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The Future of the Electrical Grid – Will it Go Extinct by Century End?
The countries and continents of the world are marked by all kinds of highways. One of these is dedicated to the distribution of electricity. Electrical power transmission corridors are less invasive than other transport infrastructure but they too have an impact on the natural environment. If you don't believe me, remember the PG&E infrastructure fiasco blamed for California's recent wildfires. That's the dark side of putting up wires carrying kilovolts of current over long distances. Transmission comes at an energy cost with an average 5% loss from source to consumer. New superconductor materials in cables could deliver near zero-power loss but at a considerable cost. But another solution would be to move to a distributed energy system of microgrids and renewable, and modular nuclear power generation that could operate both with and off the main grid.
The Future of the Electrical Grid – Will it Go Extinct by Century End?
Upgrading the grid would cost trillions. But replacing it with a decentralized, distributed power model would fit a carbon-zero future.
Discussions
"The argument that renewable cannot be 100% dependable is a canard."
Actually that's the truth, Len. With a 100% renewable grid, we're 100% dependent on unpredictable weather for our electricity needs.
"With a variety of storage technologies to address intermitticency the dependability issue goes away."
There's your canard. Not a single grid in the world (or even a microgrid) runs on renewables + batteries. It's a fantasy, and for very good reasons.
"Addressing the problem with diesel generators as a backup is counter to the notion that we are working to meet a zero-carbon future by mid-century."
Maybe so, but addressing the problem with diesel or natural gas generators is what works. The notion of a zero-carbon renewables future has been a half-century away for more than half a century. No more time to waste.
In the figure below, the slender yellow line represents global output of all wind and solar combined in 2017 (IEA). The dark green line above it represents all hydropower.
If we double the graph's span by adding another thirty years, do you really believe those lines will expand to displace all coal, oil, and gas?
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