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> As you have more and more renewable, you need more and more gas plants This is only true if the load on the grid is growing. In North America, it is not. O
by ghouse 8y ago
> As you have more and more renewable, you need more and more gas plants
This is only true if the load on the grid is growing. In North America, it is not. Otherwise, you already have enough dispatchable generation available when the sun isn't shining or the wind isn't blowing.
- rsynnott 8y agoThis is assuming that you're replacing old, bad power (ie coal, or old-fashioned unresponsive gas plants) with a solar/responsive gas turbine combo. The US still has a fair bit of coal that could stand to be replaced, but I doubt there's enough gas to take up the slack of a solar/gas system without building more.
- ghouse 8y agoOver the past decade (since the wide-scale commercialization of fracking in the US), coal plants have been retired or repowered (with gas) at a record pace. I believe the share of generation has dropped from 50% to 30% in that period.
- p1mrx 8y agoThe North American grids will need to start growing again, if electric vehicles become common.
- robocat 8y ago> This is only true if the load on the grid is growing. In North America, it is not. The article I saw the other day showed growth of 4.5% (comparing Q1 2017 with Q1 2018) Surely that growth in production is matched by a growth in load? https://renewablesnow.com/news/wind-solar-farms-produce-10-of-us-power-in-4-mo-617830/ https://renewablesnow.com/news/wind-solar-farms-produce-10-o...
- toomuchtodo 8y ago> Surely that growth in production is matched by a growth in load? It is not, although consumption growth may trend upwards again as transportation is electrified (and oil consumption moves to electrical consumption). https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-03-01/americans-electricity-use-just-keeps-falling https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-03-01/americans...