of the power plant entrance and another 60 living in front of the coal processing plant right next door to the power plant. Plus a bus stop between the two plants with buses running all day and night. I assume my workers are getting on the bus and going somewhere else.
For coal, I have 950 tons sitting next to the power plant ready to go at all times. My one 33% mine is somehow producing enough coal to feed two power plants, a cement factory, brick factory, a 540 ton export train, and still keep two large aggregate storage units full. Got lucky I guess.

[bencarl]

I forgot to mention that at least half of the workers are "experts" I imported because I found the power & coal processing plants were slightly more reliable with higher educated workers.

[tKitashiro]

Originally posted by bencarl:

I have at least 80 workers living right in front of the power plant entrance and another 60 living in front of the coal processing plant right next door to the power plant. Plus a bus stop between the two plants with buses running all day and night. I assume my workers are getting on the bus and going somewhere else.
For coal, I have 950 tons sitting next to the power plant ready to go at all times. My one 33% mine is somehow producing enough coal to feed two power plants, a cement factory, brick factory, a 540 ton export train, and still keep two large aggregate storage units full. Got lucky I guess.

Originally posted by bencarl:

I forgot to mention that at least half of the workers are "experts" I imported because I found the power & coal processing plants were slightly more reliable with higher educated workers.

umm... If you did not explicitly specify a workplace from a house or bus stop, they will select a workplace with some internal algorithm (or leveled random element).
Therefore, need to make sure that they Actually work at these insides of plant.

and, as mentioned in the other users, if the distribution grid is not properly designed, it may not achieve its intended efficiency.

Relationship between Education level and Labor efficiency is unknown, but at least workers who do not meet their needs seem to be less efficient.
(Foreigners who have just emigrated come these needs is some extent)

[Anlauf]

Originally posted by bencarl:

I have at least 80 workers living right in front of the power plant entrance and another 60 living in front of the coal processing plant right next door to the power plant. Plus a bus stop between the two plants with buses running all day and night. I assume my workers are getting on the bus and going somewhere else.
For coal, I have 950 tons sitting next to the power plant ready to go at all times. My one 33% mine is somehow producing enough coal to feed two power plants, a cement factory, brick factory, a 540 ton export train, and still keep two large aggregate storage units full. Got lucky I guess.

I am currently having an issue where an apartment with 143 workers (whose 100 are workers with qualification - half Low skilled half High skilled), which can't fully staff a high school which has 10 low skilled and 15 high skilled positions.