The declare: Unlike photo voltaic and wind energy, coal ‘does not cease’
A May 23 put up on Facebook (direct hyperlink, archive hyperlink) reveals three pictures. One confirmed windmills unfold throughout an agricultural panorama and was labeled “It stopped working at -27C.” The second reveals photo voltaic panels and is labeled “It stops working at sundown.”
The third reveals an obvious coal mining operation and is labeled “Coal doesn’t give up.”
The put up was shared greater than 200 occasions in a month.
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Our ranking: False
Solar and wind energy cannot present vitality on a regular basis, however neither can coal crops, in response to vitality system specialists. Coal crops “shut down” as a result of mechanical failures, climate occasions and for scheduled upkeep. Grid operators are utilizing quite a lot of methods to keep up a gradual circulate of electrical energy as time-dependent renewables proliferate on the grid.
Coal will ‘give up’ for quite a lot of causes
When complete and partial outages are accounted for, U.S. coal crops are offline about 12% of the time as a result of upkeep or sudden failures, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory reported in January. There are many latest examples of coal crops failing throughout main climate occasions.
For instance, whereas catastrophic energy outages in Texas throughout the winter of 2021 had been primarily brought on by failures within the state’s pure fuel infrastructure, different types of technology — together with coal crops — went offline. additionally due to the chilly temperature.
More: Can we depend on renewable vitality? Four methods wind, photo voltaic and water can energy the US
Coal crops additionally represented about 23% of energy plant losses throughout Winter Storm Elliot in 2022, which contributed to rolling blackouts within the Southeastern US In May 2022, coal crops unexpectedly shut down. offline in Texas close to the beginning of a record-breaking warmth wave, in response to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
“As (the grid operator) started to arrange for the early season warmth wave, it didn’t have practically 20% of its put in, supposedly dispatched coal-fired technology,” the institute reported.
In May, coal shortages additionally resulted in blackouts in India throughout a warmth wave, AP experiences.
A 2019 research that modeled temperature-related situations on the PJM grid within the jap US predicted that cold and warm climate occasions would improve the probability of unplanned coal plant outages. Unplanned outage charges attain 13% when temperatures drop beneath 5 levels Fahrenheit (-15 levels Celsius) and 14% when temperatures rise above 95 levels Fahrenheit (35 levels Celsius), the research concluded.
Grid operators account for the habits of renewable vitality
The Facebook put up additionally mentioned that photo voltaic panels will cease producing after darkish and wind generators will go offline at -27 levels Celsius (-17 levels Fahrenheit).
While researchers are exploring improvements that might permit photo voltaic panels to generate energy after darkish, the know-how was not designed to generate electrical energy at night time. And winterized wind generators are solely rated at about -30 levels Celsius (-22 levels Fahrenheit) – near the quantity given within the put up – in response to Paul Denholm, a researcher on the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Grid Planning and Analysis Center.
But grid planners know that.
“That’s utterly constructed into the way in which the facility system is designed,” Denholm mentioned. “We do not depend on wind blowing. Wind is used to offset the necessity for different – primarily fossil gasoline – costly sources. energy crops and wind balances that technology.”
Fact verify: It is a false impression that wind turbine turbines solely final 3 to 4 years
As photo voltaic and wind energy will increase on the grid and fossil fuels decline, storage applied sciences will turn out to be extra essential to preserve electrical energy flowing as photo voltaic and wind swap on and offline, USA TODAY beforehand reported.
“You use the solar when it is obtainable — use it immediately otherwise you cost the batteries with photo voltaic,” Denholm mentioned. “Or if the wind blows greater than you need to use, you cost a battery or different storage units.”
Stored energy can be utilized when renewables are offline or have low output.
Diversity of sources − together with several types of renewable energy to the grid − can even be used to stabilize the circulate of electrical energy in a renewables-dominated grid, Mark Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, beforehand instructed ONE NOW. He famous that utilizing wind and photo voltaic in tandem could be extra helpful.
“Wind and photo voltaic, that are each … renewable sources, are complementary in nature,” Jacobson mentioned. “When the solar does not shine, the wind at all times blows… and vice versa. Therefore, integrating wind and photo voltaic into the grid smoothes the general electrical energy provide over time.
“It’s not always windy in North Dakota,” Denholm said. But “if the wind stops blowing in North Dakota, it might blow in Iowa. It might blow in other places.”
When reached by USA TODAY, the Facebook user, Climate Change is Crap, acknowledged that coal plants go offline from time to time for maintenance. The user did not mention weather-related outages or mechanical failures.
Our fact-checking sources:
- Paul Denholm, June 6, Interview with USA TODAY
- Sinnott Murphy, June 19-20, USA TODAY email exchange
- Bloomberg, Feb. 20, 2021, The Two Hours That Almost Destroyed Texas’ Electric Grid
- E&E News, Nov. 3, 2023, 4 questions answered about the Texas grid crisis
- E&E News, March 18, 2021, How coal failed in Texas deep freeze
- MIT Climate Portal, Jan. 8, Is it true that wind turbines do not work in winter?
- The Washington Post, March 6, 2021, Ten years ago, 241 power plants in Texas could not withstand the cold. Many of them failed again this year
- The Houston Chronicle, June 23, 2023, Natural gas, coal and nuclear power fail Texas grid, new technology is coming
- NRDC, Feb. 13, 2019, The Myth of the 24/7/365 Power Plant
- Kentucky Lantern, Sept. 8, 2023, Coal-fired power failures during winter storm revealed months later
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory, accessed June 7, Explained: Maintaining a Reliable Future Grid with More Wind and Solar
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory, accessed June 7, Explained: Causes of Three Recent Major Blackouts and What’s Being Done in Response
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory, accessed June 7, Explained: Reliability of the Current Power Grid
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory, accessed June 7, Explained: Fundamentals of Power Grid Reliability and Clean Electricity
- ONE TODAY, Nov. 7, 2023, Can we rely on renewable energy? Four ways wind, solar and water can power the US
- Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, June 27, 2022, Heat wave exposes myth of fossil fuel reliability as Texas coal- and gas-fired generators fail early performance tests
- AP, May 2, 2022, Heat wave sparks blackouts, questions over India’s coal use
- World Economic Forum, May 11, 2022, These solar panels can work at night, or get their power from the rain
- The Texas Tribune, Jan. 2, 2022, Texas puts final winter storm death toll at 246
- The Texas Tribune, Feb. 17, 2021, No, frozen wind turbines are not the main cause of power outages in Texas
- The New York Times, Feb. 17, 2021, No, Wind Farms Are Not the Main Cause of Texas Blackouts
- Energy Research & Social Science, July 2021, Cascading risks: Understanding the 2021 winter blackout in Texas
- Energy Information Administration, January 16, Solar and wind to lead US power growth in next two years
- Grist, April 3, The US has experienced dramatic growth in solar and wind power over the past decade
- Department of Energy, accessed June 20, Pumped Storage Hydropower
- Applied Energy, Nov. 1, 2019, A time-dependent model of generator failures and recovery captures related events and accounts for temperature dependence
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