Critics of calls for rapid replacement of coal and natural gas with wind and solar to power the grid often argue that the intermittency of wind and solar destabilize the electrical power grid, making brownouts and blackouts, which are costly and often life threatening, more likely. The basic point is that simple to make, but its explanation and support are more difficult. A new post at Judith Curry’s Climate Etc. blog, by a guest author identified simply as “Planning Engineer,” develops the discussion in much greater detail, and those concerned about grid reliability (which should be all who depend on the grid for the electricity that gives them light and powers their appliances, computers, phones, etc.) can learn much from it. See “Renewables and grid reliability.”

 

 

Featured image by Alfred T. Palmer, June 1942, in Library of Congress, public domain.