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Available capacity is not falling, production output is. This is the purpose of reserve energy. Cheap renewable energy is produced when the weather allows it, a

by belorn 3y ago

Available capacity is not falling, production output is. This is the purpose of reserve energy. Cheap renewable energy is produced when the weather allows it, and fossil fuels produce energy when demand exceed supply. In order to keep fossil fueled power plants ready to supply energy, the state steps in and provide a paycheck in order to keep them available (this is the program that the twitter post talks about). This is the strategy that Germany has. It is also why getting rid of fossil fuel subsidies is close to impossible. The more fossil fuel power plants a country need to have standing by, the more subsidies are needed to keep them staffed and fueled up. In general it did reduce emissions compared to running exclusively on fossil fuels, while reducing costs at the same time since at peak weather the efficiency of renewables are very high.

matthewdgreen 3y ago
The difference between China and Germany is that China has an entire continent and the capability to rapidly deploy HVDC lines across all of it. This means that their wind/offshore wind may have a capacity factor of 30-49% but the wind will be blowing at different times. Similarly, they can take advantage of solar generation in Western China that continues well into the evening. And finally, China is building out battery and storage capacity at a pace that rivals their investments into renewables. If you’d started in 2011 and predicted the current renewables cost/buildout rate in China, people would have laughed at you. I would not bet against a similar thing happening with storage over the next dozen years. TL;DR: China decarbonizing is very good for the world, even if it isn’t perfect yet. We in the west should stop looking for reasons to repeat our earlier (wildly incorrect) pessimism about renewable capacity, and just start trying to catch up.

by belorn 3y ago

matthewdgreen 3y ago

The difference between China and Germany is that China has an entire continent and the capability to rapidly deploy HVDC lines across all of it. This means that their wind/offshore wind may have a capacity factor of 30-49% but the wind will be blowing at different times. Similarly, they can take advantage of solar generation in Western China that continues well into the evening. And finally, China is building out battery and storage capacity at a pace that rivals their investments into renewables. If you’d started in 2011 and predicted the current renewables cost/buildout rate in China, people would have laughed at you. I would not bet against a similar thing happening with storage over the next dozen years. TL;DR: China decarbonizing is very good for the world, even if it isn’t perfect yet. We in the west should stop looking for reasons to repeat our earlier (wildly incorrect) pessimism about renewable capacity, and just start trying to catch up.