I am in the Sonoma Valley and I would guess that in the past week my production is down 5 to 10% because of the smoke. As far as worrying about Volcanic Ash it is highly unlikely to be an issue, The last major eruption of Krakatoa was almost 140 years ago and it did affect weather around the planet. I would be more worried about hurricicanes if I lived on the east coast and earthquakes in California. Mt St Helens caused phyical damage one of which was sewers clogged with ash. That would worry me more than the loss of solar production. I don't have any active volcanoes upwind of my location.
The value of resilience
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The total prior 31 day production of my array is at 101.4 % of the average of the prior 6 years production for the same period.
Just a snapshot of one small corner of CA. We haven't had much of the problems or smoke as has been seen up north. The prior 31 day ave. temp. has been ~ 0.6 C. cooler.Comment
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And in my corner of Calif, I had to run the generator 2 days, because PV production was about 1/3 of normal from both smoke and heat. Today I got caught up, below 85F and clear skies. The weekend, is going to be a nightmare of hot weather thru Monday, with threat of statewide rolling blackouts in the evening, and Tues, high winds in fire areas may start PSPS outages !Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
|| Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
|| VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A
solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-ListerComment
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I am in the Sonoma Valley and I would guess that in the past week my production is down 5 to 10% because of the smoke. As far as worrying about Volcanic Ash it is highly unlikely to be an issue, The last major eruption of Krakatoa was almost 140 years ago and it did affect weather around the planet. I would be more worried about hurricicanes if I lived on the east coast and earthquakes in California. Mt St Helens caused phyical damage one of which was sewers clogged with ash. That would worry me more than the loss of solar production. I don't have any active volcanoes upwind of my location.
From Wikipedia , The effects of the 1991 eruption were felt worldwide. It ejected roughly 10 billion tonnes (1.1×1010 short tons) or 10 km3 (2.4 cu mi) of magma, and 20 million tonnes (22 million short tons) of SO
2, bringing vast quantities of minerals and toxic metals to the surface environment. It injected more particulate into the stratosphere than any eruption since Krakatoa in 1883. Over the following months, the aerosols formed a global layer of sulfuric acid haze. Global temperatures dropped by about 0.5 °C (0.9 °F) in the years 1991–93,[7] and ozone depletion temporarily saw a substantial increaseLast edited by littleharbor; 09-06-2020, 08:06 AM.2.2kw Suntech mono, Classic 200, NEW Trace SW4024Comment
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And in my corner of Calif, I had to run the generator 2 days, because PV production was about 1/3 of normal from both smoke and heat. Today I got caught up, below 85F and clear skies. The weekend, is going to be a nightmare of hot weather thru Monday, with threat of statewide rolling blackouts in the evening, and Tues, high winds in fire areas may start PSPS outages !
Normally lite winds are picking up here in 92026 as fast as the dew point is dropping. High temps. ~ 42 - 44 C for the next couple of days and more winds for 09/09 - 09/10 w/temps. in the 32 -34 C range and dew points dropping again.
Ditty bags and cars packed to get out of Dodge in a hurry if necessary.
Fun & games in the land of fruits and nuts.
Good luck.Comment
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I remember the oil crisis in the early seventies and that has driven my decisions more than any volcanic eruptions. As we head for more Public Safety Power Shutdowns I remember the lines of cars last year loading up on gasoline because of their fear of no gas pumps running without electricity.
COVID certainly taught us that more Americans are concerned about running out of toilet paper than any volcanic eruption.
9 kW solar, 42kWh LFP storage. EV owner since 2012Comment
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I remember the oil crisis in the early seventies and that has driven my decisions more than any volcanic eruptions. As we head for more Public Safety Power Shutdowns I remember the lines of cars last year loading up on gasoline because of their fear of no gas pumps running without electricity.
COVID certainly taught us that more Americans are concerned about running out of toilet paper than any volcanic eruption.
On the flip side most people I talk to or see around the country do not seem to care about too much carbon in our atmosphere based on what they drive and how they use electricity.
