All this talk about energy independence and not a word on where are the solar cells, batteries and wind turbines made. If your grid is standing on components with short life time and which you can't manufacture at scale, you are not independent. You have just traded one dependence for another.
California invests in battery energy storage, leaving rolling blackouts behind
281–290 of 363 posts
Re: California invests in battery energy storage, leaving rolling blackouts behind
#282Earlier quoted context omitted.
France? France is increasing its nuclear output. And planning to build new plants. (Expanding nuclear generation was prohibited by law up until March of 2023). The added renewables help to make the nuclear plants more efficient and profitable, by taking up a good amount of the variable demand.
France doesn't have any new reactors under construction. Its annual nuclear generation peaked in 2005: ~/git/iaea-pris % sqlite3 pris_data.db sqlite> select year, sum(electricity_supplied_gwh) from reactor_statistics, reactor_operating_history where reactor_statistics.reactor_id=reactor_operating_history.reactor_id and country_code='FR' and year > '1999' group by year; year sum(electricity_supplied_gwh) ---- --------…
They don’t even plan enough replacements to keep generation constant as aging plants are decommissioned
Re: California invests in battery energy storage, leaving rolling blackouts behind
#283Earlier quoted context omitted.
The UK uses far more gas to heat homes than to generate electricity, and uses some for industrial purposes so it seems weird to attribute LNG use to wind, the technology that more than any other has reduced gas usage in the UK.
The increase in use of wind, being intermittent and non-dispatchable means there has to be 1-for-1 back up wind generation. That is gas. We also have periods in the winter (so solar of little to no use), where we can have a week or two of no wind. As the gas generators are not run constantly, they're more expensive than if they were. There are various (at least 3) UK "gridwatch" sites available, offering real time an…
Since year 2000 wind has gone from 0 to 30% of UK electricity generation
Coal has gone from 32% to 0.
Gas has gone from 40% to 30%
How do you square these numbers with wind being responsible for the amount of gas burned?
Re: California invests in battery energy storage, leaving rolling blackouts behind
#284Earlier quoted context omitted.
Criminally overpriced. We're not getting shit for it either. God forbid you live in any of the more woody parts of California either. You'll have to have your own battery or generator anyway. As someone who plans to live in the Santa Cruz Mountains long term, I will be going completely off grid as PG&E will just cut power forever rather than fix anything.
Why is PG&E so poorly run? I don't live there, just follow the news and their name comes up constantly in negative press.
They have worst of both worlds with California-tier corporate culture and Californian politics.
Re: California invests in battery energy storage, leaving rolling blackouts behind
#285If there is one resource that America has in spades it's empty land. My own country every m² is valuable.
But unfortunately, everyone wants to live in a small subset.
Re: California invests in battery energy storage, leaving rolling blackouts behind
#286Earlier quoted context omitted.
The increase in use of wind, being intermittent and non-dispatchable means there has to be 1-for-1 back up wind generation. That is gas. We also have periods in the winter (so solar of little to no use), where we can have a week or two of no wind. As the gas generators are not run constantly, they're more expensive than if they were. There are various (at least 3) UK "gridwatch" sites available, offering real time an…
Since year 2000 wind has gone from 0 to 30% of UK electricity generation Coal has gone from 32% to 0. Gas has gone from 40% to 30% How do you square these numbers with wind being responsible for the amount of gas burned?
You are not going to observe that in annual averages. As mentioned in my other comment, you can observe that very clearly in the energy production charts: https://gridwatch.co.uk/
Re: California invests in battery energy storage, leaving rolling blackouts behind
#287All this talk about energy independence and not a word on where are the solar cells, batteries and wind turbines made. If your grid is standing on components with short life time and which you can't manufacture at scale, you are not independent. You have just traded one dependence for another.
Wind turbines and solar panels have similar lifespans to natural gas power plants which are also made somewhere else.
Re: California invests in battery energy storage, leaving rolling blackouts behind
#288If there is one resource that America has in spades it's empty land. My own country every m² is valuable.
But unfortunately, everyone wants to live in a small subset.
Why is this unfortunate? Urban living shrinks each person’s land and energy footprint by packing people efficiently, cutting carbon emissions through public transit and walkability, preserving open natural spaces, and enabling more efficient infrastructure.
It's true that concentrating populations in cities increases housing demand, but that doesn't automatically mean costs must rise—housing prices are driven by supply constraints and policy choices, not just demand. If cities allow enough new construction and implement policies like inclusionary zoning or affordable housing mandates, supply can keep pace with demand, preventing price spikes and even lowering costs per unit over time. So, while demand goes up, smart urban planning can ensure affordability without conceding that costs inevitably follow.
Re: California invests in battery energy storage, leaving rolling blackouts behind
#289Earlier quoted context omitted.
Since year 2000 wind has gone from 0 to 30% of UK electricity generation Coal has gone from 32% to 0. Gas has gone from 40% to 30% How do you square these numbers with wind being responsible for the amount of gas burned?
You are not going to observe that in annual averages. As mentioned in my other comment, you can observe that very clearly in the energy production charts: https://gridwatch.co.uk/
Let's boil this right down:
A new wind turbine is built and plugged into the grid. Does this cause more gas to be burned or less?
Re: California invests in battery energy storage, leaving rolling blackouts behind
#290Earlier quoted context omitted.
I skimmed your posts but they don't blame EU rules. Can you point to EU regulation which caused this? ARENH looks like a mechanism by which France wanted to entice competition in end customer sales (and distribution?) of electricity.
The ARENH program originated with EU liberalization efforts. https://fsr.eui.eu/regulated-access-to-incumbent-nuclear-ele...
I read your link and I don't see why you say originated. This is a French law. My understanding is that EDF wanted to take a stake in a German energy producer and to approve such a takeover the EU as the market authority required some type of market liberalization of the French energy market.
France chose to use the mechanism of ARENH. This isn't an EU thing.