The US grid is ready for 100% renewables, says DOE(theregister.com)
theregister.com
The US grid is ready for 100% renewables, says DOE
https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/03/the_us_grid_is_ready/
7 comments
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.
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.
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.
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?
Can you provide data to refute the DOE’s claim?
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
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
https://reneweconomy.com.au/south-australia-winds-up-2021-wi...
https://electrek.co/2022/06/27/tesla-megapacks-replace-hawai...
https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/articles/powering-grid-for...
Arguably, we’re ready enough (citations above). The only way to prove it is to do it, although I think these tests can occur in parallel vs serially.
https://electrek.co/2022/06/27/tesla-megapacks-replace-hawai...
https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/articles/powering-grid-for...
Arguably, we’re ready enough (citations above). The only way to prove it is to do it, although I think these tests can occur in parallel vs serially.
The main problem is that the grid is not ready for transition off of fossil fuels, the capacity is not there for transmission. They would need to at least double capacity iirc