Posted on 05/10/2023 4:01:43 AM PDT by grundle
In the real world a wind farm’s output often drops below 10 per cent of its rated “capacity” for days at a time. Solar power disappears completely every night and drops by 50 per cent or more during cloudy days. “Capacity” being a largely meaningless figure for a wind or solar plant, about 3000 megawatts (MW) of wind and solar capacity is needed to replace a 1000 MW conventional power station in terms of energy over time: and in fact, as we shall see, the conventional power station or something very like it will still be needed frequently once the wind and solar are online.
The governments of countries with a considerable amount of wind and solar generation have developed an expectation that they can simply continue to build more until net zero is achieved. The reality is that many of them have kept the lights on only by using existing fossil fired stations as backup for periods of low wind and sun. This brings with it a new operating regime where stations that were designed to operate continuously have to follow unpredictable fluctuations in wind and solar power. As a result operating and maintenance costs have increased and many stations have had to be shut down.
In fact it's already common to see efficient combined-cycle gas turbines replaced by open-cycle ones because they can be throttled up and down easily to back up the rapidly changing output of wind and solar farms. But open-cycle gas turbines burn about twice as much gas as combined cycle gas turbines. Switching to high-emissions machinery as part of an effort to reduce emissions is, frankly, madness!
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Finally an article that has some understanding about how the efficiency of combined cycle and open loop gas plays into the big picture....it makes wind and solar totally useless.
Bkmk
My bank account theoretically has a capacity of $10 billion.
Like the solar and wind generators, its capacity is essentially limitless.
If only I could fill my account up to capacity…
Yes we did! I was paying attention to energy policy then, too.
It’s cute you think Biden is in any way deciding policy.
You aren’t camping if there is 110v power. You are parking in a parking lot.
Agree on heavily clouded days, but a decent solar power system has batteries which keep power flowing during the dark.
True that. But it works only in use cases like ours. The outlets marked "green" below are intermittently powered by my solar inverters only when my home solar batteries are at least 70% charged (configurable). The more we charge the EV with that outlet (which we do if the EV is already charged more than enough for the next day's driving), the more charge we get knowing it's free. We'll plug it it into the other outlet (a constantly powered outlet) knowing that doing so may or may not result in adding to our power bill (depending on if we're getting good solar).
That works well for us only because the one managing it (me) is also the one who spent the money for it (my wife and I) and the end consumer using it (my wife and I). I have trouble seeing it working that well utility power when the end consumers interests don't match the interests of the bureaucrats' regulating the utility power.
“You aren’t camping if there is 110v power.”
No argument there but is having a refrigerator at all really camping? Not to mention hot running water, a gas stove, and a box to live in. And perhaps a tv and the internet.
It was never 'hidden,' you only had to look objectively and think critically.
The first question that never has been answered objectively and factually is, what hard evidence is there that a warmer planet would not be of benefit to all of mankind?
In this interview with Mike Adams, he presents his “belief” in human-caused global warming as as settled as his own private religion. Generously, he offers that he’s fine if you believe otherwise. Then he (at least openly) advocates for wind and solar as the simple, miracle solutions to the energy question that his religion formulates as problematic:
https://www.banned.video/watch?id=645a618eb1e3f80b3295b657
In Texas, we often experience doldrums during the summer, where there isn’t wind to speak of for days. Wind is simply not dependable power, especially when you need it most. Wind would be fine for some supplemental energy, but even functional windmills won’t produce as much power as it took to build them.
I'm with you! But, some people ONLY learn when the "lesson" is expensive.
Your common sense BRILLIANCE is truly IMPRESSIVE!
You just posed the QUESTION that has seldom been pondered and NEVER answered.
“But, some people ONLY learn when the “lesson” is expensive.”
And there will be many. The dealer said there are those wanting to switch out their 12v fridge for a gas/120v model, and it cannot be done.
I can see some getting a quick lesson in having their freezer stuffed with $100 worth of steaks, park in a National Park CG with no power hook up on a 90+ degree day, no sun and having it all spoil. And of course such people will be good little greenies and not have a polluting generator. You can’t fix stupid.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.