As always great read. And Tuco's Child is spot on Albert is experiencing what The Great State of Texas experiences. Wind energy performed poorly during the winter storm starting with ice accumulation that led to some wind farms needing to shut down early in the crisis. Wind power outages peaked at about 9 gigawatts, a number that takes into account wind levels on those days and while large amount of power that was lost was natural gas 25 gigawatts ,coal and nuclear outages cut another 4.5 gigawatts and 1.3 gigawatts respectively, of the 40 something gigawatts that was on the grid, it was natural gas, coal, & nuclear, wind so zero! The reason for the large drop in number for natural gas is do to the fact that it's makes up the majority of the grid. So as more and more weather depend source come online we should expect this to occur and if we can short it, boy we could make a killin!
It would be "nice" if the renewable industry took a little responsibility other than telling someone else to install batteries. I know grid forming inverters on solar projects can be operated at part output creating some reserve, but they don't. I would think by now the technology exists to pitch a wind turbine blade and reduce the output to part load, but they don't. And they get away with it 😡
It would be nice! But unfortunately a political grid, often imposed on an RTO/ISO structured grid that is mainly interested in the spot price of electricity, not the actual value of reliability. As Charlie Munger used to say ‘show me the incentives, and I’ll show you the outcomes.’
Many of the Greens simply don't see the consequences of relying on asynchronous fuels. Fossil fuels will inevitably have to play a significant role in energy generation for another while yet until some sort of method of affordable method of large scale electrical storage comes along. That or we finally fully realise the potential of nuclear power as a reliable resource for supplying a constant source of energy, reliant on nothing but the trusty nuclear fuel rod! The new molten salt thorium reactor in China shows promise with its increased safety which hopefully help shift public opinion.
But I guess people will keep spouting out the 'fact' that wind and solar are the cheapest sources of energy... conveniently leaving out their horrendous unreliability!
Very well written and engaging article.
Reminds me of the deep freeze in TX that seized all the turbines solid. These had to de-ice by spraying fluid from helicopters!
Thank you!
As always great read. And Tuco's Child is spot on Albert is experiencing what The Great State of Texas experiences. Wind energy performed poorly during the winter storm starting with ice accumulation that led to some wind farms needing to shut down early in the crisis. Wind power outages peaked at about 9 gigawatts, a number that takes into account wind levels on those days and while large amount of power that was lost was natural gas 25 gigawatts ,coal and nuclear outages cut another 4.5 gigawatts and 1.3 gigawatts respectively, of the 40 something gigawatts that was on the grid, it was natural gas, coal, & nuclear, wind so zero! The reason for the large drop in number for natural gas is do to the fact that it's makes up the majority of the grid. So as more and more weather depend source come online we should expect this to occur and if we can short it, boy we could make a killin!
Thank you very much for kind words and restack!
It would be "nice" if the renewable industry took a little responsibility other than telling someone else to install batteries. I know grid forming inverters on solar projects can be operated at part output creating some reserve, but they don't. I would think by now the technology exists to pitch a wind turbine blade and reduce the output to part load, but they don't. And they get away with it 😡
It would be nice! But unfortunately a political grid, often imposed on an RTO/ISO structured grid that is mainly interested in the spot price of electricity, not the actual value of reliability. As Charlie Munger used to say ‘show me the incentives, and I’ll show you the outcomes.’
Agreed, but it never hurts to wax whimsical now and then.
A little humor is good for the soul!
Very well written and thought provoking article.
Many of the Greens simply don't see the consequences of relying on asynchronous fuels. Fossil fuels will inevitably have to play a significant role in energy generation for another while yet until some sort of method of affordable method of large scale electrical storage comes along. That or we finally fully realise the potential of nuclear power as a reliable resource for supplying a constant source of energy, reliant on nothing but the trusty nuclear fuel rod! The new molten salt thorium reactor in China shows promise with its increased safety which hopefully help shift public opinion.
But I guess people will keep spouting out the 'fact' that wind and solar are the cheapest sources of energy... conveniently leaving out their horrendous unreliability!