On our homestead, we generate our own electricity. We do this because the original builders of the homestead set it up that way, because we’re far beyond municipal utilities, and because we like taking responsibility for our own power.
Beyond that, there are many good reasons for either separating one’s family from the electrical grid, or at least creating back up electrical generation that doesn’t require additional power.
Electrical interties are a hot subject in Southeast Alaska, where high utility costs generate (sorry!) a lot of interest in connecting bush communities to power centers, like Juneau and Sitka. Our town is one, although the local needs require burning diesel fuel some of the time.
Interties, like so many aspects of modern life, work very well, provided everything goes as planned. When things don’t go as planned, it can be a disaster.
A satellite image of the northeastern U.S. taken by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program on Aug. 14, 2003 at 9:03 p.m., when a blackout affected 50 million people. (Image: NOAA/DMSP.)
For instance, 10 years ago yesterday, on August 14, 2003, the northern tier of the contiguous U.S. and southeast Canada experienced the largest “cascading” power blackout in the history of the world. It affected 50 million people!