Essay by Eric Worrall
h/t Dr. Willie Soon; “… The challenge is that wind and solar farms—which are among the cheapest forms of power generation—don’t produce electricity at all times …”
Electricity Shortage Warnings Grow Across U.S.
Power-grid operators caution that electricity supplies aren’t keeping up with demand amid transition to cleaner forms of energy
By Katherine Blunt May 8, 2022 5:33 am ET
From California to Texas to Indiana, electric-grid operators are warning that power-generating capacity is struggling to keep up with demand, a gap that could lead to rolling blackouts during heat waves or other peak periods as soon as this year.
California’s grid operator said Friday that it anticipates a shortfall in supplies this summer, especially if extreme heat, wildfires or delays in bringing new power sources online exacerbate the constraints. The Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO, which oversees a large regional grid spanning much of the Midwest, said late last month that capacity shortages may force it to take emergency measures to meet summer demand and flagged the risk of outages. In Texas, where a number of power plants lately went offline for maintenance, the grid operator warned of tight conditions during a heat wave expected to last into the next week.
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The challenge is that wind and solar farms—which are among the cheapest forms of power generation—don’t produce electricity at all times and need large batteries to store their output for later use. While a large amount of battery storage is under development, regional grid operators have lately warned that the pace may not be fast enough to offset the closures of traditional power plants that can work around the clock.
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Faced with the prospect of having to call for blackouts when demand exceeds supply, many grid operators are now grappling with the same question: How to encourage the build-out of batteries and other new technologies while keeping traditional power plants from closing too quickly.
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Read more: https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/electricity-shortage-warnings-grow-across-u-s-11652002380
In my opinion this WSJ article verges on deceptive.
Wall Street Journal author Katherine Blunt did not mention the hideous cost of batteries, instead implying that the slow pace of backup battery installation is because of supply chain problems and inflation.
The Wall Street Journal article also described solar and wind as the “cheapest forms of power generation”, without qualifying this statement by adding the cost of the power storage capacity required to make renewable energy reliable, the cost of massive renewable energy overcapacity required to charge the batteries during good times, and maintain power supply during mediocre times, and the cost of upgrading and maintaining an enlarged power distribution network, to ship renewable energy from the frequently remote renewable generation sources to cities and industrial complexes where the energy is needed.
Once you factor in these renewable specific additional costs, renewable energy is very expensive indeed.
Is any utility adding batteries for anything other than grid stabilization?
Yes. In Western Australia, small community-based battery setups are being installed to power a small number of homes. But never see any data on how effective they are, or whether they are profitable over their short lifetimes. I should add that WA has plenty of sun so lots of homes have solar arrays – around 25% of dwellings.
Apparently makes sense for small remote communities where the cost of grid transmission lines to them brooks large as well as bushfire threat to them. Local solar and wind sometimes plus battery becomes the mainstay with a diesel generator of last resort similar to remote cattle stations. Even then 100% reliance on renewables isn’t affordable which is the micro clue to the macro grid problem.
but don’t worry, the solar and wind operators don’t pay any pesky penalties for unreliable, overpriced power
in fact, in most cases, thanks to sweetheart contracts they actually make more money when they under-deliver
and then their lobbyists explain you just need more green power
perfect self-licking ice cream cone
“wind and solar farms—which are among the cheapest forms of power generation”
And the cheapest source of water is rain – who needs storage and pipes and heat and taps etc?
That’s it! You got it how the Gretahood thinks. ie there is no shortage of batteries for the grid-
Electric car battery shortage looms in 2025, warns Stellantis boss (msn.com)
You just have to contextualize/compartmentalize these things. That’s a separate issue for EVs but should you bring it up in relation to EVs they’ll say it’s nonsense and Elon has it all covered.
Now you know how they like to computer model the global climate with tree rings and stuff? Well they now have faith in computers fixing their unreliables problem and shutting up any nasty critics-
Machine Learning is Supercharging Wind and Solar Power – Undecided with Matt Ferrell (undecidedmf.com)
All the problems can simply be simulated away if you would only think like them and eschew impure thoughts.
“Katherine Blunt has covered power, renewable energy and utilities for The Wall Street Journal since 2018 and is based in San Francisco. Much of her work has focused on wildfires, drought and other challenges facing utilities in the West.”
“…. among the cheapest forms of power generation….”
if you wilfully ignore costs of :
intermittency and back up
instability and support systems like batteries and synch condensers and management systems
more complex and remote transmission line requirements
short life cycle infrastructure
environmental damage and both ends of the life cycle
inability to support a first world economy as demonstrated globally
I love providing this link:
https://ourworldindata.org/safest-sources-of-energy
Nuclear is not only the LOWEST CO2 output source, it’s also the most reliable. So when the intermittent power shills start squawking about global warming, I link this and say “why would you want a source that provides HIGHER CO2 output and is much less reliable? Do you hate the environment? Do you hate modern life enabled by stable, reliable power?”
It quickly shifts to a dozen other arguments, proving it’s NOT about “green/clean energy” but ultimate control of how countries “should” run and evolve.
Renewables are the “cheapest form of energy”?! What a load of BS. Here in California we have the highest penetration of “renewables” in the country yet our offpeak electric rates are at 22 cents / kwh and peak rates are 50 cents or more. My family in AZ pays about 2 cents and 11 cents respectively. Of course their grid draws heavily from nuclear.
rain is the cheapest solution to get water…