{"id":264428,"date":"2023-06-28T20:45:28","date_gmt":"2023-06-28T18:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=264428"},"modified":"2023-06-28T20:45:31","modified_gmt":"2023-06-28T18:45:31","slug":"coal-fired-power-saves-day-wind-solar-output-collapses-during-hot-calm-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=264428","title":{"rendered":"Coal-Fired Power Saves Day: Wind & Solar Output Collapses During Hot, Calm\u00a0Weather"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From STOP THESE THINGS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Goldilocks-thinking is the basis for the wind and solar transition, which relies on power sources that can only operate when conditions are \u201cjust right\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the weather turns nasty, giant industrial wind turbines simply turn off<\/a>. When there\u2019s no wind, they produce nothing<\/a>; when winds hit gale force<\/a>, they produce nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solar panels aren\u2019t any more resilient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few fluffy clouds give them grief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hailstones make short work of them; a blanket of snow and ice cuts their production to nothing, even when the sun is shining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A hurricane or tornado soon tears them to worthless shreds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As the wind and sun cult would have it, however, the answer is always more wind and solar capacity, not less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their central and founding myth is that solar panels and wind turbines are gradually, inevitably replacing conventional generators, especially coal-fired power plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, back on Earth, the weather is doing what the weather has always done. And wind and solar power are responding in kind, by producing absolutely nothing, at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Britain Turns to Coal Because It\u2019s Too Hot for Solar Panels<\/strong>
The European Conservative
Michael Curzon
17 June 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Conservative Party government is far down the road\u2014and much out of pocket \u2014with its plan to remove coal from Britain\u2019s energy mix. But weather conditions earlier this week meant providers had no choice but to start burning coal again, for the first time<\/a> in a month and a half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simply put, there wasn\u2019t enough wind to allow for a good turbine output and it was too hot for solar panels to work efficiently<\/a>. Some gas power plants were also shut down for maintenance. As a result, the National Grid had little choice but to ask<\/a> a coal-fired power station in Nottingham to start producing electricity. This was due to be closed last September, but its owners reached a deal<\/a> to push back the deadline by a year, citing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of its drive towards carbon \u2018net zero<\/a>,\u2019 the Tory government announced<\/a> in 2021 that Britain is moving towards producing no<\/em> electricity using coal after October 2024. This was a year sooner than the original 2025 deadline, and begs the question: where will providers turn when it\u2019s too hot and not windy enough in the future?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The push\u2014by the party which prides<\/a> itself on being \u201csensible\u201d and \u201cpragmatic\u201d\u2014has been met with many vocal critics, but the government appears not to have been fazed. Businessman and former Brexit party MEP Ben Habib<\/a> said turning our backs on fossil fuels \u201cbefore adequate alternative sources of \u2018sustainable\u2019 renewable energy are available\u201d sounds \u201cdaft\u201d because \u201cit is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reviewing some of the latest decisions on energy policy, Mr. Habib told The European Conservative:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the pursuit of a net zero country, His Majesty\u2019s Government decided many years ago to cut back on filthy coal. Then in 2021, it began shutting down North Sea oil and gas under the North Sea Transition Deal\u2014part of the then Prime Minister\u2019s drive to \u201cBuild Back Better.\u201d Under that deal, the off-shore extraction of fossil fuels was to be replaced by off-shore wind energy; wells closed, and jobs moved into green energy. Rough, our biggest natural gas storage facility, was also more or less shut down and now cannot easily be re-commissioned. To make matters worse, not a single nuclear power plant has been built in the UK since the mid-1990s. By 2030, 14 of 15 nuclear power plants are scheduled to have closed with only one replacement, Hinkley Point C, to be commissioned in 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not an energy policy, it is energy hari kari.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such a short-term approach to energy policy is not exclusive to the Tory party. Former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg provided an insight into the minds of our leading political lights when in 2010 he said nuclear is \u201cjust not even an answer\u201d because \u201cby the most optimistic scenarios from the government itself, there\u2019s no way they are going to have new nuclear come on stream until 2021, 2022.\u201d Even after these dates, Britain\u2019s energy system will still be unable to operate fully without at least some backup from coal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Habib described the recent burning of coal as \u201crub[bing] salt into the wounds of HMG\u2019s [His Majesty\u2019s Government] idiocy.\u201d The \u201cenergy gods,\u201d he added, \u201chave a poor sense of humour!\u201d
