Comment by cjdell
3 years ago
Wind in the UK has been doing really well recently and the grid has never been greener:
Curtailment is still rare though, but if we really run into the issue of frequently having too much electricity then surely investing in synthetic fuel production will be economical, right? I mean we'll have to do it anyway sooner or later. There will always be a need to burn stuff and fossil fuels will run out.
Also don't forget that with increasingly more EVs on the road and vehicle-to-grid technology (which should be mandatory in my opinion) we are increasing our ability to time shift our energy usage to better take advantage of the volatility of renewables.
I personally don't think we can ever have too much electricity.
In the Netherlands they are going to build two new nuclear power plants but the company wants assurance that they don't have to compete with the massive wind mill parks on the North Sea.
Not really a new problem for the Netherlands whenever there is a problem the country tends to overreact with massive infrastructure spending. It hasn't been that long that brand new coal power plants had to be closed.
Just want to say how great the UX of that page is. I've used many data sources and pages that show power generation, this one is by far the most intuitive one. I wish it existed for more countries.