quote:
Please tell me you know enough about this to see the blatant BS in that article?

I’m driving but if you really need me to I’d be happy to call out the straight up lies later this evening.

I work in the engineering and design consulting side so I don't have a ton of experience in the utility sector. Would be happy to hear that perspective.

bigapple828@aim.com

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Think about this for a minute. We have load capacity. We put more with renewables, unless they are taking units offline in conjunction with the renewables coming online.

This is largely what is happening. Old coal plants are being retired and replaced with intermittent renewables that are not dispatchable. It largely hasn't affected Louisiana yet but the next step is retirement of natural gas plants if they cannot capture most of their emissions. The old coal plants are slowly being strangled by the regulations forcing the shutdowns.

I'm not opposed to coal being replaced with natural gas even though I think coal has a big advantage with on-site storage. Natural gas being a "just in time" fuel has some limitations although I know some areas are experimenting with on-site LNG storage.

The "Fatal Trifecta" coined by Meredith Angwin who wrote the book "Shorting the Grid" describes it:

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1. Overreliance on renewables that start and stop on the weather's schedule, not the demand schedule

2. Backing up renewables with natural gas that is delivered "just in time" via pipelines

3. Overdependence on your neighbors that are also experiencing the same or similar weather that you are

And another energy writer mentions 3 points from the MISO grid operator on challenges of securing a reliable and robust grid portfolio:

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1. Tightened EPA regulations that would force premature gas and coal retirements

2. Investment criteria that makes investing in gas or coal too challenging for investors “even if it is critically needed for reliability purposes”

3. The inbound $370 billion in subsidies for wind and solar from the Inflation Reduction Act

Apparently the EPA still doesn't realize the dire situation they are creating with the new rules they passed recently.

Read the rest of his points here:

LINK

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Last spring, the members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had chilling words for the Senate: America is losing reliable power plants, building unreliable ones, and heading towards a reliability crisis. “The red lights are flashing and there is no excuse not to see them,” said Commissioner Mark Christie, adding, “I believe it is my duty as a member of FERC to call attention to the serious threat to reliability that is looming on the horizon.” If the Senate listened, the Environmental Protection Agency did not, opting to make the problem worse.

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Posted by SaintEB

Member since Jul 2008

22796 posts

Posted on 5/2/24 at 11:07 pm to bapple

quote:
This is largely what is happening. Old coal plants are being retired and replaced with intermittent renewables that are not dispatchable. It largely hasn't affected Louisiana yet but the next step is retirement of natural gas plants if they cannot capture most of their emissions. The old coal plants are slowly being strangled by the regulations forcing the shutdowns.

You are right that it hasn't hit Louisiana yet. But plenty of utilities have began to build large solar farms. Multiple farms of 150 to 200 MW in the mid-south of Louisiana. I'm pretty sure there were a few threads about it on here at the time. As far as I know, nothing has been decommissioned. Lafayette removed 3 very old steam power units but you couldn't even purchase parts for them and this happened long before solar was a thing in this area. They are building combined cycle units in their place and should be starting soon.

quote:
Last spring, the members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had chilling words for the Senate: America is losing reliable power plants, building unreliable ones, and heading towards a reliability crisis. “The red lights are flashing and there is no excuse not to see them,” said Commissioner Mark Christie, adding, “I believe it is my duty as a member of FERC to call attention to the serious threat to reliability that is looming on the horizon.” If the Senate listened, the Environmental Protection Agency did not, opting to make the problem worse.

This is concerning because its true. The push for renewables that can't be dispatched on need is a drum that FERC should keep beating. Not that government will listen.

Distribution transformer manufacturers have been petitioning DEQ to stop raising efficiency standards as it increases the amount of core steel in each unit, which is a huge part of the supply chain issue. Again, not that they will listen.

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