4 ms·
I never said they would cancel out. However if you design a supply based on intermittent sources to supply your baseload (i.e. the lowest demand over a time per
by cycomanic 4y ago
I never said they would cancel out. However if you design a supply based on intermittent sources to supply your baseload (i.e. the lowest demand over a time period), the average supplied power will be significantly higher than the baseload level. In other words if you have two uncorrelated randomly varying timeseries, the overlap area under the curve will be higher than just the area of the rectangle using just the lowest point under the curve.
- tomp 4y agoYeah you can do the same with non-varying nuclear. Designing for overcapacity has nothing to do neither with renewables nor with being varying.
- natmaka 4y agoWind power is in most places the major contributor. Therefore correlations between wind regimes in the considered geographic zone is key. At a continental level (according to various scientific studies: in Europe, China and the US) it is low enough to offer ways to obtain a wind-powered baseload. Other ways are complementary: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31557422 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31557422
- tomp 4y agoDid you actually read the article you posted in the other comment? > With a more cooperatively designed system, this could be reduced to just 20 GW across the continent. So, no, you cannot sustain baseload power with wind, even with cooperation, you still need powerplants (carbon? coal. green? nuclear)
- natmaka 4y agoYes, a bit. This is also true while using nuclear reactors: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31557584 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31557584