Category Archives: Renewable Integration

Hibernating freeze-thaw molten salt batteries for seasonal energy storage

Posted on November 25, 2022 by

Preface.  A 100% renewable grid can’t happen without long-term energy storage. Today that’s done with natural gas (with a little help from hydropower in the 10 states that have most of it). Meanwhile nuclear and coal chug along at a … Continue reading →

Posted in Battery - Utility Scale, CSP with thermal energy storage, Renewable Integration | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Wanted: Math geniuses and power engineers to make a renewable grid possible

Posted on November 1, 2021 by

Figure 1. OPF solution of original seven-bus system with generator at bus 4 Preface. The U.S. electric grid produced 64% of electricity in 2019 with finite fossil fuels, and another 20% from nuclear power. Since fossil fuels and uranium are … Continue reading →

Posted in Electric Grid & Fast Collapse, Grid instability, Renewable Integration, Smart Grid | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Wanted: Math geniuses and power engineers to make a renewable grid possible

Utility scale energy storage has a long way to go to make renewables possible

Posted on May 15, 2019 by

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 →

Posted in Alternative Energy, Batteries, Battery - Utility Scale, Critical Thinking, Electric Grid & Fast Collapse, Electricity Infrastructure, Renewable Integration | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Underground pumped hydro storage is the only technology capable of massive storage for renewable electricity

Posted on September 27, 2017 by

[ 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 & Fast Collapse, Energy Storage, Grid instability, Hydropower, Renewable Integration | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Why Nuclear Power can’t replace fossil fuels

Posted on January 15, 2017 by

Last updated August 2022. Preface. 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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy, Energy, Nuclear Power Energy, Renewable Integration | Tagged , | 14 Comments

Germany’s “Energiewende” may need to be rescued with nonrenewable coal power

Posted on November 10, 2016 by

[ 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 , , , , | 1 Comment

California could hit the solar wall

Posted on September 18, 2016 by

[ 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 , , , | 4 Comments

Why the Grid is getting less reliable. House Hearing 2013.

Posted on February 25, 2016 by

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, Renewable Integration, U.S. Congress Infrastructure | Comments Off on Why the Grid is getting less reliable. House Hearing 2013.

Capacity value of solar is low as penetration increases which could suppress investment

Posted on June 5, 2015 by

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

Posted on June 5, 2015 by

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 →

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