interesting fact # 47.

[peretski]

From the blogosphere...

(From a Department of Energy report) 10% of all [electricity] generation assets, and 25% of distribution infrastructure, are required for less than 5% of the hours of the year.

meaning... we have a bunch of power plants and a ton of copper just doing nothing most of the year. Leave a comment

Comments

[peretski]

I see it as an energy transportation issue. In a simplified situation, say there is a city with no internal generation, but a lot of distant solar and a lot of distant wind they can tap into. The transmission lines need to be fat enough to supply the peak load on the city (heat wave in the summer). You can't be assured that it will either be windy or sunny at those generation facilities, so you need an on-demand power station for that peak load.

Any on-demand generation inside the city reduces the needed size of the energy pipe. It also reduces the need for a dinosaur-generator on the other end of the pipe.

score 2 points for a vegawatt.