Re: Guardian: Solar power from Sahara could provide Europe's

On Jul 23, 6:32=A0pm, Steve Wallis
<revolutionarysocialistst...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

> The grid proposal, which has won political sup****t from both Nicholas
> Sarkozy and Gordon Brown,

Endorsement indeed!

> answers the perennial criticism that
> renewable power will never be economic because the weather is not
> sufficiently predictable. Its sup****ters argue that even if the wind
> is not blowing hard enough in the North Sea, it will be blowing
> somewhere else in Europe, or the sun will be ****ning on a solar farm
> somewhere.

This is perfectly true but think of the duplication involved.

The reality is that even in the Sahara the sun ****nes only 50% of the
year and even in the remaining 50% probably for 10-20% of the time it
is probably so low in the sky to be of only limited use. This will
mean extra conventional capacity being held in reserve. Critics to
this point of view always point out that this reserve exists anyway.
They are in confusion with the requirement to hold mainly "spinning
reserve" so as to ensure continuity of supply. That will be necessary
in addition.

Windmills, photovoltaics, solar furnaces will be fine so long as their
output can be stored in some way either through the production of
hydrogen or pumping water against gravity. However, as regards being a
primary source of electricity for the public supply either will be
expensive or precarious.  There is no way they can be neither.