Credit: Professor Mark Diesendorf/Climate Spectator
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2013/12/18/energy-markets/base-debate-holding-renewables-hostage?utm_source=exact&utm_medium=email&utm_content=553416&utm_campaign=cs_daily&modapt= / edited extract Mark Diesendorf new book Sustainable Energy Solutions for Climate Change published Australia New Zealand UNSW Press December 2013; ublished overseas Earthscan April 2014 myth renewable energy intermittent unreliable major source electricity supply penetration penetrations renewable energy grid must await development baseload renewable power stations vast amount storage refute refutation computer simulation modeling electricity systems 80-100 per cent 80% 100% renewable electricity RE refutes this traditional assumption simple conception balancing baseload demand baseload supply 24-hour period outdated context renewable energy electricity RE future appropriate inflexible baseload power stations coal nuclear atomic uranium radio active activity only choice 24 hour 24-hour power large penetrations RE integrated into grid baseload power stations not needed their inflexibility inflexible liability computer simulations show baseload demand supplied reliably reliable mix RE sources source baseload power station figure David Mills mix flexible variable RE power stations output varied rapidly required flexible technology dispatchable switched on rapidly coal fired coal-fired nuclear power station electrical power electricity fed into grid upon demand high degree certainty following renewable electricity systems are flexible to varying degrees gas turbine assured source of fuel derived from biomass organic materials hydro-electric station hydro electric large dam geothermal power station concentrated solar thermal power station thermal storage definition grey areas flexibility RE source storage increases store wind solar PV without storage run-of-river hydro much less flexibleclassified variable sourcesbelectrical outputs variable power stations decreased required cannot increased beyond level offered weather flow conditions dispatched reliably part mix flexible renewable power stations label variable RE technologies intermittent misleading implying incorrectly large scale large-scale renewable electricity production generally cuts off abruptly wind drops cloud blocks the sun output single wind turbine solar PV moduleintermittent in this sense wind farm spanning tens kilometres solar power station spanning kilometre take much longer cut-off system of geographically dispersed wind farms solar power stations take many hours short term short-term changes wind sunshine predicted quite well weather observations challenge predominant predominantly RE system supply peaks in demand baseload, achieve achieved both geographic dispersion mix flexible variable power stations flexible conventional generation, grid storage, transmission responsive loads changes power system operation Mark Diesendorf associate professor deputy director Institute of Environmental Studies UNSW university of NSW New South Wales /
