On 15/10/16 21:56, Vir Campestris wrote:
On 10/10/2016 09:34, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
The second problem is intermittency. Not unpredictability, but the sheer
fact that the power is not coming from an energy store, but has to be
generated and used when the energy source is available. Again no amount
of clever technology cam make the wind always blow steadily or the sun
always shine, at least on the earth's surface.

You've missed hydro - not intermittent, highly dispatchable. But of
course there's the Banqiao problem...


I haven't missed non-intermittent. I have deliberately restricted the
discussion to *intermittent* renewables. Biogas etc are all fine, just
hopelessly uneconomic. Hydro is great if you can accept the risk, the
ecological impact and have suitable places to build it.


Andy


--
"It is an established fact to 97% confidence limits that left wing
conspirators see right wing conspiracies everywhere"