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Here’s a thought experiment for you. You have 3 power generation systems adjacent to each other. One is a massive solar power field. One is a massive wind tu
by survirtual 3y ago
Here’s a thought experiment for you.
You have 3 power generation systems adjacent to each other. One is a massive solar power field. One is a massive wind turbine field. And one is a nuclear power plant. In the ideal conditions, all 3 generate an equivalent amount of power.
Suddenly, the sun goes down and all the wind stops. Which one is now generating the most power?
- tcfhgj 3y agothis never happens
- _ache_ 3y agoLow sunshine and low wind are pretty common in winter. Depending on the location obviously. In some places, winter imply too much wind !
- tcfhgj 3y agodefine low - usually there's always wind on a sufficient large area
- KptMarchewa 3y agoLast time this discussion was here I posted link from literally that same day at 5AM here in Poland. No sun yet, wind below 5% capacity.
- tcfhgj 3y agois Poland located on an island with no neighbours that still have wind?
- natmaka 3y agohttps://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/180592/european-cooperation-could-provide-more-stable/ https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/180592/european-cooperation-...
- 2000UltraDeluxe 3y agoMost of Poland's neighbors are situated around the same pond (the Baltic sea) with similar conditions. Winters are dark, and occasionally with little to no wind over the entire region. Unless you somehow solved storage at a low enough price for it to be viable, we need nuclear or fossil fuels up here - biofuels won't be enough.
- tcfhgj 3y agoEurope has more wind in the winters than in the summers
- 2000UltraDeluxe 3y agoI don't believe that's relevant? Unless someone starts selling and building cost-effective and large-scale storage here and now, nuclear and fossil fuels are the only reliable options that will fix the current situation. Fixing this with trans-European energy transfers is a neat idea, but if you want to send power from i.e. a solar panel on a roof in Spain to my house in Finland, or wind energy from Denmark to Poland, then we'll require infrastructure upgrades at scales that haven't been seen in much of Europe since the early 50's.
- tcfhgj 3y agoYes the grid must be upgraded, not only for transferring energy across countries, but also for electrification of heating, mobility. Fossil fuels aren't a solution, and nuclear energy only a smaller part of it. You can see that if you look at the cost and potential in the IPCC report. There is no way around a massive build out of renewable energy. PS: I just checked energy charts, and saw that Poland has more wind in the winter as well
- 2000UltraDeluxe 3y agoAnd more renewables are not solving any issues until there are more investments in grid and storage. Alas, at least in Northern Europe, the grids are largely in private hands, and investments are kept down to the legal minimum. There's no way we go all-renewable until someone kicks that hornet's nest.
- KptMarchewa 3y agoPoland saw recently that fully depending on neighbours for energy is insane.
- tcfhgj 3y ago*on one neighbour
- sofixa 3y agoDuring multiple months in 2021 there was much less wind than expected in most of Europe, which meant that during the night and when it was overcast, practically the majority of the continent's renewable energy generation was under capacity by a lot. https://theconversation.com/what-europes-exceptionally-low-winds-mean-for-the-future-energy-grid-170135 https://theconversation.com/what-europes-exceptionally-low-w...