The US grid is ready for 100% renewables, says DOE

https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/03/the_us_grid_is_ready/

by LinuxBender • 4 years ago

11 7 4 years ago

The claim being made feels very much like click bait. It would be truly amazing if that were the case, but, think about it: a technical reason for maintaining a mix of energy sources, some from variable sources like wind and solar, others from stable sources, e.g. natural gas, hydro, coal, etc, is that you need to maintain both voltage and frequency. An example: push a 1000 amps of juice from a spinning windmill against a 100 amp generator - which, itself, determines voltage and frequency, and guess what happens.. If you install a field of variable energy sources, there's a limit to the capacity of that field when plugged into a stationary source. When I was involved in wind energy many years ago, that limit was something like 20%. I do not doubt that limit has risen over the years, but 100%? Sure, recent funding is allowing DOE to create a demonstration, one I expect will, in fact, establish new limits. I doubt we are ready for the claim made here.

toomuchtodo2• 4 years ago

Can you provide data to refute the DOE’s claim?

liketochill• 4 years ago

The article indicated the demonstration project will install ten 10 MW batteries at solar or wind farms and provides no information about how these installation would allow for 100% inverter based energy. The peak demand on the WECC region is 170 GW.

It would be more impressive if they took these batteries to one of the Hawaiian islands where 100% renewable between wind and solar should be possible with only 100-200MW of load. Feed an isolated system like that for a year from wind solar and batteries and then I think you can say we are 100% ready

azekai• 4 years ago

I think you are right, but why is the DOE saying something that appears patently false- are they indulging in hyperbole knowing they won't be called out? Are they drinking their own kool-aide?

flgb• 4 years ago

Inverter-based energy systems can set grid frequency and voltage (be grid forming, rather than grid following), and even grid following inverters can provide millisecond-level frequency regulation and contingency response services.

South Australia has reached 100% renewable generation on an instantaneous basis even with most inverters being grid following by using spinning condensers (spinning turbines connected to the grid that don’t generate energy).

And more resources are being deployed/enabled to support longer periods of 100% renewable generation. For example the ‘Hornsdale Reserve’ Tesla battery is now providing synthetic inertia services to the grid (slowing the rate of change of frequency).

‘Virtual power plants’ consisting of large portfolios of small behind-the-meter batteries are being enabled for high-speed frequency contingency response services (rapidly responding to large changes in grid frequency).

And more true ‘grid forming’ battery energy storage systems are in development.

The US grid is ready for 100% renewables, says DOE

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