The problem for stability of the grid, and for electric rates, is that intermittent weather-dependent sources like wind and solar have to have backup for when the weather does not cooperate. If there is not enough backup, you get blackouts, either total or rotating. Maintaining sufficient backup greatly raises the cost of electricity. Dependable renewable sources like geothermal are one answer. The wind and solar interests have done all they can to block geothermal in the US, but Kenya is successfully and cheaply producing electricity that way. Modular nukes are another.
Solar panels are NOT going to produce anything at night, when it is cloudy, when they are covered with snow, ice, dew, etc., when it is foggy, and so on. Wind is not going to produce when the wind is not blowing or blowing too hard. The state of South Australia had its only statewide blackout when strong Spring storms caused wind turbines to automatically shut down. A large swath of the UK last year had a blackout involving millions of electric customers when a large offshore wind farm suddenly went offline and the impact of that cascaded through the grid. Europe had a big wind deficit last summer and another one in late Fall, both leading to high use of gas reserves, which set them up to lose when Russia cut back gas deliveries. Germany, which is more dependent on wind than the rest of Europe has gone through that before but was able to get by through importing nuclear power from France and coal-fired power from Poland. Those are not so available now. The UK has also built two connectors to France to import nuclear power when its wind power failed, but one of those connectors has been out of commission for some months, and besides a number of French nuclear power stations are now offline for maintenance so France does not have the spare power it normally does.
electrek.co
