Intermittent energy source: Difference between revisions

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In the past electrical generation was mostly dispatchable and consumer demand led how much and when to dispatch power. The trend in adding intermittent sources such as wind, solar, and run-of-river hydro means the grid is beginning to be led by the intermittent supply from RES harvesting instead. The use of intermittent sources relies on electric power grids that are carefully managed, for instance using highly dispatchable generation that is able to shut itself down whenever an intermittent source starts to generate power, and to successfully startup without warning when the intermittents stop generating.<ref>US Department of Energy: [https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2017/01/f34/Maintaining%20Reliability%20in%20the%20Modern%20Power%20System.pdf Maintaining Reliability in the Modern Power System], December 2016, p. 17</ref> Ideally the capacity of the intermittents would grow to be larger than consumer demand for periods of time, creating excess low price electricity to displace heating fuels or be converted to [[Energy storage|mechanical or chemical storage]] for later use.

The displaced dispatchable generation could be lignite, hard coal, natural gas, biomass, nuclear, geothermal or storage hydro. Rather than starting and stopping nuclearintermittent orRES geothermalplants it ismakes effectivesense to use them as constantpriority [[baseelectricity load]]source power,because whenof thatless powerCO2 isemissions notand neededlow itmarginal can displace heating fuels or be converted to storage for later usecosts. BiofuelsBiomass and hydrostorage hydropower can be saved for later when intermittents are not generating power. In the case of a RES-E surplus it can displace heating fuels (power-to-heat) or converted to synthetic fuels for later use.[[Fossil fuel phase-out|Alternatives to burning]] coal and natural gas with the production of [[greenhouse gas]]es may eventually make them a [[stranded asset]] that is left in the ground. Highly integrated grids favor flexibility and performance over cost, resulting in more plant capacity and lower [[capacity factor]]s.<ref>https://www.treehugger.com/renewable-energy/death-capacity-factor-how-wind-solar-ultimately-win-game.html</ref>

* Electricity produced from solar energy could be a counterbalance to the fluctuating supplies generated from wind. In some locations, it tends to be windier at night and during cloudy or stormy weather, so there is likely to be more sunshine when there is less wind.<ref name='AtlanticFragility'>{{cite web|url=http://www.rmi.org/images/other/EnergySecurity/S83-08_FragileDomEnergy.pdf |title=The Fragility of Domestic Energy |accessdate=2008-10-20 |last=Lovins |first=Amory |author2=L. Hunter Lovins |date = November 1983|format=PDF |work=The Atlantic |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080625205941/http://www.rmi.org/images/other/EnergySecurity/S83-08_FragileDomEnergy.pdf |archivedate = June 25, 2008}}</ref>