Electric Grandma: “Market manipulation was successful in California because there was nobody responsible for making the system work. In an RTO area, the buck never stops anywhere. Not even today.”
Renewable energy, such as wind and solar will never supply more than 20% of our power needs. Wind and solar by their very nature are intermediate, unreliable and expensive forms of energy, which is not compatible with the grid.
The path to affordable and reliable energy will come from our new modern nuclear power systems such as the Westinghouse AP 300 SMR.
The problem with nuclear is that there has been an intense drive in the last two decades to discount nuclear as dangerous and expensive. This simply is not the case.
The only people supporting renewable energy are the atmospheric activists, politicians and the wind turbine and solar developers who are in it for the money!
Edgar J. Gunter, PhD
Prof. Emeritus Mech. & Aerospace Eng., UVA, Fellow ASME
Great summary. One quibble I have with Angwin is her giving any credence to the need to reduce emissions. Co2 is not a climate control knob, that is, thinking we can control climate by controlling Co2 is absurd and the entire climate change narrative boils down to that absurdity. As others have pointed out, nuclear is likely the best long term solution for our energy source, but in the meantime, natural gas and coal are needed to keep the lights on. Investments in wind and solar need to stop - they are parasitic and weaken the grid. Had we invested in nuclear what has been invested in wind and solar, our grid would be far more robust and resilient than it is today.
Roger Caiazza wrote a good summary of Meredith Angwin's book Shorting the Grid. I agree the only solution is re-regulation as no entity is responsible for critical electric grid reliability in ISO or RTO areas. There is an economic value associated with reliability Previously, CGNP observed the indirect costs of the ENRON-induced California grid failures were between $300 - $400 billion in lost productivity. We address some of these issues in our article, "Why is Grid Inertia Important? - Without sufficient synchronous grid inertia, the grid becomes unstable and a blackout occurs." https://greennuke.substack.com/p/why-is-grid-inertia-important
Renewable energy, such as wind and solar will never supply more than 20% of our power needs. Wind and solar by their very nature are intermediate, unreliable and expensive forms of energy, which is not compatible with the grid.
The path to affordable and reliable energy will come from our new modern nuclear power systems such as the Westinghouse AP 300 SMR.
The problem with nuclear is that there has been an intense drive in the last two decades to discount nuclear as dangerous and expensive. This simply is not the case.
The only people supporting renewable energy are the atmospheric activists, politicians and the wind turbine and solar developers who are in it for the money!
Edgar J. Gunter, PhD
Prof. Emeritus Mech. & Aerospace Eng., UVA, Fellow ASME
Great summary. One quibble I have with Angwin is her giving any credence to the need to reduce emissions. Co2 is not a climate control knob, that is, thinking we can control climate by controlling Co2 is absurd and the entire climate change narrative boils down to that absurdity. As others have pointed out, nuclear is likely the best long term solution for our energy source, but in the meantime, natural gas and coal are needed to keep the lights on. Investments in wind and solar need to stop - they are parasitic and weaken the grid. Had we invested in nuclear what has been invested in wind and solar, our grid would be far more robust and resilient than it is today.
Great read. Thanks for the book reference. I'll pick it up.
Roger Caiazza wrote a good summary of Meredith Angwin's book Shorting the Grid. I agree the only solution is re-regulation as no entity is responsible for critical electric grid reliability in ISO or RTO areas. There is an economic value associated with reliability Previously, CGNP observed the indirect costs of the ENRON-induced California grid failures were between $300 - $400 billion in lost productivity. We address some of these issues in our article, "Why is Grid Inertia Important? - Without sufficient synchronous grid inertia, the grid becomes unstable and a blackout occurs." https://greennuke.substack.com/p/why-is-grid-inertia-important