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Category Archives: Renewable Integration
Utility scale energy storage has a long way to go to make renewables possible
What follows comes from my book “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation” , which is also where you’ll find the references backing up what I’ve written below. I often get letters from people about energy breakthroughs … Continue reading
Underground pumped hydro storage is the only technology capable of massive storage for renewable electricity
[ Picard concludes that “None of the candidate technologies for massive-scale renewable and sustainable generation of ‘‘green’’ electricity deliver it in a form suitable for high-efficiency storage. None of the prospectively-massive storage modes for transformed electricity is at present well … Continue reading
Posted in Electric Grid, Energy Storage, Grid instability, Hydropower, Renewable Integration
Tagged energy storage, intermittency
4 Comments
Why Nuclear Power is not an alternative to fossil fuels
[ Economic reasons are the main hurdle to new nuclear plants now, with capital costs so high it’s almost impossible to get a loan, especially when natural gas is so much cheaper and less risky. But there are other reasons … Continue reading
Posted in Alternative Energy, Energy, Nuclear Power, Renewable Integration
Tagged breeder, nuclear
14 Comments
Germany’s “Energiewende” may need to be rescued with nonrenewable coal power
[ Below is my summary of The Energiewende is Running Up Against Its Limits (October 24, 2016) by Jeffrey Michel at the Energy Collective. Wealthy, well-educated Germany has tried harder and longer than most nations to make a transition to renewables. … Continue reading
Posted in National Super Grid, Renewable Integration
Tagged coal, electric grid, Energiewende, germany, transmission
1 Comment
California could hit the solar wall
[ According to a Stanford University article below this introduction (followed by excerpts from two California Energy Commission reports), if California uses mainly solar power to meet a 50% Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), on sunny days, for most of the … Continue reading
Posted in Photovoltaic Solar, Renewable Integration
Tagged alternative energy, renewable integration, solar, solar wall
4 Comments
Wanted: Math geniuses and power engineers to make a renewable grid possible
Figure 1. OPF solution of original seven-bus system with generator at bus 4 offering high [The U.S. electric grid produces over two-thirds of its power with finite fossil fuels, and another 20% from nuclear power. Since fossil fuels and uranium … Continue reading
Posted in Electric Grid, Grid instability, Renewable Integration, Smart Grid
Tagged electric grid, electricity, math, renewable integration, solar, stability, wind
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Why the Grid is getting less reliable. House Hearing 2013.
House 113-40. May 9, 2013. Grid reliability challenges in a shifting energy resource landscape. U.S. House of Representatives. 176 pages. Mr. Jonathan A. Lesser, President Continental Economics, Inc. [This is a really good introduction to how the grid works and … Continue reading
Posted in Grid instability, Infrastructure, Renewable Integration
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Capacity value of solar is low as penetration increases which could suppress investment
Notes from 33 page: NREL. 2014. Representation of Solar Capacity Value in the ReEDS Capacity Expansion. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Technical Report NREL/TP-6A20-61182 March 2014 Comparison of Capacity Value at High Penetration. Several researchers have conducted modeling efforts to quantify … Continue reading
Posted in Renewable Integration, Solar
Comments Off on Capacity value of solar is low as penetration increases which could suppress investment
The potential role of concentrating solar power
Preface. The word “water” appears nowhere in this document, even though that’s a major limiting factor for CSP with thermal storage. Dry cooling is possible, but it lowers the EROI and raises the already way-too-high capital cost. An electric grid … Continue reading
Posted in Concentrated Solar Power, Renewable Integration
Tagged concentrated solar power, CSP, electric grid, thermal energy storage
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Wind, solar, and storage impact on the California grid
California Energy commission. June 2010. Research evaluation of wind generation, solar generation, and storage impact on the California Grid. 131 pages. Excerpts: This report analyzes the effect of increasing renewable energy generation on California’s electricity system and assesses and quantifies … Continue reading
Posted in Energy Storage, Renewable Integration
Comments Off on Wind, solar, and storage impact on the California grid