The European Conservative<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Nottinghamshire,England,UK. December 12th 2012. Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal fired power station is reflected in floor water after days of heavy rain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the weather turns nasty, giant industrial\u00a0wind turbines simply turn off. When there\u2019s no wind,\u00a0they produce nothing; when\u00a0winds hit gale force, they produce nothing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":264434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691819332,691818228,691819997],"class_list":["post-264428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-coal-fired-power","tag-fossil-fuels","tag-wind-solar","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/00renewable_energy_dramatic.0-scaled-1.jpg?fit=2560%2C1743&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-16MY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":274731,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=274731","url_meta":{"origin":264428,"position":0},"title":"Wind Output Plaguing Texas (ERCOT weathers on)","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"08\/21\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Wind and solar are not reliable enough to maintain grid stability and therefore require dispatchable power sources such as coal, nuclear, and natural gas-powered generation to stabilize the grid. Until sufficient utility-scale battery storage is available, which is unlikely anytime soon due to the cost of current technologies, the ERCOT\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"ERCOT\"","block_context":{"text":"ERCOT","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=ercot"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/0rawImage.jpg?fit=1200%2C631&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/0rawImage.jpg?fit=1200%2C631&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/0rawImage.jpg?fit=1200%2C631&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/0rawImage.jpg?fit=1200%2C631&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/0rawImage.jpg?fit=1200%2C631&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":268305,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=268305","url_meta":{"origin":264428,"position":1},"title":"It\u2019s The Weather, Stupid: When The Wind Won\u2019t Blow, The Power Don\u2019t\u00a0Flow","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"07\/19\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The wind industry and its acolytes are none too happy with the weather, because when the wind don\u2019t blow, the power just don\u2019t flow. At a loss to brush away the inherent chaos involved with wind power delivery, these characters are left to curse what they call \u2018wind droughts\u2019, as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Australia\"","block_context":{"text":"Australia","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=australia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-592.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-592.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-592.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-592.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":253451,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=253451","url_meta":{"origin":264428,"position":2},"title":"Forget About Intermittent Wind & Solar If You Want Power As And When You Need It","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"04\/18\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"As immutable laws, solar output collapses when the sun sets and wind power output collapses when calm weather sets in (and when\u00a0wind speeds hit gale force and turbines automatically shut down). No amount of spin doctoring, varnishing or linguistic invention can undo them.","rel":"","context":"In \"Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO)\"","block_context":{"text":"Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=australian-energy-market-operator-aemo"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0V112_Macarthur_AUS_3-3594x1797-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0V112_Macarthur_AUS_3-3594x1797-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0V112_Macarthur_AUS_3-3594x1797-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C600&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0V112_Macarthur_AUS_3-3594x1797-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C600&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0V112_Macarthur_AUS_3-3594x1797-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C600&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":263224,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=263224","url_meta":{"origin":264428,"position":3},"title":"Wind Dependency: Get Ready For\u00a0Blackouts","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"06\/21\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"You can\u2019t replace reliable energy (coal, nuclear, natural gas) with unreliable energy that most of the time produces nothing (wind and solar). If you do, the electric grid will fail and there will be blackouts. 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The Germans have even coined a word for it: \u2018dunkelflaute\u2019 \u2013 meaning a period of gloomy, windless weather. Which, in reality, means little or nothing by way of output from their more than 30,000\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/0wind-turbines.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/0wind-turbines.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/0wind-turbines.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/0wind-turbines.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/0wind-turbines.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":326559,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=326559","url_meta":{"origin":264428,"position":5},"title":"Occasional Wind & Solar Generation Guarantee Staggering Backup\u00a0Costs","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"05\/06\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Sunset kills solar output the same way calm weather renders wind turbines utterly useless. 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