April’s eclipse will mean interruptions in solar (and wind) power generation, which could strain electrical grids

The Conversation ^ | March 8, 2024 | Vahe Peroomian

[DoodleBob]

[Chickensoup]

This is a what? 10 minutes phenomenon?

The article said nothing

[CatOwner]

If it wasn’t for man-made everything, the eclipse wouldn’t happen! /s

[Dalberg-Acton]

How can they even walk when they’re that full of crap?

[simpson96]

I was thinking the same thing.

It’s anywhere from 3 to 5 minutes of “no sun”.

OH NOES!!!! (lol)

[HartleyMBaldwin]

Well, then, they’d better just call off the eclipse.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“The most obvious obstacle to solar power generation is cloud cover.”

No, there is an even more obvious and far bigger obstacle, something that happens once a day everywhere on the globe. It’s called “night.”

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“Thanks to the vigilance of electric grid operators”

BULL CRAP. Thanks to the availability of fossil fired power plants. Nothing to do with “vigilance of operators.”

[DoodleBob]

There is also the pseudo dusk and dawn effect. That’s more than period of totality.

[Fester Chugabrew]

Dear God. I need to buy a panic button for that day but it may be too late.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

The total duration start to finish is close to three hours. Solar output starts to drop immediately when the moon starts to block the sun.

[cephalopod]

What foolishness. At worst it’s a science experiment; see the solar cell’s output dip for a couple minutes.
Let’s not forget that Bill Gates and others have talked about putting a giant solar shade in space to block out the sun. What would the impact on renewables be then? (I know, we’d all die).
I can hardly believe this guy teaches anything beyond Kindergarten with this understanding of astronomical phenomena.

[metmom]

The geniuses running this country don’t consider that.

Or maybe they do.......

[metmom]

Totality is more than 10 minutes and there is a lot of loss of incoming solar radiation on both sides of it. The suns disc gets covered slowly over the matter of a few hours.

[al baby]

I recall a eclipse back in 1987 or so it was mazing birds started chirping like crazy

[lefty-lie-spy]

This is silly. A four minute lack of sunshine…? It happens for hours and hours every night and when the sky is full of clouds or dark thunderstorms. What a load of BS.

[DoodleBob]

I understand that crickets also start…um…cricketing(?).

It should be cool. And it think it’s the last one in North America for some time.

[Myrddin]

A couple days after the eclipse passed over eastern Idaho in August 2017, we had a 5.3 earthquake. Aftershocks continued for many weeks. It will be interesting to see if the April 8th eclipse tweaks the New Madrid fault zone.

[Big Red Badger]

My thoughts Also as to ‘Nothing!’
At least it said nothing about This eclipse triggering some Apocalyptic event!

[Myrddin]

I was in the path of totality of 2 minutes 15 seconds in Idaho. Awesome. The horizon for 360 degrees looked like pre-dawn. Stars were visible around the darkened sun with a perfect ring. As totality waned, the first bright spot on the ring was a brilliant diamond.

When the event was over, the "fun" began with a few million people leaving the ideal centerline and headed out of Idaho or off to restaurants for lunch. The roads were jammed even at 9 PM with the exodus of visitors.