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Category Archives: Electric Grid
Demand reduction of electricity to balance the electric grid
Demand reduction of electricity to balance the electric grid by Alice Friedemann By the time a smart grid is integrated into all the existing computer systems, wasting electricity with each round-trip of information, (rolling) blackouts are likely to be occurring … Continue reading
Posted in Demand Reduction
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Short-circuiting a solar boom in Japan
Spain is still feeling the painful effects of the costs of overbuilt solar PV, and now Japan is finding itself in the same position. This article does a lousy job of explaining that the grid must be in exact supply … Continue reading
Posted in Distributed Generation, Grid instability, Photovoltaic Solar, Renewable Integration
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Wind turbines hit limits to growth before 50% wind power penetration
Material requirements of 50% wind power in the USA hit limits to growth Also see: Davidsson, S., et al. 2014. Growth curves and sustained commissioning modelling of renewable energy Investigating resource constraints for wind energy. Energy Policy. Fizaine, F., et … Continue reading
Posted in Electrification, Limits To Growth, Renewable Integration, Wind
Tagged cement, concrete, copper, dysprosium, expoxy, fiberglass, iron, limits to growth, neodymium, steel, turbines, wind
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Is there enough renewable energy to replace fossil fuel electricity generation?
NREL. July 2012. U.S. Renewable Energy Technical Potentials: A GIS-Based Analysis. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. This document is a thought experiment that uses GIS mapping to estimate how much renewable power could possibly be generated in each state regardless of … Continue reading
Not enough wind, solar, geothermal to replace fossil and nuclear power in the 11 western states of the WECC
California, Oregon, Utah, and Washington have already developed most (if not all) of their prime-quality in-state resources. You would think that the more wind and solar power is added over a wide area, the more fossil fuel power plants you … Continue reading
Posted in Renewable Integration
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Smart Grid Challenges
Wald, M. L. December 5, 2014. Power Savings of Smart Meters Prove Slow to Materialize. New York Times. Meter readers were supposed to be phased out by tens of millions of new “smart” meters that talk directly to the electric … Continue reading
Posted in Smart Grid
Tagged balance, demand, off-peak, smart grid, smart meter
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Spain Wind Integration
2 articles below, Pedro Prieto and National Renewable Energy Laboratory: Jan 14, 2015 Pedro Prieto [energyresources] Digest Number 8957 [altered slightly] In Spain we have this mix, as of the end of 2014: INSTALLED POWER MW % GWH … Continue reading
Posted in Pedro Prieto, Renewable Integration
Tagged intermittent, renewable integration, spain, uncertain, variable, wind
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German wind and solar integration
Schiermeier, Q. April 10, 2013. Renewable power: Germany’s energy gamble. An ambitious plan to slash greenhouse-gas emissions must clear some high technical and economic hurdles. Nature 496: 156–158 The rapid rise in wind and solar power has created a nightmare … Continue reading
Posted in Blackouts Electric Grid, Distributed Generation, Renewable Integration
Tagged germany, renewable integration, wind
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Integrating renewable power research
Below are intermittent energy integration posts, workshops, and other research. Andrew Dodson. 2014. Issues Integrating Renewables. This is a fairly technical podcast, this link cites some of the most interesting points made, here are a couple of them: “There is … Continue reading
Posted in Renewable Integration
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Extreme Events. CEC 2011. Variable distributed generation from solar and wind increase the chance of large blackouts
Morgan, M., et al. (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Electric Power Research Institute, BACV Solutions, Southern Company, CIEE, University of Alaska – Fairbanks, and KEMA). 2011. Extreme Events. California Energy Commission. Publication number: CEC-500- 2013-031. Figure 18: BLACKOUT … Continue reading
Posted in Distributed Generation, Grid instability
Tagged blackout, branching process, cascading failure, contingency, critical, critical corridors, earthquake, electric, extreme events, grid, heavy tail, outages, power, risk, WECC
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