Re:Australia has enough solar, wind storage in pipeline to g...
by gwright on Friday March 22, 2019 @01:20AM
(#19459833)
It is not an analogous situation at all and it is mainly due to the highly intermittent/variable nature of wind and solar.
If I have to provide 100 units of energy (peak) a wind/solar farm that produces 100 units of energy (max) doesn't cut it. Solar obviously varies with time of day and doesn't particularly match actual demand curves. Wind is very unpredictable and can generate 0 units of energy when it is needed and 100 units of energy when it isn't needed. So you still need to have 100 units of capacity coming from traditional systems (coal/gas/nuclear). Congratulations you are now using renewables perhaps 30-40% of the time, still building/maintaining your existing systems, and everybody's electric bill has doubled or tripled.
See southern Australia or Germany for real life examples of the problems caused by relying too much on renewables.
If I have to provide 100 units of energy (peak) a wind/solar farm that produces 100 units of energy (max) doesn't cut it. Solar obviously varies with time of day and doesn't particularly match actual demand curves. Wind is very unpredictable and can generate 0 units of energy when it is needed and 100 units of energy when it isn't needed. So you still need to have 100 units of capacity coming from traditional systems (coal/gas/nuclear). Congratulations you are now using renewables perhaps 30-40% of the time, still building/maintaining your existing systems, and everybody's electric bill has doubled or tripled.
See southern Australia or Germany for real life examples of the problems caused by relying too much on renewables.