“An all-renewables grid would require prohibitively expensive battery storage to compensate for sudden power losses.” BURN MORE COAL will have more details on battery expense in a future post.
Grid
Grid-scale electricity storage can’t save renewables
A new report from the Global Warming Policy Foundation: “You need storage to deal with lulls in wind generation that can last for several days, so the amount required would be impracticably large. And because this would only be required intermittently, its capital cost could probably never be recovered… Wind and solar power are not available on demand and there are no technologies to make them so. Refusing to face these inconvenient facts poses a serious threat to our energy security.”
Source: TheGWPF.org
Power grid serving 65 million may be at risk in East, Midwest
The $2.5 trillion reason we can’t rely on batteries to clean up the grid
“But there’s a problem with this rosy scenario. These batteries are far too expensive and don’t last nearly long enough, limiting the role they can play on the grid, experts say. If we plan to rely on them for massive amounts of storage as more renewables come online… we could be headed down a dangerously unaffordable path.”
Greens demand coal-friendly Trump-appointee recuse himself from FERC grid decisions
“A coalition of leading environmental groups is threatening to sue Trump’s recent appointee to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission if he doesn’t recuse himself from work that could be used to advance Trump’s coal agenda. The appointee, Bernard McNamee, joined FERC, the nation’s lead energy regulator, earlier this month after a contentious confirmation fight in the Senate, which Democrats framed as a vote on Trump’s plan to rescue coal plants. The Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Earth Justice, and the Union of Concerned Scientists on Tuesday filed a formal petition with FERC on Tuesday, asking that McNamee recuse himself from two key FERC dockets addressing grid resiliency.”
Grid Watchdog NERC: Hasty coal, nuke retirements risk blackouts
“A stress test conducted by the regulatory authority that oversees North America’s electric grid lends credibility to the Trump administration’s warnings that rampant coal and nuclear plant closures could result in power outages.”
Sources: 1. Daily Caller ; 2. NERC report
If only smart grids weren’t run by stupid people
“The rise of renewable power and electric vehicles and the increasing severity of weather events are converging to put more stresses on our grid. Now even the smallest power outage creates large financial impacts on both businesses and individuals.” So, of course, electric utilities and grid operators are taking the most reliable electricity generators (i.e., coal plants) off the grid. Brilliant.
