A significant event in the world of high-power electrical engineering is under way this weekend, as the three Baltic states, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, disconnect their common power grid from the Russian system, and hook it up to the European one. It’s a move replete with geopolitical significance, but it’s fascinating from our point of view as it gives a rare insight into high voltage grid technology.
There are a few news videos in the air showing contactors breaking the circuit, and even a cable-cutting moment, but in practice this is not as simple a procedure as unplugging an appliance from a wall socket. The huge level of planning that has gone into this move is evident in the countrywide precautions in case of power loss, and the heightened security surrounding the work. As we understand it at the moment the three countries exist as a temporary small grid of their own, also isolating the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad which now forms its own grid. The process of aligning the phase between Baltic and European grids has been under way overnight, and an online monitor shows significant frequency adjustments during that time. At some point on Sunday a new connection will be made to the European grid via Poland, and the process will be completed. We imagine that there will be a very relieved group of electrical engineers who will have completed their own version of a Moon landing when that has happened.
If you happen to live in either region, there’s still some time to watch the process in action, by monitoring the supply frequency for yourself. It’s not the first time that geopolitics have affected the European grid, as the continent lost six minutes a few years ago, and should you Americans think you are safe from such problems, think again.
The linked blog post from halcy.de is quite funny. Not that the idea isn’t cool but they wrap an audio cable around a powercord and analyse the audio data in audacity.
I guess they didn’t try recording audio without any wire plugged in first?
I just tried and got 50Hz spike at 34dB SNR. In fact a nearly identical -14dB signal on a local 48dB background.
Hey, author of that blog post here – I couldn’t record without (my sound card just refuses to let you open the device if nothing is plugged in), so I had to dig a cable out of the closet. I don’t know if it contributes too much to the actual measurement (honestly, probably not), but at the very least, it looks funny.
I also just updated the post with a second, really cool plot comparing the Central EU frequency (from some website) with the one I measured – the point where they flip the breaker is very clearly visible!
it’s no small feat to change from 60 to 50hz, i assume they’re doing something like that. japan has two separate frequency grids and has been unable to integrate them. i expect they will be looking on to see how successful this is.
I believe the frequency is staying at 50Hz, the nominal voltage might change however.
Once all power supplies are switch mode (and we wish for the days of a mains hum over an entire band of noise) it might be possible to change mains frequency.
As far as I know Japan is still on the split system with 50 and 60Hz regions. I’m not sure what people do if they move from a 50Hz region to a 60Hz one? Unless all power supplies are designed to run on both?
A lot of stuff is designed to run on both frequencies. Some older electronics such as mains powered clocks or turntables may have frequency selector switches to make them run at the correct speed.
Not everything works on both frequencies. Things like fridges or microwaves may not work well or could be damaged by using the wrong frequency. You would probably just sell them with the house when you move.
A lot of stuff these days would probably run with no issues. resistive loads don’t care about frequency. both switch mode and linear power supplies probably wouldn’t care much, both almost immediately rectify to DC, transformers before the rectification may not be as efficient on a frequency they wernt designed for. The biggest issue would be devices with motors directly tied to the AC line. Older record/tape players, electric mechanical clocks that use synchronous motors would run too fast/slow. Voltage rather than frequency it going to be more of an issue. One of the reason travel voltage converters generally don’t bother with frequency conversion. It would make them significantly more complicated for a few use cases.
The generators, turbines, transformers and grid protection/monitoring equipment less so (I presume).
That is most likely why the Japanese grid is still split between 50 and 60Hz. It’s much easier and cheaper to build HVDC links to transfer power between the grids than it would be to switch to a single frequency.
Most of the change would be shifting phase to align with the European grid. EU and Russia are both 50hz
Some of the existing appliances in Japan are not dual frequency compatible, switching them will get expensive. Particularly in larger factories with big industrial motors and the likes. I am sure one day Japan can finally be rid of weird split power problem if they mandated all new appliances and devices be 50/60hz compatible.
Power plants would likely need to change their generator if it can’t switch between 50 and 60 so they can be ready to switch at the right time.
