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“The lesson is simple. The growth of new energy and fuel supplies is going to take Lots Of Decades, and no mandate from politicians or enthusiasm from special interest lobbyists is going to do anything but make things more expensive and worse.”
Interesting, going all electric isn’t as easy as adding more power lines.
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Good topic and very complicated. I’ve been trying to understand the electricity market for a while. It’s like no other.
As an example, my understanding is that the cost of a megawatt of power generated from a nuclear power plant to the market is about $40/hr. A megawatt can supply electricity to 400 – 900 homes. But in times of imbalances in supply such as a very hot or cold weather conditions, the spot market for that megawatt can go to $1,000 or more. A nuclear plant can generate and sell excess capacity to nat gas, oil, and coal plants quickly for their customers regardless of location. Places like San Diego, New York and Los Angeles frequently have imbalances. I believe the grid is set up so that places with excess capacity can get electricity to trouble spots right away at high prices and the location. How this is done, I don’t know.
But your are dealing with kinetic energy and physically rotating machinery. With green energy you can’t get excess capacity anywhere near as fast to rebalance the the shortages.
I’d love to hear from anyone who knows how this all works. Especially the spot energy market.
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