FREQUENCY: Grid Under Load — strategy

FREQUENCY: Grid Under Load — a game about a balance you cannot bank.

You are the dispatcher. Three blocks: COAL (cheap and slow), GAS (expensive and

fast) and HYDRO (free, but limited by water). Plus a battery on the CITY bus and

an interchange with the neighbouring system. Your task is to hold frequency in the

49.3–50.7 Hz band.

How to play:

• 1 and 2 — coal setpoint down and up, 3 and 4 — gas, 5 and 6 — hydro
• B and N — battery: discharge and charge
• K and L — scheduled interchange: import and export
• X — open the selected line (click a line to select it)
• P pauses, Space starts a fresh run

Rules:

• A shift lasts 46 seconds; the system must still hold at the end
• Each shift the demand is 5.5% higher and the battery is smaller
• One accident per shift: a block fails or a line opens
• Frequency outside the band sounds the alarm; below 49.3 Hz protection sheds load
• Shedding half the load means the shift is lost
• Points come from completed shifts, the best score is kept in your browser

Tips:

• Keep hydro at maximum: it is free, ramps within seconds, the reservoir refills

on its own

• Keep gas on hot standby: coal is not accident-ready, it ramps in minutes
• Schedule the interchange EARLY: the neighbour supplies the more, the lower

the frequency goes

• Open an overloaded line before 100%, not after
• Watch the flows too: rearranging blocks changes the load of the whole

grid, and a fine line may hit 180%

Line flows are computed honestly by the hyperbolic equations, f = (θa − θb)/x,

with Kirchhoff's current law at every bus. Frequency follows the swing equation

with real inertia, so the dip after a failure lasts seconds. Governors act on a

static droop and cannot deliver more than the reserve to maximum: a reserve you

do not hold does not come back during an accident.

Not a single image file and not a single sound file: the grid schematic, blocks,

flows, the glow of overloaded lines and the alarm are drawn with primitives, and

the sound is synthesised through Web Audio.

Author-made game, released into the public domain (Unlicense).