I wonder how they’re drifting the phase to match the EU. Operating as a a temporary island makes sense but do they just get all the local generation to push a bit harder over a period of time to nudge the phase towards the EU? How far out is/was Russia from the EU?
Probably using giant capacitors and inductors to move the phasing around, as well as the smaller phase movements that can be done at the point of generation.
If you speed up or slow down the frequency by just .01 hz then phases will align every 83 minutes, is this not how they align phases. I realise it will be more than just changing by .01 then throwing a switch but the actual principle of alignment
A temporary island for phase matching is probably exactly what they are doing. Otherwise Russia and the EU grid would have needed to at least temporarily sync up to do a direct cut over. Synchronized slowing or speeding up of some of their largest generation facilities would probably pull the rest of the smaller generation facilities in sync automatically since a generator stays in sync once its locked on and generating. If you cut over an un phased matched generator or in this case an entire electric grid into another grid nasty things happen. Process of bringing a small scale hydro plant onto the grid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGQxSJmadm0 They’re basically doing this at a significantly larger scale
The frequency shifts quite a bit, I think the easiest way to move the phase over would be to cautiously adjust the target frequency, and let it slip gently in phase towards the EU phase.
i.e. if you set the target so the mean frequency will be 49.99 instead of 50Hz, the phase shifts 0.072 degrees. Every minute that mean offset is held the phase will shift 4.3 degrees.
Maybe… I don’t know how it actually works.
I think it could be as simple as dropping to 49 or 51 Hz for a while until the phase are in perfect sync then go back to 50 and maintain it before reconnecting the 3 countries to Europe
Nearly everything will not have an issue running a bit fast or slow for a while although some clock might end up off by some minutes.
New large synchronous condenser were installed in all three countries.
https://news.err.ee/1608976037/elering-launches-estonia-s-first-synchronous-condenser
As for Americans… “it’s actually two power grids and one infrastructural temper tantrum [Texas]” https://youtu.be/nVransM3AOE?si=3QnEPlWhRMqFDpYd
Why not 3-phase 240v 50Hz electricity..
Mr. Leslie had a job to change the gearing for Hammond organ customers In Long Beach Ca. when they went from 50Hz to 60Hz. Yes, in the US! This was a simple mod to make the organ spin at the correct rate tuning it for proper operation. Hammond had a global market then. He got interested in the organ itself and come up with another spin on things and invented the most successful product never advertised, the Leslie Speaker. Hearing it on live radio shows did the job. Most conventional motors will only work right at the frequency they’re made for. Fortunately nobody here has to change motors and such.
Years ago Purdue held a live rock concert away from mains power. A generator truck was used to supply the stage with plenty of power. One band had a Hammond B3 and when the musical energy went up the organ pitch went down enough to strike it form the show. The organ’s tone rotors have a synchronous motor for perfect tuning, as long as source is stable.
The most for me is the electric grid frequency in Japan.
The frequency of electricity in Japan varies by region. 50 Hz in the east and 60 Hz in the west.
From what I’ve heard is that when they were setting up the electrical systems half of Japan bought their equipment from Europe (50hz) and the other half from the U.S. (60hz) and it’s been that way ever since. You’d have thought that after WWII they (or the U.S. occupiers) would have rebuilt the electrical grid to use a single frequency? Oh well, could be worse, Ontario used to use 25hz!
The spikes on the graph are part of an intentional test that done when the Baltic grid was working totally separately. Just to see that everything meant for controlling the frequency works when it needs to.
I’m curious how Kaliningrad handled this moment, and if they were actually informed it was going to happen. As being an enclave trapped away from the rest of your nation and I’d assume under similar sanctions as that nation… To some extent it would be well earned ‘reward’ for the Russians, but still.
Still it is nice to see Europe becoming a little more interconnected, and impressive to do such a complex infrastructure project so fast. No decade of planning and prep, no doubt months in court getting past the NIMBY folks etc…
It’s the ultimate in NIMBYism, NRIMBY.
No Russians in my backyard :)