South Australia: 40% Renewable Energy -- Experiences Energy Failure -- An Inconvenient Truth -- The Meaning Of "Dispatchable" -- February 8, 2017

Updates

February 24, 2017: in Australia, the rich can afford solar panels, and because they are rich, they don't worry about the cost of electricity, and because they are rich and don't worry about the cost of electricity, they don't turn off their air conditioning to save money, and the result is that folks with solar panels use more electricity from the grid -- and driving prices up.

There are probably more solar panels in QLD than anywhere else in the world. Back in February last year, the boss of the Queensland state power company announced the awkward result that households with solar panels were using more electricity than those without. Apparently people without solar were turning off the air conditioner because electricity cost too much, but the solar users didn’t have to worry about the cost so much.

Later, 11:35 a.m. Central Time: this was posted on the net last July, well before this week's announcement of rolling blackouts in South Australia.

Renewable energy has been a remarkable success story in South Australia (SA), and now delivers more than 40 per cent of the state's power, with no drop in reliability.

SA has received nearly $7 billion of investment in renewable energy, meaning jobs and growth for the state, in energy sources that help to put downward pressure on the rising costs from gas-fired power.

Tom Butler
Clean Energy Council
Melbourne, Vic 

I hope, along with "rolling blackouts," Tom's head rolls.

I'm beginning to think President Trump's phone call to Australia was "spot on." Idiots all over the world.

Original Post

 
I've learned a lot from my readers due to the blog -- a huge "thank you."

I doubt I would have paid much attention to the phenomenon of "dispatchable" when it comes to renewable energy. But readers introduced me to that concept.

I don't think folks take "rolling blackouts" seriously, but had New England ordered "rolling blackouts" during the Super Bowl, my hunch is that we would have seen "rolling heads" the next day.

South Australia has ordered "rolling blackabouts": Adelaide is sweltering -- wind energy failed:

• South Australia: 40% renewable energy
• lucky this has been a mild summer
• overnight: 30 minutes of inadequate electricity supply
• demand: 3,000 MW
• price spiked to $13,440 / MWh
• expected to repeat "tomorrow"
• at 6:00 p.m. wind power was producing less than 100 MW (about 7% of its rated capacity