3 ms·
If it gets cheap enough, you can overbuild, which can solve a lot of the problem. Solar only produces peak power for a couple hours, but it produces 50% of peak
by ip26 6y ago
If it gets cheap enough, you can overbuild, which can solve a lot of the problem. Solar only produces peak power for a couple hours, but it produces 50% of peak for up to half the day, and wind delivers 50% or more of peak pretty much around the clock.
Add in transmission lines & a functioning energy market, and demand will timeshift where it can, and whatever arbitrage opportunity finally remains can be met with either storage or curtailment & further overbuilding, whichever is cheaper.
It's not like we need to run the whole grid from storage at night.
- emteycz 6y agoWhere do we put the nature?
- ip26 6y agohttps://landartgenerator.org/blagi/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/AreaRequired1000.jpg https://landartgenerator.org/blagi/wp-content/uploads/2009/0... It's not a small land area by any means, but it seems a clear case of "lesser evil". Rooftops, i.e. rooftop solar, are also already "lost" when it comes to nature.
- AstralStorm 6y agoBy calculations, perfect rooftop coverage would produce up to 8% of total energy required. In Poland. The cost would be immense. See, even with superb photovoltaics only single story homes have the right area to power use ratio to make sense to use solar as main power source. These cause transportation problems that probably eat all the benefit...
- ip26 6y agoI know rooftop solar is not the grand solution, it's just a little piece. We would indeed have to build out solar & wind farms of appreciable size. But I cannot fathom how the entire total global roof area can only power 8% of Poland. Evidence?
- osn9363739 6y agoWind Turbines get mostly put on existing farm land (or out at sea? or are they clearing forest to put them up? I also don't see why farmland and solar can't live side by side. mixed livestock farming and panels higher above the ground seems doable. I'm sure it's possible to grow crops under solar panels too provided you're not blocking all the light. Google shows there are some studies on it I don't have time to read right now. This ignores cost of course. but I'm arguing against the idea that we don't have the space.