[conradpdx]

Just a point James....


Investors don't run power plants and there are no individual owners of large power plants, it's all run by investors. They simply buy the power plants that typically are built by the government and sold to them at a loss. However the power systems engineers you mention do run the plants, and I didn't flip them off.

And part of the reason it's difficult to work with intermittent power suppliers is that it hasn't been an issue in the past. I have been on the DOE site the last few days, and they are actually working on this problem with a system that they say will operate the grid more like the internet, as opposed to the current "railroad switchman" system. They do say it's expensive right now, but considering that data can be transported through the electric currents of a house, I don't see why this tech can not be used on the grid which could in turn make it near fully automated.