As I've stated elsewhere, electricity only has value when it
a. is where you want it
b. when you want it
c. in the quantity you want
A lightning bolt has tremendous energy, but meets none of the above criteria, and therefore has no value.
The only reason why solar/wind has any value whatsoever is because they are backstopped by dispatchable (meets all 3 criteria above) generation sources, because without them, solar and wind would fail all 3 criteria that makes electricity valuable.
You can argue then that we could buffer it all into an enormous battery, but if that were cost effective, people would be doing it already.
... and that is why solar/wind is an additional cost rather than a replacement to dispatchable power plants. Every million spent on such projects is simply in addition to necessary infrastructure. Utilities don't pay any costs, ratepayers (you/me) do.
Building out solar infrastructure now is putting the cart before the horse, because you've got to solve the problem of affordably converting it into dispatchable power before deciding to produce energy in the first place.
Most bad ideas are a result of a "ready", "fire", "aim" philosophy. You've got to aim at a target before taking the shot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oil pan 4
Stoopid solar panels almost take out Texas power grid.
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In the video linked by oil pan, it mentions that turbines have some inherent ability to buffer changes in supply/demand due to stored inertial energy.
PV panels have no buffer, and output whatever the solar conditions happen to provide millisecond to millisecond.
The advantage of CSP is that heat is stored in the concentrator, so it has some inherent ability to "load follow" (respond to changes in supply/demand).