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They are not "just as reliant as before", they are only reliant on gas/coal/whatever when the wind is having a dip. It is clearer when you look at the energy co
by WJW 9y ago
They are not "just as reliant as before", they are only reliant on gas/coal/whatever when the wind is having a dip. It is clearer when you look at the energy consumed in joules: A 114 MW datacenter consumes 114* 10^6 * 3600* 24 Joules per day. The renewable power generator that Google has a contract with commits itself to putting that much Joules into the grid every day. When the wind is out, nonrenewables fill up the slack, and when there are high winds, some of the customers that would have otherwise been supplied from coal plants get wind energy instead.
On average though, 114 MW is pulled out of the grid by the datacenter and 114 MW is put in by the renewable energy company. The rest of the grid, bith producers _and consumers_, act as a battery for when the output of the renewables is either higher or lower than the contracted amount for the datacaenter.
- strictnein 9y ago> "On average though, 114 MW is pulled out of the grid by the datacenter and 114 MW is put in by the renewable energy company." That's simply not the case. Wind farms fluctuate greatly and produce on average no where near their max output. > "they are only reliant on gas/coal/whatever when the wind is having a dip" Which is all the time. I've worked on this problem, there isn't some constant output from wind farms.
- crazy2be 9y agoThis is at best a tangential point. If the wind farm is 114MW with a 10% capacity factor, his point is still correct. Yes, they still rely on coal and natural gas to smooth the load, but his point was that by subsidizing the wind power, they still reduce emissions the same amount as if they didn't. Obviously, this strategy only works when renewable penetration is fairly low, once you start having oversupplies then you no longer have 100% efficiency with this strategy.
- minwcnt5 9y agoWould it make you happy if they had written "On average though, x MW is pulled out of the grid by the datacenter and x MW is put in by the renewable energy company, where x is some value < 114 MW"? Sheesh. The point being made is pretty clear.