3 ms·
"a day or two" would handle probably 90% of situations -- or 100% if there's enough solar overcapacity to power everything even on winter days (which probably i
by elihu 3y ago
"a day or two" would handle probably 90% of situations -- or 100% if there's enough solar overcapacity to power everything even on winter days (which probably involves good power grid connections to places like Arizona and Mexico).
I think we need to close all the fossil fuel plants eventually, but keeping them online to be used maybe a few days or weeks a year is the most responsible way to use them.
- realusername 3y agoI wish it would be this way but unfortunately the worst solar months are really bad if you are on the northern hemisphere, in my place it's 3% of the yearly production in December and same in January. It's really badly uneven.
- elihu 3y agoIt might be like that in some places, but not everywhere. HVDC lines are pretty efficient. From this map it looks like Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Florida, and presumably Regular Mexico could be major producers for the rest of the US. https://www.solar-electric.com/learning-center/solar-insolation-maps.html/#Map3 https://www.solar-electric.com/learning-center/solar-insolat... In the Northwest we also have pretty good hydroelectric to handle the cold rainy months. Every region is in its own specific situation. Alaska would be a rough place for solar. I don't know if they do much hydroelectric or wind, but it seems like they'd be well situated for either. If nothing else works, there's always nuclear.