this post was submitted on 16 Apr 2024
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okmatewanker
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Correct term is Brownouts, Jill. It's when the power draw exceeds capacity and some areas can get power while others can't. Videos games taught me that one Jill. Had to decide who got power in Mojave, Jill.
Technically, what you described is a rolling blackout. A blackout is when power is totally lost. A brownout is when the voltage sags below the minimum specs.
The power grid will initiate rolling blackouts rather than let the whole grid brown out. Brownouts can actually be a lot worse than blackouts. A lot of equipment will try and compensate and so make the problem worse, as well as cause whole new problems.
On a grid level, brownouts will also cause the frequency to drop. This can cause phase differences, and so cause equipment to blow up (or rather shut down, so it doesn't blow up!)