Posted on 01/23/2022 5:21:38 AM PST by MtnClimber
In larger more sophisticated operations the generator comes online in minutes automatically I'm sure.
Not in the nuclear industry no, I spent 20+ years as a petroleum geologist, another decade as a hydrogeologist , have done hard rock mining for cobalt, coal, iron, gold and silver as well. I advise a law group on environmental issues and sell power as a solar provider and recently found it very profitable to do so so much so I hired 3 crews to put up panels on land leased sites. I also do consulting for the gas industry for salt water disposal and my GIS consulting company does powerline ROE and gas line ROE assesments. I have been in some way or form in the energy industry for 3 decades I also teach a couple geology classes at the local University just for grins and to give back some of my knowledge to the next gen of scientists.
The USA has enormous potential sites and water resources for pumped hydro.
I’m North of Prosper if I use retail ppwer it’s 3.65 cents per kWh in consumption and 3.4 cents per kWh for ONCOR distribution tariff and about 1.2 cents in taxes and meter fees at 1000 kWh or less usage per month. I only use power at night but my contract rates are not time based they are fixed with 100% of the power being wind from green mtn currently. During the day my panel fields pump hundreds of kWh into the grid so my daytime use is vastly negative today was over cast but periods of some sun my house used 30 kWh mostly for the heat pumps to make hot water for bathing. Even in over cast most of the day the panels put out 50 ish kWh today so still.negative total use. Tonight when I get home I’ll crank up thr heat pumps to 77 or 80 and pull back probably 30 more kWh tomorrow will be sunny so for the month I expect the total to be negative.
I have been locked in for two years at an all-in price of about 8 cents per kWh. Contract expires in June I think. East Texas.
Nice resume!
I worked for GE Nuclear designing nukes for 12 years, until 3-mile island hit as well as the China Syndrome movie.
Those two events were used to scare the crap out of people and it worked. The orders for new nukes dried up - I left GE a couple years after.
I still think Nuclear will make a comeback once the realities of wind and solar hit the fan.
Probably not that far away. Reality has slapped Governor Gruesom on the face hard enough that he decreed that natural gas is carbon free and thus green. It’s his way of meeting the green electricity target. Very similar to the trans delusions where a man with a penis can be decreed to be a woman. All you got to do is change the meaning of words, and voila, problem solved.
The problem isn’t just supply, storage, or transport, it’s also collection. PV cells are generally maybe 20% efficient. Solar radiation averages 340W per sq meter, obviously higher on the tropics, maybe 1000W at most. Absolute best is what, 200W The average US nuke is around a GigaWatt. That’s a LOT of panels, that depend on seeing the sun every day all year. That’s a lot of backup power storage if this plan eliminates every nuke and hydrocarbon plant. What about places that have nonstop cloud cover? Transmission losses aren’t gonna let you just cart all the sun in the Sahara to Portland!
And it’s expensive to transport. Solar and wind need copper going from every unit to where the power goes. Hydrocarbons can be sent down cheap steel pipes or a truck to anywhere you need it.
I agree it’s definitely a good system to use, but that site is very wrong in thinking a few hundred sites can give these entire US a “renewable power system”.
They don’t generate any power at all. They store it. Every single Joule you get out of it, you had to put even more into it. So you need at least the equivalent amount of generation to be able to pump the water up in the first place. And that power needs to be going to prepping the tanks, not being sold. Wind and solar may be “clean”, but they have plenty of other hazards - recycling after service life, the amount of copper required for installation, the sheer land area required per Watt of generation. Not to mention maintenance and service life as well..
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