Researchers find why power grids sag every minute
Battery backups in data centres and on grids all check their charge on the minute, causing a synchronised dip in frequency, according to TechCrunch.
The facts
- Grid frequency has dipped slightly every 60 seconds, at the same moment on grids across countries and continents, according to TechCrunch.
- Dirk Witthaut's team at Forschungszentrum Jülich traced it to stationary batteries, from data centre UPSes to grid-scale units, that all check their state of charge every minute on synchronised clocks.
- In Ireland, where data centres were 18% of grid load by 2022, the minute-by-minute drop rose from 3 mHz in 2016 to 12 mHz in 2021, and some drops have since passed 20 mHz.
- The researchers recommend that manufacturers randomise the timing of the checks. Smart ovens and Raspberry Pi clusters showed similar periodic fluctuations, and a study cited by the source found under 3% of IoT devices run the latest firmware.
Case notes · Danny's take
Why it matters
The cause was not a fault in one plant. It was thousands of devices obeying the same clock. Each is harmless alone, but together they move a whole grid. As data centres take a bigger share of power demand, small habits in device software become a grid problem. The fix is simple, but getting it into every device is the hard part.
For builders
If you write firmware for batteries, UPSes or IoT devices, add random jitter to periodic tasks so devices don't all fire at once. Expect regulators to ask for it, and expect unpatched devices to keep the problem alive for years.
Not financial advice. Do your own investigation.
This story was summarised with AI from TechCrunch's reporting and checked against our editorial policy. Danny's take reflects his views. Disclaimer.
Danny Walter
Founder of Moon Republic, Volt Terminal and Moon Republic Academy. Author of The Market Is a Crime Scene and After the Applause.