Comments by "Tim Trewyn" (@timtrewyn453) on "How Satellite Images Reveal What’s Happening in Ukraine" video.

As an electrical engineer, I would point out that it would be a sensible strategy to conserve electricity for heating, charging, and communications rather than use it on night lighting. Light at night attracts targeting sensors. Best to keep the lights off and force the opponent to maintain infrared surveillance, which is a bit more difficult than optical surveillance. However, I don't think this kind of conservation is what is going on in North Korea.
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@vladrazym9955 You miss my point. A damaged electrical system can be repaired, and repaired in very innovative ways in a war when efficiency is not the primary consideration. Lighting is a simple indication that damage has been repaired. Infrared can also be used to discern that damage has been repaired. But like lights being shut off intentionally, false infrared signatures can mislead interpretation of infrared imagery. Resolution of course plays a role, but it is in Ukraine's interest to mask not only the repair of its fixed or known electrical infrastructure, but to mask its increasingly mobile distributed electric generation. GPS coordinates that might have been valid a week ago may need to be updated because a mobile prime power generating unit has been relocated to another connection point. Distributed generation is not the normal form of efficient power generation, but it is very suited to a war zone. With time and a steady influx of mobile units and an increasing number of distribution system connection points, the generating system becomes more like a missile on a truck, i.e., not so easy to find. There also becomes too many targets to hit, especially when 50% or more of incoming missiles are intercepted in a manner that the target, even if located correctly, survives. And Russia does well not to strike power plants outside of Ukraine that are connected to the Ukrainian grid. These connections need not always be high voltage transmission in a war, as high voltage transmission stations are fewer in number and an obvious target. While less efficient, again, more numerous sub-transmission and even distribution substations can be used or modified to transmit useful amounts of power. And so in the futile effort to take down the Ukrainian electric system, Russia fails to use some of its best weaponry on military targets.
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@vladrazym9955 If Ukraine comes gradually to do distributed generation correctly, it will not matter if some of it gets hit by a strike. There are just too many targets to take out and too much AD to thin the attack. Smaller units just get replaced. Look at HIMARS. With all its eyes, the Russian's have not taken out half of it. And if they do, HIMARS is based on trucks that can be replaced. The Russians like people to think they see everything. They do not, or they cannot do anything about much of what they do see. I am glad it is a warm winter, and I hope Ukraine and its utility workers and allies keep working on the system to make it more reliable under war time conditions.
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@WangAiHua Like I said, I am an electrical engineer, and in the USAF, I was a sensor systems specialist. Lights out does not mean there is no electricity, as was being suggested by the image of a darkened Ukraine. Of course, Ukraine has less electric power than it used to, but that does not mean it has no power. Russia has to use IR sensors to determine if a substation has been restored to any degree. And restoring power is not limited to repairing known facilities. Temporary generation can be established along distribution lines. Eventually there are just too many targets in a distributed generation system. False IR signals can also be created to make those temporary sources even harder to pick out. Infrared imagery would tell a more accurate tale, but also has its drawbacks. Russia is wasting its guided missiles on non-military targets. The whole idea that attacking the Ukrainian power grid would lead to victory is proving false so far. The West is very experienced in the restoration of electric power after disasters.
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@susclik No they are not. Modern small generators work totally in the dark. They can be checked on and refueled during the day. You are thinking of large scale plants. Not all generation facilities are large scale, especially when they need to be distributed and multiplied in a war zone.
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@Czoken Not using electricity to create visible light conserves electricity for other purposes, the most important being power for communications and battery recharging. I mentioned IR sensing in my original comment. It can be saturated with false targets using non-electric heat sources, like wood.
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@newwonderer You make a good point.
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@susclik My brain's work gets diagnosed by electricians every day. They will let me know when it is time to quit being an engineer. :)
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@WangAiHua And Russia's attempt to achieve a total Ukrainian blackout is futile, because: 1) Ukraine can quickly repair and use existing and new interconnecting lines with adjacent nations; 2) Ukraine can import small prime power generation units that do not need a substation for interconnection to distribution feeders; 3) Ukraine can use less customary and more repairable methods to distribute power from repaired existing power plants. These measures increase the number of targets Russia has to strike to obtain a total Ukrainian blackout beyond its inventory of guided munitions. A small prime power generation unit can be promptly replaced. Every water well and every wastewater lift station and small treatment plant can be readily equipped with a small electric generating unit. This is not normally done because it is less efficient than centralized power plants, but this distributed system does work and greatly complicates any effort to totally take it out. Perhaps such reliability measures are not available to you to go and see for yourself. In my profession, I have frequent access to such facilities.
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@andrii.romaniuk Thank you for this bit of news, although I am surprised to hear about Odessa. I have friends from there and I will ask them about it. Could it be a little warmer in Odessa so they are not as high on the priority list for power restoration? My regards to you.
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