PBS has a program Energy Switch in which experts discuss the many aspects of energy and the needs to address climate change. In my area its on the PBS World side channel. They also have a website.
The program comes from PBS Austin at the University of Texas.
This week they discussed hydro. We have a dozen or more projects waiting for approval. They hope half of them will get built. Projects are costly to build and take up to five years. They have 50 year permits. Turbines can be replaced with improved designs increasing output by 20% or so. Most now allow fish and other wildlife to pass through unharmed.
They are more costly to build than wind and solar but those run for 10 yrs or so. Hydro projects last for 100 years or more. Long service life makes them very attractive.
Many existing dams built for flood control or irrigation could be converted to provide hydropower.
Pumped storage remains the preferred energy storage/time shifting technology. The best batteries can provide power for about two hours. Hydro can easily serve for 8 hrs which better fits the needs of the grid.
An excellent program. Also discusses limitations. Drought. Environmental concerns. They emphasize the need to build sustainable projects.
They say these batteries are designed for 4 hours at peak demand. However, if the demand is only 50% then the batteries can supply that demand for 8 hours. And if the power demand can goes up or down the batteries have no problem following the demand.
Batteries are getting cheaper and more functional for peaking power, grid voltage stability, and commercial/industrial applications.
If you are interested, and have an hour of time, you might like the following YouTube video on Hoover Dam. It has some really good 3-D graphics, showing how the dam was built and how it operates. It starts out a little slow, in my opinion, but picks up in the second half when they start showing the power plant components and how they work.
I’ve been watching that series…pretty good, but a little slow.
Solar lasts much longer than 10 years. Mine just hit 10 years old a few weeks ago. Most warranties are for 25 years, just not on the inverters.
Most wind turbines will last 20 years, even 30 as well
They certainly do. A neighborhood friend is a Professor of Environmental Sustainability; lectures all over the world: visiting prof in Japan, Italy, Greece, Central America, etc. He’s a guy who walks the walk and talks the talk; just bought an electric (solar) pontoon boat, putt putts along our river with it just fine.
But more to the point, he’s had solar panels on his roof for more than 20 years and they’re still doing fine. His original deal with the local utility meant he could sell power back to them if there was overproduction. They rescinded that deal 10 years ago and now only allow him to “cost avoid” with his own production.
TVA is not very solar friendly unless they control it. They don’t like “distributed power”, but they’re happy to charge you extra if you want to help them build a giant solar installation in Georgia or somewhere (that they control). That’s why my solar never touches the grid. It goes straight to storage batteries which I use to fuel my car, or if I don’t need it to heat the house hot water heater.
