Posted on 10/21/2010 4:36:59 PM PDT by NRG1973
The German electricity grid faces instability because of too much solar power, an expert said.
Thanks to a generous feed-in tariff, the installation of rooftop solar panels and large-scale photovoltaic plants has exploded in Germany.
Stephan Kohler, chairman of the DENA agency, an energy adviser to the government, has warned that the green boom could turn into a disaster for Germany's aging power grid.
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
We, here in America, need to be careful about all of this renewable energy. As a retired chemical engineer I can attest to the difficulty when it comes to sacling something up.
Govt planning (by LAWYERS) doesn’t work too well.
Here in the midwest they are pushing wind turbines.
Unfortunately they don’t provide power when it’s needed most - summer daylight hours to handle A/C loads.
But not a bad thing. Or something that can be sorted out.
I consider this a good thing.
This should read: "I can attest to the difficulty when it comes to scaling something up". We engineers are very good at math and science...but not so good at typing.
One thing is for certain. The only “constant” natural power is hydroelectric.
I consider this a good thing.
I think that solar power has more possibilities than wind power, but there are still issues that need to be worked out. I hope this is an early warning alarm to us that the transition to renewables will be a lot slower than some of the environmentalists would like it to be.
>> The article doesn’t go into much detail about the problem
The problem, in a nutshell, is the “feed in tariff” — a government-mandated minimum price that ratepayers (in Germany, = taxpayers) are forced to pay for alternative energy.
Besides tapping out taxpayers, this guaranteed but artificial return on solar investment has led to an absolute GLUT in German solar installations, and also a glut in German manufacture of solar components (not just panels, but also inverters, mounting systems, and so forth).
Of course, like all government mandated subsidies, it’s unsustainable — and therein lies the problem. When it’s reduces and solar is forced to compete (more or less) in the open market, what will happen to all those solar jobs?
It had, perhaps, a small benefit in driving innovation in solar equipment and panel design and manufacture. But I doubt it’s worth the down side of boom-bust that government intervention caused. (Sound familiar?)
At this year’s Intersolar America tradeshow, the two countries that dominated the exhibitors were Germany and — you guessed it — China.
IF the “green revolution” leads to job creation — and that’s a big IF — very many of those jobs will NOT be in the US.
More natural gas please
Besides tapping out taxpayers, this guaranteed but artificial return on solar investment has led to an absolute GLUT in German solar installations, and also a glut in German manufacture of solar components (not just panels, but also inverters, mounting systems, and so forth).
So you are saying that the problem is the tariff and its impact on ratepayers. That doesn't seem consistent with the first sentence of the article that states solar power is causing the German electric grid to become unstable.
I should have been more clear. The “root cause” is the feedin tariff subsidy.
It leads to all kinds of problems, whatever “instability” they have on their grid being only one of them. The drain on taxpayers, the glut of components and installations, the inevitable crash are others.
Geothermal can also work. The sun’s nuke power plant is off at night but the earth’s core nuke power plant runs 24x7. It is geographic specific.
There is one “practical” energy source progressives are not against: global warming.
If the environazis don't knock down your dam.
Even hydro is subject to variability, especially during a drought. It’s more manageable, though.
The article doesn't go into much detail about the problem but it does say that there is simply too much solar power for the electric grid. I suspect it has to do with the fact that solar power is only available when its daylight. We, here in America, need to be careful about all of this renewable energy.
We've always been a proponent of solar, especially over wind, for the simple reason it is reliable, very reliable in some regions, just in a diurnally periodic way. But also can see the grid and artificial economic problems.
Seems to me the lower inertia of gas fired turbines, as opposed to say coal, is the best complement to solar, whatever can take up the diurnal deficit most efficiently. Nuclear of course not at all, suitable only for continuous base load.
In the long run deep geothermal is by far the best of all renewable possibilities, virtually unlimited planetary heat. There seem to be few however with that vision - I think one group at MIT. And also distributed co-generation with energy storage onsite - a virtual no brainer, but centralized interests will protest.
The problem is that solar power is variable. Keeping the grid balanced is tricky business at the best of times but with solar and wind the problem is worse; if a cloud passes over a solar plant the grid has to instantly draw power from other sources. If the other sources don’t kick in fast enough, you get a cascade failure that takes down the whole grid. Something similar happened here in 2003, when one downed transmission line in Ohio took out the entire Northeast grid.
“If the environazis don’t knock down your dam.”
What? And destroy all the newly created habitat below the dam? The horror!
“Mr. President. Tear down these Dams!”
LOL!
Ha ...tell that to the Australians.
From 2007 (and the drought continues )
Operations at Snowy Mountains Hydro may be suspended in weeks as water supplies fall due to the drought which has affected much of South-Eastern Australia. Water stores as part of the scheme are at their lowest levels since it was opened in 1973.
Mayor of the Snowy Mountains Shire Council, Richard Wallace warned that should water levels in dams continue to fall, many towns in the area may suffer from water shortages. He also warned that the Snowy Mountains Hydro electric scheme could be suspended.
Snowy Hydro Limited, the company which operates the scheme, has predicted that water levels in Lake Jindabyne will fall below the threshold needed to operate power turbines by mid to late May. Lake Eucumbene, the second water source for the scheme will fall below its threshold by late July or early August.
A statement by the company claims that over the last decade, water levels have continued to fall as the drought continues.
The drought has lasted longer than the region's previous worst which lasted from 1936 to 1946.
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