OT Penny Finally Beginning To Drop

Chris Hogg posted

Very interesting. Thank you. It confirms much of what I already believed without doing any sums.

But let me just note that the author admits he doesn't know the answer to the substantive point we have been discussing here, namely whether adding renewable generating plant to the grid will save fossil fuel.

See pages 11-12: "Overall, is the gain in average electricity generated by intermittent renewables greater than the losses incurred in dealing with their intermittency? And the answer is: No-one really knows ... This is a really nasty problem, one that has occupied me for several years, and essentially I have found no complete answer to it."

However, on p15 he suggests that adding renewable plant *does* save fuel: "It seems that mostly efficiency [of conventional power stations] is well preserved until quite low power output levels are reached. This leads to one reasonably important conclusion. That intermittent renewable energy on a grid (that does not increase spinning reserve requirements) will not increase fuel burn per unit generated too much. Although it does increase it somewhat."

and on p17 "the balance of probabilities is that renewable energy of the intermittent kind probably does result in a net reduction of fuel used."

and p27 "When stripped back to its core concept - that it saves some fuel - we can see that although this is largely true in low penetration, it is less so as renewable capacity increases".

Reply to
Big Les Wade
Loading thread data ...

I would suggest that your selected quotes are a little rose-tinted. I would have chosen different ones. No matter. I'm glad you found it useful.

Reply to
Chris Hogg

Well, _I_ have a suspicion it's going to be useful in a few years. The supporters of these devices do, in general, have a different opinion.

Andy

Reply to
Vir Campestris

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.