Wind and solar can augment hydrocarbons but not replace them
Tom KirkmanIndependent Project Manager
Wind and solar can *augment* hydrocarbons and nuclear.
Wind and solar *cannot replace* hydrocarbons and nuclear.
I’ve stated this repeatedly. Because it is true.
Deniers of the first 2 sentences above are clearly anti-science lemmings, who are yearning for Darwin Awards for themselves and others.
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“We cannot operate a system with 100 percent renewables,” said Asim Haque, a senior vice president of the PJM Interconnection, which serves 65 million people in all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia.
Haque’s statement contradicts what many “green” energy proponents claim about wind and solar power – technologies that account for most new energy sources proposed for PJM because subsidies and regulations have made more reliable sources uneconomical.
… Repeated – even urgent – warnings abound that the power grid is increasingly prone to failure.
Some of these warnings come straight from grid overseers, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC).
… The bottom line is Pennsylvanians are in dire danger of life-threatening winter blackouts.
Let’s not forget the 2012 cold snap in Texas that killed more than 200 people and caused billions of dollars in economic damages.
The reason is painfully clear:
● States and utilities are shutting down reliable power plants, especially coal-fired and nuclear facilities.
● They are replacing these reliable sources with unreliable sources, such as wind and solar generators, which do not work on cold, windless nights.
… Instead, here are some things for Pennsylvania policymakers to consider as a course correction:
• Focus first on cold winter nights with no wind or solar power. Obvious solutions are adequately winterized gas-supply systems and coal and nuclear plants with on-site fuel supplies that protect against the vulnerabilities of just-in-time pipeline deliveries.
• Stop claiming wind and solar can replace coal, gas, and nuclear. They can’t.
• Allow construction of pipelines to supply fuel to gas plants. More than two-thirds of voters support such infrastructure development, according to a poll by the Commonwealth Foundation.
• Resist federal regulations that undermine reliability and change state policy that does likewise. …”