Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Surely not, since it's not always windy. Your electricity presumably doesn't get "cut off" on calm days? As I've said on the "nuclear" thread, you cannot use things like wind and solar power for "base load" power generation, because they are not always there.
|
It's a matter of what source you pay to be applied to the electricity grid. The portion I pay for is all wind. If literally everyone did that and there was no other source, then yes, it would be a problem. On an average day during the summer the wind turbines in Texas produce little, for example. But if a much larger fraction of the total electricity applied to the grid came from wind (or solar), then it could be reasonably expected that we could shut down some coal- and natural gas-fired plants here and still have sufficient power available for everyone. And making that substantial difference would require little effort.