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Yes a storm could damage the coal plant with some small probability. But now you have replaced the coal plant with batteries + solar. Solar will be disabled by

Yes a storm could damage the coal plant with some small probability. But now you have replaced the coal plant with batteries + solar. Solar will be disabled by every large storm due to cloud cover. The grid will certainly be less reliable.

Retric 3y ago
Solar isn’t disabled by every storm. You get some power even at maximum cloud cover and storms only last so long. Further it’s generally offset by increased Wind power and decreased AC usage, and can be further compensated by increased hydroelectric generation.
- DoingIsLearning 3y ago
  > increased Wind power It will depend on what kind of storm are we talking. Depending on wind speed, wind turbines may need to lock their gearboxes to avoid falling apart. But arguably yes, increased wind power before and after a large storm perhaps.
  - Retric 3y ago
    Modern turbines can adjust the angle of their blades to extract less energy from the wind. There’s always tradeoffs so people still chose maximum wind speeds based on the area. But, we’re talking being near the center of a hurricane not just storms at that point.
- bobjoe369 3y ago
  From solar panels that we track at my organization the solar generation decreased by ~90% at 90% cloud cover. Cloud cover isn't the most important metric, it's irradiance, but still a good indicator and so yes, in a storm the power generation will drop by atleast 90% probably
  - Retric 3y ago
    > in a storm the power generation will drop by atleast 90% probably This is incorrect for several reasons first we care about Wind + Solar + Hydro not Solar alone. 8X % reduction in solar over 15 minutes sure, but track full days output and it’s not 90% across the full day. Similarly you rarely see 100% of theoretical output over a full day, so it’s really the delta between expected output and minimum output that matters. Also, you don’t build exactly as much generation as you would need assuming 100% output every single day. That’s just as true for Nuclear/coal etc as it is Solar / wind. Redundancy has a cost, but it can effectively guarantee a surplus.
- sofixa 3y ago
  > storms only last so long You can have prolonged periods of abnormal weather. As an example, across Europe we had months of extremely low wind in 2020: https://theconversation.com/what-europes-exceptionally-low-winds-mean-for-the-future-energy-grid-170135 https://theconversation.com/what-europes-exceptionally-low-w...
  - Retric 3y ago
    “The beautifully bright and still weather may have been a welcome reason to hold off reaching for our winter coats, but the lack of wind can be a serious issue when we consider where our electricity might be coming from.” Ie: Lots of solar when the wind isn’t blowing
    - sofixa 3y ago
      > Ie: Lots of solar when the wind isn’t blowing Not always. Over months of low wind, there will still be overcast days, and of course, there's that pesky little issue of the night.
      - Retric 3y ago
        Try and find some days where all of Europe is covered in clouds and there wasn’t wind.
        sofixa 3y ago
        Every night?
        Retric 3y ago
        That’s not clouds.
        sofixa 3y ago
        It's not clouds, but it's 0% solar efficiency.
itslennysfault 3y ago
Seems like a good case for using wind or wave power which would presumably provide max power during a storm when solar provides less power. Of course, I suppose a bad storm could also damage these forms of energy generation as well.

Retric 3y ago

Solar isn’t disabled by every storm. You get some power even at maximum cloud cover and storms only last so long. Further it’s generally offset by increased Wind power and decreased AC usage, and can be further compensated by increased hydroelectric generation.

DoingIsLearning 3y ago
> increased Wind power It will depend on what kind of storm are we talking. Depending on wind speed, wind turbines may need to lock their gearboxes to avoid falling apart. But arguably yes, increased wind power before and after a large storm perhaps.
- Retric 3y ago
  Modern turbines can adjust the angle of their blades to extract less energy from the wind. There’s always tradeoffs so people still chose maximum wind speeds based on the area. But, we’re talking being near the center of a hurricane not just storms at that point.
bobjoe369 3y ago
From solar panels that we track at my organization the solar generation decreased by ~90% at 90% cloud cover. Cloud cover isn't the most important metric, it's irradiance, but still a good indicator and so yes, in a storm the power generation will drop by atleast 90% probably
- Retric 3y ago
  > in a storm the power generation will drop by atleast 90% probably This is incorrect for several reasons first we care about Wind + Solar + Hydro not Solar alone. 8X % reduction in solar over 15 minutes sure, but track full days output and it’s not 90% across the full day. Similarly you rarely see 100% of theoretical output over a full day, so it’s really the delta between expected output and minimum output that matters. Also, you don’t build exactly as much generation as you would need assuming 100% output every single day. That’s just as true for Nuclear/coal etc as it is Solar / wind. Redundancy has a cost, but it can effectively guarantee a surplus.
sofixa 3y ago
> storms only last so long You can have prolonged periods of abnormal weather. As an example, across Europe we had months of extremely low wind in 2020: https://theconversation.com/what-europes-exceptionally-low-winds-mean-for-the-future-energy-grid-170135 https://theconversation.com/what-europes-exceptionally-low-w...
- Retric 3y ago
  “The beautifully bright and still weather may have been a welcome reason to hold off reaching for our winter coats, but the lack of wind can be a serious issue when we consider where our electricity might be coming from.” Ie: Lots of solar when the wind isn’t blowing
  - sofixa 3y ago
    > Ie: Lots of solar when the wind isn’t blowing Not always. Over months of low wind, there will still be overcast days, and of course, there's that pesky little issue of the night.
    - Retric 3y ago
      Try and find some days where all of Europe is covered in clouds and there wasn’t wind.
      - sofixa 3y ago
        Every night?
        Retric 3y ago
        That’s not clouds.
        sofixa 3y ago
        It's not clouds, but it's 0% solar efficiency.

itslennysfault 3y ago

Seems like a good case for using wind or wave power which would presumably provide max power during a storm when solar provides less power. Of course, I suppose a bad storm could also damage these forms of energy generation as well.