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Uruguay has dams in the mountains for its hydro. The country can choose how much electricity to generate from them to compensate for low winds. That's only vi
by peterfirefly 3y ago
Uruguay has dams in the mountains for its hydro. The country can choose how much electricity to generate from them to compensate for low winds. That's only viable with mountains + valleys + sufficiently low population density (206th in the world).
It's not something that generalizes to the entire lower 48 (but it will work fine in parts of California).
- bryanlarsen 3y agoThe US gets 6% of its power from Hydro. The Uruguayan experience makes it clear that it has enough Hydro energy capacity (not sure whether it has enough Hydro power capacity, but that's a lot easier to add than energy capacity). Build enough solar & wind so that you get enough power with either solar or wind if the other is not producing, and fill in the holes with hydro and the existing nuclear.
- peterfirefly 3y agoSometimes you have a nice dam that can either tap or leave alone, knowing that the water will still be there when you need. Sometimes you just have a flowing river -- and sometimes that river doesn't flow so fast. Hydro isn't a single thing. The former can be used to compensate when the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine. The latter can't really. Uruguay has the former. Parts of the US has the former. Does all of the US?