More intermittent power increases dependence on reliable backup
Tom KirkmanIndependent Project Manager
The more that intermittent electricity is added to the grid, the greater the dependence on “reliable” energy as a backup source of energy during peak times.
Apparently the natural gas protest groups prefer rolling power blackouts over a reliable electric grid.
< shrug shoulders >
It’s their choice if they really want to create the conditions for rolling power blackouts, even after being warned about it by the electrical grid regulators.
Perhaps after a few summers of blackouts and no air conditioning during peak energy high temperature days, and a few winters of blackouts during peak energy cold temperature days and no heat, the natural gas protestors will change their mind.
I grew up on a dairy farm. Every spring, the yearling calves would be moved from their wooden calf pen to the main part of the barn with the adult cows.
Electric fences are used to keep the cows from exiting the open area of the barn (this is normal practice).
The electicity is an extremely short pulse once every couple seconds.
The jolt from electric fences are not enough to harm the cow, but the jolt is pretty darn uncomfortable.
The newly released calves would lick the electric wire, because they can sense the intermittent electricity with their nose hairs, and are curious about the electric pulses.
Invariably, it would take several times of licking the electric fence and getting a jolt before they learned that it was probably not a good idea to do that.
The slower calves might take a dozen attempts over several days to learn the real world feedback.
Those energy illiterates insisting on banning natural gas remind me of the learning curve for calves.
It will be painful to watch.
It will likely take numerous rolling power blackouts over multiple years before they learn that natural gas is not their enemy.
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“The decision by the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada will give the state’s largest energy provider a green light to spend about $350 million to build and connect what is known as a “peaking” power plant because
● it is only turned on when demand for electricity peaks.
NV Energy said the addition of a fossil fuel-powered plant was necessary to fill a supply gap, especially in the face of increasingly hot summer temperatures, which drive up customer demand.
The utility told the commission that it also faced uncertainty about purchasing energy on the open market, as regional fossil fuel plants retire and prolonged drought continues to limit hydropower output.
“Nevada’s historic reliance on the energy market to meet peak period demand is no longer viable and has introduced significant risk of energy shortfalls and associated rolling blackouts in recent years,” NV Energy wrote in a filing to the utility commission in December. …”