Proposal: Power Teams

[dragoon500ly]

On the supplybunker website, we have an interesting article entitled “Social Engineering and Sociogenesis, The Project’s Real Goals.” It’s interesting reading, especially when looking at some of the teams in the Project. This proposal is about two of these, the Power (Mobile) Team and the Power (Generation) Team.

The Power (Mobile) Team is listed as consisting of 73 teams across the country with a total of 200 personnel for an average of 2.7 personnel each.

The Power (Generation) Team is listed as consisting of 16 teams across the country with a total of 400 personnel for an average of 25 personnel each.

That’s it. No further description of duties or equipment. Sooooooo…

The Power (Mobile) Team, in my opinion, would be used to provide power as needed for a variety of missions. Supplying a newly constructed Project base, supporting a survivor community, you get the idea. With an average of 2.7 personnel per team, its not big, implying that it consists of, at most a vehicle hauling a fusion-powered generator or a few dozen fusion power packs. While I believe I understand the rational for a very small team, in my own heresy, I would state that the PMT consists of ten personnel, in three vehicles. Vehicle One is a standard V-150 APC. Vehicle Two is a fusion-powered 5-ton truck that carries a fusion generator and several fusion packs and tows a trailer loaded with a dozen spools of electrical cable and hardware. Vehicle Three is another fusion-powered 5-ton truck that has been modified to mount a combination crane/extendable bucket and towing a trailer loaded with more spools of electrical cable and hardware.

The intent is to provide power as well as a limited capability to string electrical power lines over a short distance, say about a mile or so.

The Power (Generation) Team can consist of fixed bases (such as in Desert Search) or mobile teams that are intended to go to existing power plants and conduct repairs and bring the plants back online, if possible. Needless to say, their caches would have lots of spare parts for their targeted plants!

Thoughts?

[ChalkLine]

As the USA is still a hostile place trenching power lines into the ground makes them less vulnerable, but takes far greater time. I suppose they'll use both techniques depending on the situation.

[dragoon500ly]

Originally Posted by ChalkLine

As the USA is still a hostile place trenching power lines into the ground makes them less vulnerable, but takes far greater time. I suppose they'll use both techniques depending on the situation.

Never has made much sense not to dig in looser lines. The utility companies scream about cost,but when a hurricane strikes and you have to rebuild almost from scratch?

I can see above ground lines for temporary use, otherwise dig them in.

[cosmicfish]

As part of the Project mission, I would think that the Power Teams would have two missions:

1) To provide immediate power to critical locations, like emplacing portable fusion plants near a town center to provide power to a hospital, communications center, water supply and purification, manufacturing site, and shared refrigeration location, all arranged or relocated to be adjacent to the power source. In this capacity, they would emplace the power supply somewhere an existing field Team could monitor and protect it, and move on.

2) To assist the populace in restoring existing power generation, transformation, and transmission equipment. The Project can never provide all of the equipment for a complete power grid, so after they have emplaced their portable systems, the next step is to take relevantly skilled workers from the populace and start getting the existing infrastructure running again. This happens only after an area has been reasonably secured, of course.

Permanently-placed Power Teams, as in Desert Search? Zero value in them. Too hard to predict where they will be needed to support the populace, and if the goal it to power Project needs... place the power systems WITH the Project needs.

[cosmicfish]

Also, as part of the regular equipment available to field Teams and at supply bases there should be solar panels and small wind mills with AC and DC converters, paired with deep cycle marine batteries (or some ultratech equivalent). A small town without power can be immensely improved just by having enough power to run a radio and refrigerate medicines and important provisions.

[dragoon500ly]

So solar panels, batteries, windmill generators, perhaps multi-fuel generators, and here's a thought, since gasoline cannot be stored for long periods of time, stocks of fuel stabilizers and perhaps some nanotech that can "clean" up old stocks of gasoline and restore to something useful.