Wind power has failed to deliver what it promised

The UK Telegraph ^ | June 15, 2013 | By Telegraph View

[Gandalf_The_Gray]

When the wind does not blow and the turbines fail to do their job, consumers have to fall back on the very fossil fuels that they were designed to replace...(domestic coal stations that ought to supply more of the demand have been closed in order to meet carbon-emission reduction targets).

Now the really bad news! If your "backup" power is from coal fired plants you need to be clairvoyant. A typical coal fired, steam driven turbine/generator system needs about 24 hours to do a "cold start" (go from a cold boiler to full power synchronized to the grid output). Since wind power can drop to zero at a moments notice and operators are seldom clairvoyant you are forced to keep the boilers hot and the turbines turning even when the wind is blowing. This is not a problem for a nuclear powered plant but we're are shutting those down as they reach their design life (about 30 years) and not replacing them.

Wind power is fickle, we need to build modular nuclear plants using a thermal breeder reactor that uses the thorium fuel cycle in a fluoride-based molten (liquid) salt fuel to achieve high operating temperatures at atmospheric pressure. Modular so that a design can be "type certified" to streamline the licensing process and then built as standardized units.

Regards,
GtG

[hattend]

Sitting there would scare the crap out of me.