Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Intermittency of Renewables?… Not So Much

To sum up the so-called “intermittency and storage” problem for renewables:  Geothermal has no intermittency issues and experiences fewer ephemeral shut downs than coal, nuclear, and natural gas.  Solar thermal — with molten salt as its storage medium — can be designed to have no intermittency issues. Offshore wind yields power more or less 24/7 with relatively limited intermittency compared with onshore wind.  The two most common sources of renewable electricity, onshore wind and solar photovoltaics, are, of course, complementary:  wind turbines (which, in the case of GE, already have built-in storage capacity) yield more power at night, while solar panels yield power during the day; hence, used in tandem, they can provide electricity 24/7 with “intermittency” being experienced only locally at each individual solar installation.

Intermittency of Renewables?… Not So Much

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