> Well, the grid wasn't ready: You are being sold a pup. The grid was fine. Places like South Australia (a state) have 70% renewables without big changes to

> Well, the grid wasn't ready: You are being sold a pup. The grid was fine. Places like South Australia (a state) have 70% renewables without big changes to the grid. I don't know what the real reason was, but it's more likely to do renewables undercutting the price the existing coal plants could sell electricity during the day, to the point the were no longer profitable. So to keep them profitable they curtailed the much cheaper solar and wind, rather than the coal fired generation. Maybe those plants are state owned, or perhaps they have good political connections, or perhaps they own the generation, distribution and retail networks making them very difficult for a politician to take on. The approach taken in other countries is to let the market sort it out, with a guiding hand. If coal plants can only generate at night because they are out-competed during the day by solar, then let them raise their prices at night and when the sun don't shine. That will cause price spikes. Don't like the political problems price spikes cause? Force the retailers to sell at a base price fixed for must they advertise in advance. The retailers won't do that because they are owned by the generators - it's time to split the two functions and create an electricity market. Intermittent renewables and slow ramping coal companies are causing spikes? Create a market for storage, and ensure the retails have no choice but to purchase enough storage guarantee the continuous supply they promised to the customers. Or you can just sit on your hands, let the existing coal generators continue doing what they have always done, and justify it by saying "the grid" can't handle change. Reuters will happily repeat that excuse for you, without asking too many questions. Politically, that works too. But only in the short term. In the longer term, particularly as those coal fired plants reach end of life, you are up for a really painful time because the gradual change you could have had had now has to happen all at once.