Clean power
Published on 21 August 2020 |
by Steve Hanley
21 August 2020 due to Steve Hanley
California is currently going through hell, with massive wildfires raging in many parts of the state. Due to the lightning attacks, the fires have forced utility companies such as PG&E to shut off electricity to large sections of the population. Opponents of climate science – particularly the editors of the Wall Street Journal – were quick to condemn renewable energy for the blackouts. The theory is the same lame analysis that Donald Trump offered to workers in Lima, Ohio last March: ‘Let’s set up some windmills. If the wind is not blowing, just turn off the TV lover. There’s no wind, please turn off the television soon. ”
De Wall Street Journal said the blackouts are “a warning to the rest of America about the risks of Green New Deal policies.” President Trump reiterated that theme Tuesday, tweeting that the “Bernie / Biden / AOC Green New Deal Plan would take California’s failed policies to every American!”
The only problem is, they’re both wrong, according to Stephen Berberich, head of California’s network for power. He tells the Los Angeles Times that sustainable products are absolutely not to blame for the blackouts. Everyone knows that the sun goes down and the wind does not always blow. The problem, he says, is that officials across the state have failed to put together the right mix of energy sources.
The solution is to add no more thermal generator which will add even more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere it rotates will lead to even more powerful storms. The solution is to create that synergistic mix of resources that will keep the lights on while tackling the challenges of a warming planet. Berberich and other experts tell it LA Times there are 8 things that can be done.
Increased battery storage
LS Power Gateway battery. Credit: LS Power
Battery storage is getting cheaper all the time and could help California get the bump if demand for power outages in the late afternoon and early evening. Last year, the Public Utilities Commission set up utilities to add 3,300 MWh of battery storage. That’s a good start. In fact, LS Energy is in the process of making up what will be the grid’s largest storage battery in the world – the Gateway battery in Southern California. According to Green Tech Media, Gateway started with a capacity of 62.5 MWh, but that is expected to grow to 250 MWh by the end of this month.
In 2019, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that California could get 90% of its electricity from climate-friendly sources by 2030, while reducing energy prices, even if the costs of solar energy, wind energy and batteries do not fall as fast as they have in recent years. Doing so would require about 25,000 MWh of batteries, so 3,300 MWh ordered by the PUC is simply a prelude to the future of storage in the Golden State.
More sun and wind
“Batteries will not only repair this,” says Berberich. “In fact, solar radiation and other renewable energy will have to be built to both charge the batteries and serve the charge at the same time.” A 2019 study found that intentionally ‘building’ the solar float – even if some electricity is cut off when demand is low – may be the best way to keep electricity prices low on a grid dominated by renewable energy.
Rooftop solar and residential batteries
Storing solar and residential batteries on roofs could go a long way in managing California’s energy system by creating a system of virtual power plants. Homes and businesses would sign up for programs in which they agree to discharge their batteries – sending power back to the grid – in exchange for financial compensation. “It takes the Flex Alert and puts it on speed,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director of California Solar and Storage Assn. ‘It’s not alone,’ ‘Turn off your lights and set your thermostat to 78.’ It does these things and gives us 5 kilowatt-hours of your battery in your garage. And we pay you for it. ”
While several utilities talk about doing similar things in the San Francisco Bay Area, Del Chiaro said that large utilities and state regulators, including the Public Utilities Commission and the Independent System Operator, are biased against traditional power plants and have mostly failed the concept. Green Mountain Power in Vermont offers a VPP grid program to its customers with Tesla Powerwall batteries and has found the system more than paying for itself.
Reply Reply
Demand management, sometimes known as smart grid technology, can have a powerful effect on the electric grid. David Olsen, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Independent System Operator, says: “For non-carbon networks, demand will be as important as supply. We will be able to manage demand flexibly, and keep pace with the ever-changing output of wind. a sun. ”
Going forward, experts tell the LA Times, it will be essential to expand “demand response” programs that automate energy-saving measures and pay people to maintain instead of relying on horrific pleas for the public. With the right technology, grid managers were able to cut large amounts of money throughout the entire period by sending pool pumps, electric cars, cooling systems and other appliances to draw power from the grid at various times of the day.
Expand the grid
Some advocate building new transmission lines to states in eastern California such as New Mexico and Wyoming, where large wind farms have an abundance of electric power. The Sierra Club of California is concerned that expanding the roster in this way would make California subject to the policies in those other states and would export jobs for clean energy from the state.
Proponents of the “big screen” idea say it would reduce the cost of running out of fossil fuels. The argument that a single western grid could also make it easier for energy executives in the region to coordinate supplies in the heatwave like this this week without shaking to find available sources. “We should not have to shake it off,” said Ralph Cavanagh, co-director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s energy program. “The shake-up is self-evident that we continue to suffer from an overly fragmented system of network management.”
Keep nuclear
California has one nuclear power plant in operation, the Diablo Canyon facility in San Luis Obispo that generates 10% of all the state’s electricity. The PUC approved its closure in 2018, but opponents of the plan point out that there is no plan yet for how to replace Diablo Canyon’s electricity with sustainable ones.
Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham, whose district includes San Luis Obispo, has a bill pending in the Legislature that would require state officials to calculate nuclear toward California’s goal of 60% renewable electricity by 2030. At present, nuclear power is not calculated. as renewed. ‘We experience [these blackouts] with Diablo Canyon still operational, it produces 10% of our state’s electricity, ”says Cunningham. “I can not imagine what situation we will be in if there is a heat wave in 2025 when Diablo is offline.”
Geothermal And Offshore Wind
Geothermal energy is more expensive than solar and wind, but it has one major advantage – it produces electricity 24 hours a day every day, regardless of storm, lightning, or sunspots. Clouds and light wind have no effect on it. No new geothermal facility has been built in California for more than 10 years, but the recent fire of fires and rolling blackouts has given many a fresh look at the technology.
Offshore wind is being developed along the east coast of the United States from Maine to Virginia, but offshore wind is facing several challenges on the west coast, where the coast is sinking into very deep waters. Driving wind is a new technology that is being tested in many places around the world, but it is still in its infancy.
The US Navy objects to offshore wind on the west coast, claiming it will interfere with training exercises. The most attractive feature of drifting offshore wind is that the wind blows stronger and consistently at sea than on land. “Resource diversity is good,” said Nancy Rader, executive director of the California Wind Energy Association. “Sun and wind together are much more reliable than a solar portfolio.”
Long-term storage
There are other ways to save electricity than batteries. Some of them can last for days or even months, such as pumped hydro, the first energy storage medium in the world. It requires a lot of land and some expensive engineering, which limits where it can be installed. Storage of compressed air works in much the same way, but requires geological conditions that will keep the pressure of the air leaking before it is needed.
New technologies such as power batteries continue to arrive. Who knows what energy storage will look like in 10 years? The bottom line of all this is that sustainable energy blackouts this week are no longer causing in California as they were responsible for outages in South Australia and Victoria a few years ago. The problem, as it is now, are weak points built into the existing grid. Dealing with those structural issues and sustainable products will be able to do more than shoulder their fair share of the load.
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About the Author
Steve Hanley Steve writes about the interface between technology and sustainability from his homes in Florida and Connecticut as well as wherever the Singularity can lead him. You can follow him Twitter but not on every social media platform run by evil gentlemen like Facebook.
