Horace Heffner wrote: The problem most likely is perhaps the utility has too large a base load > supply, coal or nuclear, which is unresponsive to load changes.
I did not read the article either, but I have read elsewhere that this is the problem. Gas turbines and hydroelectricity respond faster, so they are a better fit with wind turbines. The problem is that wind is intermittent. If sufficient power storage for solar and wind is added as more windmills > are added then the base load will have to reduced even further, eventually > eliminated altogether - but isn't that a good goal? I have read that with present-day distribution networks, wind can only supply about 20% of the power, because of the intermittency problem. The Danish Wind Industry Association said that iin Denmark on winter nights in some areas wind is already at 20%, and in some places it exceeds local demand. Pumped water storage for hydroelectricity is an efficient solution to this problem. The liquid battery sounds good too. A million European electric cars charging up at night with smart meters would be a great way to make use of excess electric power from wind turbines. The Danish Wind Industry Association is here: http://www.windpower.org/en/core.htm - Jed
