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"Wind power is not generated on a calm day, nor solar power at night, so conventional power plants must be kept on standby—but are not included in the levelised
by spingsprong 12y ago
"Wind power is not generated on a calm day, nor solar power at night, so conventional power plants must be kept on standby—but are not included in the levelised cost of renewables."
Solar not generating power at night is a good thing. Demand for electricity is lower at night, and turning on and off conventional power stations is not ideal. Solar helps level things out, meaning you need fewer conventional power stations to be built and kept in standby.
- tomjen3 12y agoOne a really stormy day I want to be able to hide under my electric blanket, with a cup of tea, in front of the tv/computer. That requires electricity, but those solar panels aren't going to be very effective when it is overcast and rainy. Why not just go for getting a thorium reactor to work and then use them instead?
- crdoconnor 12y agoSolar panels still generate power when it is overcast. Not as much as on sunny days, obviously, but a lot more than most people give them credit for. On stormy days, also, wind generators will be generating a lot more power than usual. They are more than likely capable of heating your blanket. Although less efficient, power on days when intermittency is high can also be transferred from pumped water storage and from hundreds of miles away where it might be sunny and windy.
- Guthur 12y agoDepends on how stormy, Many wind turbines have a max wind speed rating, above which they will be shutdown in some way.
- crdoconnor 12y agoAre there figures on the actual effects of this? How often it happens/the level by which electricity output is reduced?
- Guthur 12y agoI would imagine it is highly dependent on the model of wind turbine. The window of operation like varies widely. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_61400 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_61400 I would imagine that high wind rating turbines are more expensive.
- crdoconnor 12y ago>I would imagine it is highly dependent on the model of wind turbine. This is why I asked for figures on the overall effect - covering all models. I'm not seeing anything so far to convince me that its effect is more than negligible.
- mpweiher 12y ago"On a really stormy day [..] but those solar panels [..]" Good thing that wind turbine is going to be cranking. :-)
- rurounijones 12y agoOr disabled due to wind speeds being too high.
- spingsprong 12y agoBecause thorium reactors don't exist?
- ekianjo 12y ago> Demand for electricity is lower at night Not really much lower as you'd like to portray it. http://www.solstats.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/chart1r1.png http://www.solstats.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/chart1... Solar only works if you can produce energy and use it locally. As distance increases the energy loss is significant.
- crdoconnor 12y ago>Not really much lower as you'd like to portray it. A LOT of the higher usage at night is due to the fact that night-time electricity is cheaper. If you're going to run an aluminum smelting plant, for instance (uses TONS of electricity), it currently makes sense to run it full bore when electricity is cheapest - at night. If daytime electricity were cheaper or even the same price, that graph would certainly look differently to how you're portraying it. >Solar only works if you can produce energy and use it locally. As distance increases the energy loss is significant. Much like with every other form of energy. Surplus solar gets exported right now - Germany sends it to France.
- testrun 12y agoCalling bullshit on this one. Smelters do not work this way, they buy electricity in bulk and is a 24/7 operation.
- seanflyon 12y agoEvery time I have seen someone "buy electricity in bulk" that meant that they had time of day pricing (payed more during the day and less at night). Perhaps smelters don't take advantage of the cheaper nighttime rates but I would expect that many industries do.
- marcus_holmes 12y agoI read that Germany is importing French nuclear power. Mind you, both could be perfectly possible in the messed-up EEC energy market.