You can hire engineers to design anything and they will do it. That doesn't mean what they designed at your urging makes sense in all situations.
There is also a difference between engineers who design products and engineers who design and operate systems made up of individual products. The people who make the individual products (wind turbines in this case) will want to sell you that product to the largest extent possible. The people who build and operate the system understand what products they actually need in the correct balance to make the system work.
The bottom line is, too many wind turbines and not enough fast start backup will be a disaster. A properly balanced system will not include a "prominent" wind turbine fleet but will include wind turbines where they make sense.
With the political winds as they are, you are probably correct. We will have wind turbines as a prominent part of new generation despite the economics, aesthetics, and logistical problems they entail. We will have problems as a result.
There is also a difference between engineers who design products and engineers who design and operate systems made up of individual products. The people who make the individual products (wind turbines in this case) will want to sell you that product to the largest extent possible. The people who build and operate the system understand what products they actually need in the correct balance to make the system work.
The bottom line is, too many wind turbines and not enough fast start backup will be a disaster. A properly balanced system will not include a "prominent" wind turbine fleet but will include wind turbines where they make sense.
With the political winds as they are, you are probably correct. We will have wind turbines as a prominent part of new generation despite the economics, aesthetics, and logistical problems they entail. We will have problems as a result.
I think that we are using the word prominent a bit differently and you are putting much more into the word than I am meaning.
So while I believe I used the word correctly, in an effort to get on the same page I will use the word significant. I don't mean 75% of the system, 50% of the system or any particular number. I mean enough that it makes a difference.
I believe that T. Boone Pickens used 23%?
Regardless I don't think you are saying anything significantly different than what I am saying. And I know that wind requires more backup spinning reserve than normal plants. But I don't see that as a problem since Wind Power would be replacing existing plants and they can be the spinning reserve.