Hacker News Reader

We had something similar happen in Tunisia in 2002. The reliance on diesel turbines meant a very long rebooting process.

As a result, the government invested heavily in installing gas turbines all over the country.

When we had another blackout event in 2018(?), it only took an hour or so to get things back again.

View on HN

Why is that? Are turbines easier to speed regulate than diesel engines?

Yes, the huge rotating mass is inherently more stable than a diesel. They key to grid stability is mostly huge rotating mass, either producing or consuming.

Or I guess, by inference, huge battery banks.

Battery tech is an upstart in the grid stabilization world, the standard is actually huge flywheels https://www.gevernova.com/power-conversion/sites/default/fil...

I imagine a lot of sunshine in Tunisia (not too familiar with your country) , is there a big transition to solar?

Yes. Many laws have been enacted in the last 5 years to enable more solar project.

The downside is that the choice was made to focus on smaller 10-20 MW projects, with the occasional 100+ MW installation.

Hence, despite new projects entering service every couple months solar only accounts for less than 3% of electricity production nationwide.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com