4 ms·
Why this looks like another idiotic wind farm spamming, without any plan for other sources of energy. Because, you know, you need other sources.
by RektBoy 4y ago
Why this looks like another idiotic wind farm spamming, without any plan for other sources of energy. Because, you know, you need other sources.
- red_trumpet 4y agoI dunno, why do you think it looks like they don't have plans for other sources of energy?
- martinald 4y agoThere really aren't any other major sources for wind apart from natural gas, at least in Europe. Wind output tends to drop massively in the coldest bits of winter (when demand is highest), and solar output is also very low there. It is also insanely expensive to store energy in batteries for multiple days of low solar/wind output.
- red_trumpet 4y agoBut that is no argument for not using wind energy during the rest of the year. So we don't have to burn as much natural gas, emitting less CO2.
- martinald 4y agoI agree. But let's be clear, in Europe for the forseeable future installing solar & wind basically 'locks in' natural gas as a backup source. Also, the price of the natgas plant will be much higher than otherwise - if it's only getting used 10-20% of the year, as capex and opex will be spread over a far fewer amount of kWhs.
- cedilla 4y agoSolar energy is even competitive in Norway. In Germany, even flat layed panels (i.e. not angled towards the sun, or even on the side of buildings) are viable. Technology marched on. Panels and installation are dirt cheap and solar is highly effective.
- chopin 4y agoInstallation unfortunately is anything but dirt cheap in Germany, at least not on houses. Currently it is hard finding someone willing to do the work as well.
- toomuchtodo 4y agoEurope has enough wind potential to power all of the world, strictly energy speaking. Combined with solar, storage, a bit of biomass, and robust transmission, wind is a reasonable generator to go big on (and balances well with solar generation). Green ammonia is probably also a great place to invest to store energy longer term and for transport, considering Europe spinning up planning and building LNG terminals recently.
- aardvarkr 4y agoJust because the raw amount of wind energy available is enough to cover the entire needs of the continent in aggregate doesn’t mean it’s going to magically solve the fact that wind isn’t always available. Energy storage sucks and can’t scale using current tech, where the state-of-the-art is pumping water up a hill. Oh, and you’re going to need that storage because wind is strongest at night which happens to be when demand is lowest. Simply spamming wind towers and hoping for the best is incredibly naive. It’s a critical part of the solution but it’s not the entire solution.
- thehappypm 4y agoIt kinda is the whole solution though. If you’re generating power cheaply intermittently, companies will buy cheap night power, store it, and sell it at peak for a profit. It doesn’t need some magical government body, it’s literally easy business to buy low/sell high and there’s a ton of storage tech out there, ranging from cheap batteries, exotic batteries, pumped hydro, flywheels..
- toomuchtodo 4y agoAnd storage sometimes isn’t even needed. Just overprovision renewables and throw away excess generation you can’t store physically or economically (curtailment). The sun throws off enough energy every two minutes to power humanity for a year, we’re not running out of fusion at a distance.
- frosted-flakes 4y ago