2 ms·

Hey, not to be too harsh but you do realize that was only for 1 hour in the middle of the day when usage is near its lowest? It’s impossible for solar to provid

Hey, not to be too harsh but you do realize that was only for 1 hour in the middle of the day when usage is near its lowest? It’s impossible for solar to provide 100% of the power used in a day because the sun doesn’t shine for 24 hours. It also doesn’t reduce the amount provided by baseline power sources because they can’t scale down quickly (they take days to start up and slow down) so they ended up generating a wild excess of energy those days. The amount of power generated != power used and if there’s no one to use it then it goes unused. On top of that, that first link was great and showed just how much solar fluctuates week over week and day over day making it hard to predict. Renewables are fantastic, don’t get me wrong, and I’m a huge proponent of them. Problem is they’re just one piece of the bigger picture and making wildly infeasible claims like 100% renewable energy just makes it that much harder to implement a reasonable and highly effective strategy that relies on growing renewables while maintaining a robust grid that can provide power cheaply. Southern Australia is one of the most expensive power markets in the world so it’s not really a good example and the world shouldn’t be following their model.

toomuchtodo 6y ago
Following up, as the Australian state of Tasmania just declared that they're able to run 100% on renewables as of November 27th 2020 [1], with the local government targeting 200% renewable capacity by 2040. [1] https://reneweconomy.com.au/tasmania-declares-itself-100-per-cent-powered-by-renewable-electricity-25119/ https://reneweconomy.com.au/tasmania-declares-itself-100-per... [2] https://reneweconomy.com.au/tasmania-liberal-government-tables-200-per-cent-renewables-bill-26394/ https://reneweconomy.com.au/tasmania-liberal-government-tabl...
toomuchtodo 6y ago
You’re not being harsh. I do realize it was only for an hour. How else would you expect an energy transition to occur? First an hour. Concept proven. Then multiple hours at a time. Finally, those remaining fossil generators sit idle so long they’re decommissioned (or converted to burn hydrogen or ammonia generated from renewables). The South Australian state itself has set its 100% renewables target before 2030. You set ambitious targets, and then you work to meet them. This isn’t any different then the UK pulling their new petrol vehicle sales ban forward to 2030 from 2035 because EVs have been proven out. Cheap, dirty power isn’t good energy policy, and it’s likely others follow this lead in order to meet their zero emissions targets. https://www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/news/south-australia-sets-plan-for-100-per-cent-renewable-energy https://www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/news/south-australia-s... (“The South Australian Government has recognised the incredible success of renewable energy to date, and has now set a firm plan for getting to 100 per cent renewable energy. This is the future, and the Clean Energy Council looks forward to working with the South Australian Government to make this a reality.”)

toomuchtodo 6y ago

Following up, as the Australian state of Tasmania just declared that they're able to run 100% on renewables as of November 27th 2020 [1], with the local government targeting 200% renewable capacity by 2040. [1] https://reneweconomy.com.au/tasmania-declares-itself-100-per-cent-powered-by-renewable-electricity-25119/ https://reneweconomy.com.au/tasmania-declares-itself-100-per... [2] https://reneweconomy.com.au/tasmania-liberal-government-tables-200-per-cent-renewables-bill-26394/ https://reneweconomy.com.au/tasmania-liberal-government-tabl...

toomuchtodo 6y ago

You’re not being harsh. I do realize it was only for an hour. How else would you expect an energy transition to occur? First an hour. Concept proven. Then multiple hours at a time. Finally, those remaining fossil generators sit idle so long they’re decommissioned (or converted to burn hydrogen or ammonia generated from renewables). The South Australian state itself has set its 100% renewables target before 2030. You set ambitious targets, and then you work to meet them. This isn’t any different then the UK pulling their new petrol vehicle sales ban forward to 2030 from 2035 because EVs have been proven out. Cheap, dirty power isn’t good energy policy, and it’s likely others follow this lead in order to meet their zero emissions targets. https://www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/news/south-australia-sets-plan-for-100-per-cent-renewable-energy https://www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/news/south-australia-s... (“The South Australian Government has recognised the incredible success of renewable energy to date, and has now set a firm plan for getting to 100 per cent renewable energy. This is the future, and the Clean Energy Council looks forward to working with the South Australian Government to make this a reality.”)