10 Comments
Apr 10Liked by PenguinEmpireReports

These two graphs tell you what you need to know about a wind + solar grid carbon intensity and overall grid efficiency, France vs Germany compared, hourly avg CO2 gms/kwh:

https://twitter.com/energybants/status/1647815476683087875/photo/1

And here is daily avg CO2 gms/kwh from 2012 to 2023:

https://twitter.com/energybants/status/1676203551427825667/photo/1

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Apr 11Liked by PenguinEmpireReports

CA has been tracking its grid too- https://www.caiso.com/Documents/GreenhouseGasEmissions-TrackingReport-Feb2024.pdf

The curtailment challenges facing CAISO might be bit better this week, than last, as one of Diablo's reactors is now off-line.

https://www.caiso.com/Documents/Wind_SolarReal-TimeDispatchCurtailmentReportApr09_2024.pdf

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Apr 11Liked by PenguinEmpireReports

Do you have access to CA's data? If so, a plot of capacity factor of CA's renewables over those same periods analyzed would be revealing! Plot that against Diablo and all other sources from which CAISO bought power Does any of it come from Palo Verde?

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author

It’s a very interesting suggestion! It’s been a minute since I’ve gone in depth on CAISO but yes, some days winds capacity is extremely low.

Diablo runs about 87-90% capacity and Palo’ lifetime utilization is a a little bit lower.

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Apr 12Liked by PenguinEmpireReports

thank you, sir.

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author

Yes, thanks for the links! Unfortunately it’s pretty much the same story, different characters!

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author

Thanks for sharing! Yep! That sounds about right!

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Apr 10Liked by PenguinEmpireReports

Assuming you have enough dispatchable generation online to cover the swings, the ramp rates can really push AGCs ability to keep up. All that swinging puts a lot of thermal stress on traditional generation.

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author

100%. Last week when Alberta had the brownouts, the AESO was short 900MW of wind and the Keephills# 2 plant was running at just over 100% capacity before it tripped, sending the grid into brownouts.

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Apr 10Liked by PenguinEmpireReports

The thermal shock of a trip usually equals 200 to 500 hours of run time wear and tear.

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