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I can't find any actual accounts of the wind stopping entirely for "weeks" in Germany. It is a theoretical possibility. Periods of "low wind" are fully expected

I can't find any actual accounts of the wind stopping entirely for "weeks" in Germany. It is a theoretical possibility. Periods of "low wind" are fully expected in summer, since there is usually more wind power generated in winter, although I'm not sure when you're referring to specifically. Similarly, solar produces more power in summer and less in winter. Critically, we have the ability to transmit power over distance. That's the whole point of having a grid, instead of just having each person operating off-grid and only having access to the resources that are within arm's reach of their house. Individual solar panels may be under a cloud or individual wind turbines may experience no wind, but it is tremendously less likely for entire regions to experience this for an extended period of time. The US has encountered several winter storms that brought a number of our fossil fuel plants to a halt for days at a time, causing blackouts. That's not theoretical.

loeg 4y ago
These are what I'm remembering re: Germany and reduced wind. This was during winter: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28521533 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28521533 https://public.substack.com/p/german-emissions-from-electricity-674 https://public.substack.com/p/german-emissions-from-electric... We do have transmission, but it is lossy and expensive, and the places it is cheaper to transmit from are geographically adjacent and are going to have similar solar and wind conditions. If you're talking about Texas' gas plants, yeah, that was not good. But gas plants are an essential part of preventing blackouts in a wind/solar grid, so I'm not sure this is a point in wind/solar's favor.
- pfdietz 4y ago
  Rare "dark calm" backup can be done with gas plants. The gas can be hydrogen. Hydrogen is not cheap, compared to what natural gas typically costs, but for rare event backup it doesn't have to be cheap.

loeg 4y ago

These are what I'm remembering re: Germany and reduced wind. This was during winter: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28521533 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28521533 https://public.substack.com/p/german-emissions-from-electricity-674 https://public.substack.com/p/german-emissions-from-electric... We do have transmission, but it is lossy and expensive, and the places it is cheaper to transmit from are geographically adjacent and are going to have similar solar and wind conditions. If you're talking about Texas' gas plants, yeah, that was not good. But gas plants are an essential part of preventing blackouts in a wind/solar grid, so I'm not sure this is a point in wind/solar's favor.

pfdietz 4y ago
Rare "dark calm" backup can be done with gas plants. The gas can be hydrogen. Hydrogen is not cheap, compared to what natural gas typically costs, but for rare event backup it doesn't have to be cheap.