alan_m wrote:
On 30/08/2020 18:17, Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote:


I suspect that in the long run that is the best solution but
neither batteries nor solar panels are quite good enough yet. OTOH
they're
closer to good enough than I would have expected even a decade ago, if
trends continue they will be soon enough.

You assume that there is enough hours of sunshine, or even daylight, for
your solar power to generate enough to charge your batteries for the 10
days AND for your everyday usage whilst charging. I suspect that you
couldn't install enough solar power on the average domestic property to
achieve anywhere enough capacity during the winter months.

If you expect to be connecting 12kW heaters to the grid,
you don't get 10 day power holdup for free.

That only comes from having baseline nuclear power, to keep
the grid stiff for the extraordinary loads everyone seems
to think are free.

If you listen to how someone who is "off the grid" talks, their
entire day is planned around their "power budget". They don't
burp or fart, without approval from their power budget.
"I can only use my laptop for ten minutes today." That's
the mindset that makes solar panels "work forever". A
kind of bunker mentality. You can instill that kind of
thinking, if you price electricity like it was "on the moon".

The approach of your power company (if no government interference
is present), is to use a basket of power providers. Wind and solar
are one of many sources. Here, we use nuclear and water power
(maybe 35GW of hydroelectric in just one area from multiple dams,
zero in a couple of other areas where they had to use *coal*).
If there was a sustained drought, and it reduced the water power
output, the nuclear would have to take its place.

We were supposed to have spent $6 billion on solar at one point,
but whether there was any real benefit from that, I don't know.
I don't remember any pictures of "fields of panels". And the power
was slated to be multiple times more expensive than baseline
power generation. Wind was probably a better investment, as at
least I've seen some parts for a wind generator being transported
on the highway near me. And the siting for these wind generators,
it's done in areas with good persistent wind conditions. Rather
than just flaky so-so conditions. The siting is selected with
some care.

No power company really wants to run from just one source type.
For example, imagine you did all your generation from fast-starting
natural gas plants. Then, one day, the natural gas transport line,
a pumping station explodes, knocking out the flow of gas. Instantly,
you'd have no electricity. The system would have no resiliency.
After looking at the web site of several power companies, I
see the same theme each time, a mixed basket of supplies, and
a development plan for handling aging of resources, finding
more readily available supplies and so on.

The alternative, is to operate like a third-world country, with
rolling blackouts. That seems to work.

Paul