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> Ignorant? Either disingenuous or ignorant, yes. > Energy storage is not a short or medium term solution. The primary role of energy storage systems in rene

> Ignorant? Either disingenuous or ignorant, yes. > Energy storage is not a short or medium term solution. The primary role of energy storage systems in renewable energy sources is to balance supply and demand. Your assertion makes no sense because it ignores even the most fundamental aspects of the problem domain. > Pumped hydro is already maxxed out pretty much everywhere it's possible as not all dams are suitable -- in fact most aren't. Battery storage for large grids currently covers minutes of use, a few hours may be attainable. But wind can be absent for days or weeks, and there's such a thing as winter when you're as far from the equator as Germany. Irrelevant. You're trying to put up a strawman based on a fictitious scenario where energy production comes from a single source: wind. It's the tired old meme from two decades ago. Meanwhile, back in the real world not only are power grids distributed at a continental level but there also multiple sources of power feeding into that grid, including imported energy generated from renewable sources.

nickelpro 4y ago
> Meanwhile, back in the real world not only are power grids distributed at a continental level but there also multiple sources of power feeding into that grid, including imported energy generated from renewable sources. There is nothing close to the grid capacity to make this statement true. Germany lacks base load capacity and imports energy from coal and natural gas burning neighbors when their renewables go offline. To offset this, Germany is building more base load capacity in the form of gas driven plants. This isn't a secret, it's not disingenuous to point it out. The better option, from the point of view of carbon neutrality, is to make up that availability gap with nuclear. The Germans are unwilling to do this, and likely they hope that eventually they can import energy from neighbors that are willing to make up this gap with nuclear plants the Germans themselves were unwilling to build.
- chess_buster 4y ago
  the gas plants are build BECAUSE they can switch to hydrogen produced by renewable energy. The hydrogen will be stored in the already existing gas system in form of a mix of hydrogen and methan.
  - nickelpro 4y ago
    If hydrogen becomes a viable technology I agree it's a game changer to the whole discussion, but today the first pilot program plants are just coming online. It's possible they answer all the open questions that the renewables leave open, I would be delighted if they did. Today, and in the future if hydrogen hits unforeseen snags, nuclear remains the proven option.

nickelpro 4y ago

> Meanwhile, back in the real world not only are power grids distributed at a continental level but there also multiple sources of power feeding into that grid, including imported energy generated from renewable sources. There is nothing close to the grid capacity to make this statement true. Germany lacks base load capacity and imports energy from coal and natural gas burning neighbors when their renewables go offline. To offset this, Germany is building more base load capacity in the form of gas driven plants. This isn't a secret, it's not disingenuous to point it out. The better option, from the point of view of carbon neutrality, is to make up that availability gap with nuclear. The Germans are unwilling to do this, and likely they hope that eventually they can import energy from neighbors that are willing to make up this gap with nuclear plants the Germans themselves were unwilling to build.

chess_buster 4y ago
the gas plants are build BECAUSE they can switch to hydrogen produced by renewable energy. The hydrogen will be stored in the already existing gas system in form of a mix of hydrogen and methan.
- nickelpro 4y ago
  If hydrogen becomes a viable technology I agree it's a game changer to the whole discussion, but today the first pilot program plants are just coming online. It's possible they answer all the open questions that the renewables leave open, I would be delighted if they did. Today, and in the future if hydrogen hits unforeseen snags, nuclear remains the proven option.