Renewable energy’s share on German power grids reached 55% in 2023, regulator says

[fjlip]

Lots to chew on..."How much do I want to have on renewables? How do we deal with the fact that sometimes availability and demand don’t match?"
"“So you say, okay, maybe we do baseload nuclear. Then maybe gas fired or even hydrogen-fired gas turbines for peaks [in demand].”

But he added: “Where does the hydrogen come from? That story of green hydrogen is another fairytale. If you believe in the next five years, in industry it’s a feasible option - it’s not.”"
"A dash to build bigger and bigger turbines has in some cases proved counterproductive, Mr Kaeser said, by forcing manufacturers to spend large sums of money upfront with too little time to recoup their investments."


Pipe dreams fixing a problem we don't HAVE!

Waste of humanity's efforts.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

2 natural gas plants shut down unexpectedly and were not running in Alberta as well. But all the blame rests on renewables? Only in Alberta!

I see all of the science deniers on the left keep trotting out this argument.

So I checked. 2 out of the 89 fossil fuel power plants in Alberta were down due to unscheduled maintenance.
And at various times, 88 of the 88 wind and solar generators were offline due to unscheduled weather( or is it climate change?) Actually, the cold snap and wind dearth was scheduled, and in fact, the sun going down at night has been scheduled for as long as I can remember.
But according to Chuck, the emergency alert is the fault of the ~2% of fossil fuel plants, not the 100% of wind and solar plants which were offline.

[fjlip]

Ha Ha got him again

[chuckChuck]

Everyone including the AESO can predict what the supply of renewables are based on the weather forecast. So its up to the AESO to manage the supply of gas plants, imports and all the sources. So it wasn't the failure of renewables at all, because the AESO predictably knows what happens with demand and their output in a cold snap.

Blake Shafer:

"The truth is that the system performed pretty much as expected. The sun didn’t shine at night (shocker, I know), so solar power was not an option; the high-pressure system that accompanies these frigid temperatures also meant very little wind; and a couple of gas plants struggled but overall the thermal fleet did exceptionally well given the extreme conditions.

First, the role of renewables needs to be clarified. Critics may take the opportunity to denigrate wind and solar, pointing out their lack of production during the emergency alert and that they can’t be relied on during extreme peaks.

But wind and solar are not peaking, or “dispatchable,” resources. They are “as available” energy producing when nature provides. Those that claim otherwise – whether to pretend they’re more than that, or that they ought to be – are misguided. At a low enough cost, you accept them for what they are: cheap raw energy. When they run, they displace fuel from other sources and deliver low emissions electricity in the process.

Given their low cost, renewables are here to stay. And in Alberta they’ll be an increasing share of annual energy. The real challenge is maintaining and developing the portfolio of flexible resources to complement them. Here I’m talking about storage, expanded interties, demand response and, yes, gas peaking plants. This month’s emergency demonstrates just how important these on-demand resources are."

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Here I’m talking about storage, expanded interties, demand response and, yes, gas peaking plants.

You just keep repeating these same answers.
Grid scale storage does not exist anywhere in the world in quantities that make it useful for actually backing up wind and solar. We have been through this before.
Expanded interties, at the same time that all of the neighboring provinces/states/countries are sabatoging their own grids with wind and solar. You literally brag that Manitoba is going to build exclusively wind and solar going forward, yet you also expect them to back up AB and SK's intermittent wind and solar. This is the literal definition of a Ponzi scheme where everyone's back up plan is to borrow electricity from someone else when the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine. Do you think adding more redundant transmission lines will make electricity cheaper or more expensive to the consumer?
Demand response. This is a fancy way of saying big brother will control your consumption with rolling black outs, or smart meters so the grid operator can throttle your usage during peak demand. You won't be charging your EV when the sun isn't shining, you won't be using your heat pump when it is most desperately needed, since the wind isn't blowing. Does that sound like progress?
And gas peaking plants are the least efficient way to generate power using gas. Most expensive to operate, highest CO2. And where do you plan to "store" all this natural gas which will be needed to meet up to 100% of the grids needs, at random times throughout the day/year? Do you think that storage will be cheap, assuming the geology even allows this to happen where it is most needed? What will happen to the price of natural gas if it has no market at all during certain parts of the year, then has to meet 100% of demand for electricity and heating for long periods at other times of the year?

[wade]

This green energy policy strikes me as being very similar to "The budget will balance itself" way of thinking when it comes to energy needs/demand.

I wonder if in the future, it is found that this green policy ends up being brown!

[chuckChuck]

I am more likely to believe Andrew Leach and Blake Shafer who study energy markets for a living and understand the electricity system better than you or I and they both say large amounts of renewables are both possible and desirable if the goal is to reduce emissions and keep costs reasonable.

In the current Alberta free market for electrcity when solar and wind are producing, the wholesale price comes down. And there is 2000 Mw of new gas that is coming on line which will cover off the next cold spell unless they crap out.

[Guest]

you used to trust Mr. Moore also until he came to his senses

[Guest]

I am more likely to believe Andrew Leach and Blake Shafer who study energy markets for a living and understand the electricity system better than you or I and they both say large amounts of renewables are both possible and desirable if the goal is to reduce emissions and keep costs reasonable.

In the current Alberta free market for electrcity when solar and wind are producing, the wholesale price comes down. And there is 2000 Mw of new gas that is coming on line which will cover off the next cold spell unless they crap out.

you are forgetting about the open gates at the border