3 ms·
I'm disappointed he didn't say anything about the frequency stabilization issue. A system based mostly around turbines has the inertia of thousands, maybe mill
by csense 9y ago
I'm disappointed he didn't say anything about the frequency stabilization issue.
A system based mostly around turbines has the inertia of thousands, maybe millions of tons of spinning metal across the entire grid, which buffers enough energy for control systems (for example controlling how much fuel to inject) to respond to sudden demand changes while maintaining stability.
If everything's solid-state solar, following demand is harder.
- ghouse 9y agoThe term of art is "frequency response" for "stabilization." This is the system's ability to respond to shocks. Though, the need for frequency response is driven primarily by very large "traditional" power plants. For example, in WECC, the single largest contingency is the loss of a 4GW large nuclear complex. So, should the cost of maintaining this frequency response be borne by the system, or by that specific contingency? Smaller power plants, and smaller transmission lines have smaller contingencies. Following demand is a different function called frequency regulation. Regulating frequency down (curtailing output) is easy for solid-state inverters (including solar), though regulating up (increasing output) is, as you note, more difficult for generation (but very easy for load).