So the solutions are not that easy. Some overcapacity with priority uses will surely be part of the solution. Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi
Some overcapacity with priority uses will surely be part of the solution.
It IS the solution. What's wrong with it? In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Redundancy costs? Any time the marginal gas plants already there don't run, they are avoiding the likely staggering fuel costs of the future. That's a value, bolstered by their ability to be turned on when needed.
My point here is that (say) the costs of running a gas fired power station are 50% fixed, 50% variable (i.e. proportionate to the about of electricity produced - due mainly to the cost of the input fuel).
The Unit cost of electricity from such a plant operating at 10% capacity (i.e. only at times of extreme peak demand/low average wind speeds) is (50+50/10)/10 = 5.5 per 1% unit capacity
If that same plant is operating at 50% capacity the equivalent unit costs is (50+50/2)/50 = 1.5 per 1% unit capacity - in other words almost 4 times cheaper. Thus there is a marginal cost to maintaining more redundancy because of greater intermittency in the system. "It's a mystery to me - the game commences, For the usual fee - plus expenses, Confidential information - it's in my diary..."
Thus you can easily maintain redundancy at a very low overall cost. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
This is in any case very much a secondary point. The greater point made above is that the wider the dispersal of windfarms and the larger the grid they are connected to, the less overall redundancy is required to provide a stable supply/demand platform. "It's a mystery to me - the game commences, For the usual fee - plus expenses, Confidential information - it's in my diary..."
W.r.t. bullet 5, the only household appliances I can think of that absolutely must have power continuously is the lighting and the refrigerator and freezer. Well, washing machines might have to be re-jigged a bit to cope with intermittency too. And while all these appliances must have power above a certain threshold more or less continuously, they are not that sensitive to voltage or current. Computers require a stable power supply, but putting a UPS in a computer is relatively straightforward, and may become standard issue if the grid starts acting up.
Big consumers, like factories and hospitals, will need separate solutions, of course, but the advantage here is that they are located in one place.
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
