"Home" is an interesting caching location, because per transformer or per neighorhood (especially at a point of going under ground) would likely scale better and provide the same race condition coverage.
For Residential, the race condition is typically on the heat pump first stroke. Smart thermostats with dithered (5 minute wait) starts go a long way for this; home/away schedules reduce collisions more, and then rate based timing adjustments go distance.
But, the problem is still uptake, smart thermostats are only peak reliability as long as there aren't 2 units holding out; and assuming no 2 units have failing capacitors, compressors, or a refrigerant failure at the same time. Real life is more pareto, at least 20% of your neighbors will unmaintained systems.
(Resistive electric water heaters are the next biggest draws, that have a dithered cache based on loss of water temperature; getting all of these units to smaller spot units or heat pump will be a huge step in grid reliability)
smileysteve · · focus · HN ↗
For Residential, the race condition is typically on the heat pump first stroke. Smart thermostats with dithered (5 minute wait) starts go a long way for this; home/away schedules reduce collisions more, and then rate based timing adjustments go distance.
But, the problem is still uptake, smart thermostats are only peak reliability as long as there aren't 2 units holding out; and assuming no 2 units have failing capacitors, compressors, or a refrigerant failure at the same time. Real life is more pareto, at least 20% of your neighbors will unmaintained systems.
(Resistive electric water heaters are the next biggest draws, that have a dithered cache based on loss of water temperature; getting all of these units to smaller spot units or heat pump will be a huge step in grid reliability)