The green movement is heavily invested in renewable energy and this will probably be a serious problem for them in the years to come. The likelihood is that the American people wont put up with severe energy shortages that result from rationing fossil fuels, banning nukes coupled with solar and wind renewable energy sources that are unable to satisfy demand. Solar and wind face the inherent inability to be scheduled by the operators of the electrical grids. Wind does not blow on schedule and the sun only shines, at best, half the time.
The Energy Tribune blog, features a story titled, “Texas Wind Power: The Numbers Versus the Hype”. The nub of the story is that the electrical grid operators in Texas say that “just 8.7% of the installed wind capacity can be counted on as dependable capacity during the peak demand period for the next year.” So they have to have conventional generating capacity to meet forecast loads. Read more here. The wind power proponents agree that is true but say lots of the time they are on-line providing power, albeit not peak power, and if you look at what they actually provide, it amounts to about 30-40% of their installed capacity. Well that does sound like it is better than the worst case, but not much.
ERCOT the electrical grid operator in Texas has had some bad experiences. Quoting from Reuters: A drop in wind generation late on Tuesday, coupled with colder weather, triggered an electric emergency that caused the Texas grid operator to cut service to some large customers, the grid agency said on Wednesday. ERCOT said the grid’s frequency dropped suddenly when wind production fell from more than 1,700 megawatts, before the event, to 300 MW when the emergency was declared. Read more here
And it seems some of the previously supportive companies are being to abandon the alterative energy arena. Quoting from Planet Ark, LONDON – Oil Major Royal Dutch Shell Plc doesn’t plan to make any more large investments in wind and solar energy in the future and does not expect hydrogen to play an important role in energy supply for some time.
“We do not expect material amounts of investment in those areas going forward,” Linda Cook, head of Shell’s gas and power unit told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday. “They continue to struggle to compete with the other investment opportunities we have in our portfolio,” Cook said of solar and wind. Read more here.
Soon I will report on the subsidies given to Alternative Fuels.
And the folly of ignoring nuclear energy is explore here in a Heartland Article written by Dr Arthur Robinson. This is a must read. I wish that I could write as well as Dr Robinson.
Read his entry here
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Climate Change Sanity 