Replies

Thanks for the lesson. I was just a kid and didn't understand how they worked, but I do vaguely remember something about storing excess in generators to be tapped when the wind was low, maybe I got that wrong.

I didn't know that they weren't used for electricity but only for pumping water. Thanks for the lesson. We city folk weren't taught about those things in school even any of my science classes, and I took more than average including a couple of courses in physics and chemistry in college.

And I didn't learn the simplest, most practical things until I picked up a copy of Mother Earth News and was intrigued with the problems with pumping water uphill out of a pond, not that I understood it all, but it was more than I'd ever been exposed to before.

Those weren't girl things either, and farmers were marginalized although they contributed so much to our way of life.

I do vaguely remember something about storing excess in generators

Energy cannot be stored in generators.

You can run generators below their maximum output so that they can quickly be used to deliver more power. But that means normally running a 1,000 MW generator at something like 800 MW. Typically their efficiency is at fully loaded conditions so this spare capacity comes with extra cost during normal operations.

In the electricity management business the ability to "switch on" and "switch off" on short notice a generating asset goes to the issue of dispatchability. As the demand curve varies you want to be able to meet the demand as best you can. Some things are better than others for doing this. Gas turbines can be brought fairly quickly from fully shutdown to being online, but they are often designed for temporary duty, to meet upward surges in demand but then be shut down when demand drops. Other things are best for chugging along meeting the demand that is always there. Larger units using nuclear or coal are generally best for this.

Wind presents a problem because we have no control over when it will or will not be available. When it is available, you can and probably want to use it, but that may not be when you need it. There is that potential mismatch between available supply and what the demand on the grid is at any given time. In that sense, wind is a somewhat ancient technology, going back to essentially the Middle Ages. Mankind has labored mightily over the centuries to be free of reliance on the capricious and often chaotic nature of natural phenomena. Environmental control in buildings, damming of rivers, automotive transport, irrigation for agriculture, and energy supply are examples of this. We should try to live in harmony with nature as best we can, but our well-being and safety are often enhanced if we don't depend to heavily on things we can't control.