Compared it to fossil fuels. Renewables have near zero operating cost and when we can’t use it, usually due to the lack of flexibility of a fossil fuel plant, we don’t.
I say this because in most markets the fossil fuel plant will even pay to dispose of its power instead of shutting down.
That might be a controversial framing for some but it’s also an accurate way to describe the situation.
Also, we don’t get our knickers in a twist when the legacy power grid isn’t using all of its available capacity. That’s what a mature reliable system looks like. And in the case of a renewables dominant grid, we will likely have a lot of excess power at times. So get used to it and get using it.
>Throw Away
more wind tomorrow at no cost to you. sunlight included.
​
“throwing away” doesn’t cost as much as when you have to get the oil out of the ground.
Energy is curtailed when we don;t have enough storage/transmission.
3 comments
Curtailment of renewables again.
Compared it to fossil fuels. Renewables have near zero operating cost and when we can’t use it, usually due to the lack of flexibility of a fossil fuel plant, we don’t.
I say this because in most markets the fossil fuel plant will even pay to dispose of its power instead of shutting down.
That might be a controversial framing for some but it’s also an accurate way to describe the situation.
Also, we don’t get our knickers in a twist when the legacy power grid isn’t using all of its available capacity. That’s what a mature reliable system looks like. And in the case of a renewables dominant grid, we will likely have a lot of excess power at times. So get used to it and get using it.
>Throw Away
more wind tomorrow at no cost to you. sunlight included.
​
“throwing away” doesn’t cost as much as when you have to get the oil out of the ground.
Energy is curtailed when we don;t have enough storage/transmission.