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In a sprawling complex of laboratories and futuristic gadgets in Golden, Colo., a supercomputer named Peregrinedoes a quadrillion calculations per second to help scientistsfigure out how to keep the lights on.
The problem is that renewable energy adds unprecedented levels of stress to a grid designed for the previous century.
Green energy is the least predictable kind. Nobody can say for certain when the wind will blow or the sun will shine. A field of solar panels might be cranking out huge amounts of energy one minute and a tiny amount the next if a thick cloud arrives. In many cases, renewable resources exist where transmission lines don't.
"We are getting to the point where we will have to pay people not to produce power," said Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster, a system operator board member.
Foster has been working with other regulators and power company executives to redesign the system. The work involves ideas for mapping and building vast networks of electrical lines, industrial-scale solar- and wind-power plants and backup natural gas plants that can keep the lights on when shifts in weather cause renewable sources to falter.
Did you see the part about a grid that is over a century old and is falling apart?
The fact is we have aging infrastructure that can barely do what we need already. The problem is that people aren't supplying the money to pay for it. Quit complaining that the duct taped POS is falling apart and not meeting demands never dreemed of a century ago...spend the money to fix it or replace it.
Did you see the part about a grid that is over a century old and is falling apart?
The fact is we have aging infrastructure that can barely do what we need already. The problem is that people aren't supplying the money to pay for it. Quit complaining that the duct taped POS is falling apart and not meeting demands never dreemed of a century ago...spend the money to fix it or replace it.
Did you see the part on how the grid is working fine with normal energy sources? But doesn't work well with inefficient, and inconsistent green energy?
What are you talking about in your paragraph there? The reason you don't see many new power plants opening up is not because people/businesses won't pay for the energy and plant costs themselves, its that businesses don't want to open them because of all the regulations and costs applied to them by the EPA.
This is why I like to say that Green is the new stupid.
Think about this, we are spending billions of tax dollars to support wind energy when we all know that wind is among the least effecient.
it blows most often in less populated areas, it blows strongest during periods of the lightest energy need, it is unpredictable and uncontrolable.
but hey! its GREEN! YEA US!
(they think we are stupid because we keep acting like it by letting them get away with this junk)
This is why I like to say that Green is the new stupid.
Think about this, we are spending billions of tax dollars to support wind energy when we all know that wind is among the least effecient.
it blows most often in less populated areas, it blows strongest during periods of the lightest energy need, it is unpredictable and uncontrolable.
but hey! its GREEN! YEA US!
(they think we are stupid because we keep acting like it by letting them get away with this junk)
That's why you back up renewable energy with gas. It's not exactly rocket science.
Did you see the part on how the grid is working fine with normal energy sources? But doesn't work well with inefficient, and inconsistent green energy?
What are you talking about in your paragraph there? The reason you don't see many new power plants opening up is not because people/businesses won't pay for the energy and plant costs themselves, its that businesses don't want to open them because of all the regulations and costs applied to them by the EPA.
The article actually was not making a distinction and wasn't that specific. I know that one of the issues in the last energy crisis in California was the lack of capacity to transmit power north to south. The fact that you need to string power lines between where the power is being produced and where it is being consumed is not new. When supply and demand changes it is not easily corrected.
Irregardless of Green energy producers there is an infrastructure issue in the United States with power transmission. The Northeast blackout of 2003 is a great example of how fragile the system can be.
Yes I am sure green power is a horrible thing.....which must be why China, Germany, and so many other countries are investing heavily in it.
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