Posted on 04/29/2025 5:03:14 AM PDT by MtnClimber
When you exceed the rule of thumb of 15% for renewables as part of grid capacity, you increase your risk for blackouts.
Spain was up to 56% and then went to 100% last week. Renewables are expensive and produce inconsistent power whereas nuclear and coal produce cheap and consistent electrical power. I expect to see many more blackouts in their future. Netzero could be re-defined as zero electrical power for you.
Spanish power BLACKOUT: Why Net Zero and RENEWABLES were to blame | MGUY Australia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed8JLg92zGw
Spain’s big blackout came less than week after it went full green on electricity
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4313907/posts
Spain’s 100% renewable energy milestone followed by historic blackout – Coincidence?
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4313945/posts
The Iberian Peninsula… wiped off the map of lights. This is how it looked from orbit last night after a massive blackout hit Spain and Portugal. Cosmic silence over the region.”
https://x.com/buzzyrobot/status/1917172175418659130
It is difficult to regulate the AC frequency without heavy rotating machinery with lots of angular momentum. Sun and wind make frequency regulation an almost impossible task. The system is “hard” when you have power generated by 90% spinning mass and solar and wind cannot upset it. But when you get above 20% or 25% renewables without spinning mass regulation becomes hard and above that the system can become unstable.
I thought that there was also an reliance on out of state grids that couldn’t come through?
“Crazed fanatics who don’t know what they are doing” describes it pretty well. We can’t work with electrical sources that are constantly varying with not only unavailability, but with frequency & available voltage & current going up & down. The only thing is, we keep hearing about someone putting in another solar array or another wind farm, but not another conventional powerplant that furnishes ectricity in the way we need it. What’s wrong with these “geniuses” that can’t understand this? This is general knowledge about electrical energy that’s been known for some time now.
What kind of control over voltage & frequency can these “green power” sources provide? These are vital in any major power sources for a nation. I never went to college; graduated from high school & I understand this, so why do we depend on college educated “geniuses” to figure this out?
The traditional power generators are based on turbine engines. Steam turbines for nuclear, coal and oil-fired generators. Gas turbines for natural gas generators. These generators have rotational generators where the rotational speed and generator winding count determine the frequency output (50 cycles per second in Europe and many other places, 60 for the USA). The torque into the generator determines the power put into the grid. The generator will sync to the frequency of the grid and if more power than demand is put into the grid than the generator will "slip" it's phase slightly ahead of the grid (360 degrees is one cycle). If the generator is falling behind in supplying power to the grid then the phase will slip backward. The control of the grid depends on matching power supply and demand. The phase slip is how you know if you are supplying too much torque or too little.
The cited sources stated that the frequency was falling below 50 cycles per second (Hz) and that the European grid connection to Spain and Portugal was disconnected. That indicates that the power put into the grid from Spain and Portugal solar and wind and traditional generation was not enough to meet demand and that the European grid could not supply enough power to make up the difference. This inability to supply the power caused the European generators to have pole slips and the thing that happens when the phase slips too much is that the frequency slows down and if the phase slips more than (I think it may be 90 degrees, but it could be 180 degrees) then the generator starts "skipping poles" which is the grid power slamming the generator through a partial rotation to get back in phase which is a violent event which can destroy the generator. If the European grid was being dragged down then at a certain point it will disconnect from the branch draining power to avoid damage to generators. The solar and wind generators produce direct current (DC) which must use inverters to change to alternating current (AC) power and match the grid frequency. I am not sure how the green energy power input is regulated, but as long as it is not too large a percentage then the traditional generators could regulate everything. It looks to me like there was not enough traditional generation capacity in the European grid to make up for the shortfall in Spain and Portugal. This is exactly what the skeptics have been saying would happen.
You can look at your situation two ways...business and freedom. So it takes you 8 years to get your money back and to break even...well that sucks. On the otherhand you are already “rich”. If things go to crud, and standard grids and power goes down for months or years and normal money and economic systems go haywire so that the old ways at looking at expenses and break even points suddenly become meaningless, you have a powered house. You better have friendly neighbors and the means to defend it.
You are intrinsically in a better place, even if you lament about ‘getting your money back over 8 years’. What price is grid independence worth to you?
It comes from electricity. But, over its lifespan, it will create a heck of a lot more electricity than it took to make it. Now, the question you should be asking is how toxic the manufacturing process is for solar panels.
If the wind don’t blow steady or the skies are cloudy the electric power won’t be reliable.
Coal, nuclear, natural gas power plants are reliable 24/7.
I’m surprised that France is affected. I thought the frogs had nuke plants. The one smart thing they have ever done.
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