I am not sure if they simply are putting their heads in the sand or do not think carbon gases are causing a problem.
So either they just don't care or are immune to seeing disaster on the horizon.Comment
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It seems the latest danger gets people to make strange decisions like hording toilet paper.
On the flip side most people I talk to or see around the country do not seem to care about too much carbon in our atmosphere based on what they drive and how they use electricity.
I am not sure if they simply are putting their heads in the sand or do not think carbon gases are causing a problem.
So either they just don't care or are immune to seeing disaster on the horizon.
To some, all you write of and more are byproducts, results and examples of the great dumbing of America and probably the developed world.
IMO only, the sky fell about the same time as the educational system in the U.S. started going to hell, but it was so slow in happening that in our self centered, inwardly directed myopic view or the world, we missed seeing it.
Now, we may well have fallen below the critical mass of collective intelligence necessary to get out of our own way. Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind.Comment
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To some, all you write of and more are byproducts, results and examples of the great dumbing of America and probably the developed world.
IMO only, the sky fell about the same time as the educational system in the U.S. started going to hell, but it was so slow in happening that in our self centered, inwardly directed myopic view or the world, we missed seeing it.
Now, we may well have fallen below the critical mass of collective intelligence necessary to get out of tour own way. Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind.Comment
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Only after we figure out how to make electricity from fission without using thermal energy as an intermediate step. That's what makes nuclear cost ~5x more per kWh and ~15x more per kW vs solar PV or wind. And that gap is widening. So long as nuclear is thermal it's a non-starter. Just like solar thermal.Comment
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Yup, Carnot rained on the the party for thermal power plants long ago.
Small Nuclear Reactors (SMRs) may be good bridge technology. They fit into a distributed energy model. It helps that they have figured out how to design natural circulation systems that dont need power to shut down the reactor. I just do not think there is an appetite out there to build another conventional nuclear power plant in the US. Plant Vogtle in Georgia may be the last since its projected to come in at double its cost and many years behind schedule. I have a relative that went down there for a one year gig several years ago and he still on the job. He may not retire there but will end up with a big piggy bank to take a few years off to decide on what he wants to do next.Comment
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Small Nuclear Reactors (SMRs) may be good bridge technology. They fit into a distributed energy model. It helps that they have figured out how to design natural circulation systems that dont need power to shut down the reactor. I just do not think there is an appetite out there to build another conventional nuclear power plant in the US. Plant Vogtle in Georgia may be the last since its projected to come in at double its cost and many years behind schedule. I have a relative that went down there for a one year gig several years ago and he still on the job. He may not retire there but will end up with a big piggy bank to take a few years off to decide on what he wants to do next.
Vogtle is now >3x more than it was initially projected to be and ~4 years behind schedule. Nuclear is just outrageously uncompetitive. A kWh from a new nuclear plant now costs >5x more than a kWh from a wind turbine or solar farm. And that's including the fact that nuclear is 'always' generating. You can send $15B on 1GW of nuclear and generate 8TWh/yr OR... OR $15B on ~15GW of renewables and generate ~40TWh/yr. If you need 1GW of firm capacity then Spend $14B on renewables and $1B on a 1GW gas turbine. No matter how you slice it thermal power plants no longer make any economic sense. None.
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Well, I don't know about volcanos, but I am in the North bay area, and today, the sky is so dark from the ash cloud that my 6 kW solar array output is 300W at mid day !!
And I just drove down a few miles south and it is even worth, street lights are on at noon, and any solar there would be a Zero period...
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Well, I don't know about volcanos, but I am in the North bay area, and today, the sky is so dark from the ash cloud that my 6 kW solar array output is 300W at mid day !!
And I just drove down a few miles south and it is even worth, street lights are on at noon, and any solar there would be a Zero period...Comment
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It's a limit, not an achievable cycle.
As for RTGs, I won't hold my breath for the Seebeck effect in any of the currently known manifestations to get efficient enough to become practical for large scale terrestrial applications.Comment
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