Why Solar is the Most Reliable Form of Renewable Energy?

[AmitBajpayee]

These are primary types of renewable energy available:

Solar or Sunlight energy
Wind energy
Geothermal energy
Hydropower
Biomass energy

Guys can you explain your opinion, out of all these renewable energy types "Why Solar is the Most Reliable Form of Renewable Energy?"

[Yet another Yeti]

The earth might loose it s atmosphere : No Wind anymore .
MODERATOR: He/She has been warned previously about running amok at the keyboard without any clue as to the accuracy of the output.

All postings by Yeti are suspect as to safety and accuracy.
Without atmosphere , no clouds to deliver rain to warm up soil low depth geothermal energy .
Without clouds , no snow and glaciers and rain and therefore no riverside hydropower .
Without sweet water , no plants and animals to produce biomass .

The water of the oceans could vaporize into space , when there is no buffering atmosphere ,
and therefore no ocean power available , also wave power gone due to no winds .


The soil stored hydrocarbons would be the only energy sources left .

Deep Geothermal Power would be also left .


The earth or the sun could be crushed into asteroids by outside impact ,
the earth more likely , than the sun , due to the small sizes of meteorids .

The sun is predicted to burn it s fuels for the next 4 billion years to come .

[Mike90250]

[COLOR=#000000].... "Why Solar is the Most Reliable Form of Renewable Energy?"

It's mostly reliable for 18 hours of no production - every night.

The real reason it's reliable, is no moving parts. Moving parts break, need oil, adjustments......

The earth might loose it s atmosphere : No Wind anymore .

I won't care !

[J.P.M.]

These are primary types of renewable energy available:

Solar or Sunlight energy
Wind energy
Geothermal energy
Hydropower
Biomass energy

Guys can you explain your opinion, out of all these renewable energy types "Why Solar is the Most Reliable Form of Renewable Energy?"

Simple: it isn't.

[JSchnee21]

Geothermal (and tidal) seem like they would provide the most consistent (24x7) form of renewable energy. BUT, as these have moving parts and are generally much more complicated systems they would be less reliable. The solar equipment is pretty reliable, and could even be made more reliable with limited redundancies built in The Sun itself is very reliable (up until it's not) but clouds/weather are less so. Still, with care when selecting geographic locations, weather can be pretty consistent in some areas.

But, the big achilles heel with Solar is the ~18 hours it is not producing anything AND even when it is producing it suffers from a rapid collapse of output from a passing cloud, eclipse, snow. So without "storage" to buffer this variability (batteries, water running downhill, pressurized air, a conventional "limitless" grid) AC output from solar is actually very unreliable as the instantaneous capacity (kW, MW) is constantly changing.

Natural gas is very reliable. Thanks to fracking, it is reliably contributing to global warming and reducing my electric and gas bills.

Nuclear is also very reliable. Reliably producing Terawatts of electricity without Green House Gas emissions, and reliably producing radioactive waste that will last for 100's and 1000's of years.

Pick your poison. It's all got issues.

Windmills kill birds, bats, change microclimates, and the low frequency oscillations and shadows make people crazy.

Solar salt furnaces kill birds by the hundred/thousands per day and 10's to 100's of thousands of insects per day.

If we were smart, we would choose three or four complementary technologies (each with pros and cons) and work to make these systems as efficient, safe, clean, and cost effective as possible.

But, that's not the Capitalist way. Everyone has a better mouse trap to sell, and they'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today

[peakbagger]

The most renewable power is the power you don't need as you have figured out a way to reduce your demand

Small hydro can be very reliable and consistent if someone has a site and that's a big if. Unfortunately freezing conditions really can make a site even harder to find. Pumped storage hydro is pretty slick but its very site dependent.

Solar is reliable but the batteries required to support 24/7 operation are not. Maybe someday someone will figure out a breakthrough in electrolysis and then solar with hydrogen backup is nice system but to date all of the systems I am aware of were proof of concept and didn't run for long. Some of the flow battery technologies might end up being an competitor to high power density batteries but not a lot of companies chasing small stuff when they can get into the highly subsidized utility industry.

Organic Rankine power from a low temp geothermal source is expensive but hard to beat if you have the combination of a hot source and good place to dump the waste heat for 24/7 operation. http://www.akenergyauthority.org/Geothermalchena Unfortunately Razor Technologies really gave the tech a bad reputation with their fiasco in Nevada.

Conventional Biomass is a nice option as its dispatchable 24/7 but really only works if you have a big thermal demand. Biomass gasification and fast pyrolysis of gas or liquid fuels is a poor step child to other renewables.

Long term if AGW theory stays on track solar gets diminished due to thicker cloud cover but wind does better as a more energetic atmosphere means more wind. Storms get worse in the ocean but I am unsure if AGW actually increases the mean tides as much as it increases the peak storm tides so not sure how underwater hydro wins out.

[sdold]

These are primary types of renewable energy available:Guys can you explain your opinion, out of all these renewable energy types "Why Solar is the Most Reliable Form of Renewable Energy?"

Why are you asking the question and what makes you assume that we agree with this statement?

I don't know what this poster is up to, but based on his other posts I don't expect an answer. If I were to guess I'd say he's looking for something to add to his sales literature.

[SunEagle]

Why are you asking the question and what makes you assume that we agree with this statement?

I don't know what this poster is up to, but based on his other posts I don't expect an answer. If I were to guess I'd say he's looking for something to add to his sales literature.

I agree with your summation of the post.

I do not agree that Solar is the most reliable form of RE. But then again that is my opinion.

[Espeen]

Look at this amasing ebook i found ... everyting you need too set up a complete solar system

[Paul Land]

I agree with your summation of the post.

I do not agree that Solar is the most reliable form of RE. But then again that is my opinion.

Net Zero construction will be a mandate very soon. Starting 2020 new construction in Cali with P.V. is mandated and retro-fit will follow. Just follow the money$$$$$$$$$. Industrial size Geothermal like New Zealand has had for the last 45 years runs 24/7. Our west coast has thousands of hot thermals to tap.
BTW what about mandating all Fracking drill rigs be fitted with rotary shaft generator tap to feed grid when drilling. Open your mind it's amazing.

[SunEagle]

Net Zero construction will be a mandate very soon. Starting 2020 new construction in Cali with P.V. is mandated and retro-fit will follow. Just follow the money$$$$$$$$$. Industrial size Geothermal like New Zealand has had for the last 45 years runs 24/7. Our west coast has thousands of hot thermals to tap.
BTW what about mandating all Fracking drill rigs be fitted with rotary shaft generator tap to feed grid when drilling. Open your mind it's amazing.

Having a Net Zero construction rule does not mean solar is still the most reliable way to generate electricity.

Sure it will help but it won't work 24/7 even with energy storage. You still need to have additional ways to create power (by the way geothermal will not work for everyone) and IMO more important will be ways to reduce electrical usage. Otherwise people will still use more electricity then they can generate.

[Mike90250]

.... mandating all Fracking drill rigs be fitted with rotary shaft generator tap to feed grid when drilling. .....

Awesome, how much HP does a rotary shaft generator require to generate ?

[J.P.M.]

Our west coast has thousands of hot thermals to tap.

BTW what about mandating all Fracking drill rigs be fitted with rotary shaft generator tap to feed grid when drilling. Open your mind it's amazing.

Back in the day, I designed a lot of heat exchangers for the geothermal wells south of the Salton Sea. Interesting projects with a lot of dirt and details the treehuggers seem to not know or want to learn about. We got a lot done, and things mostly worked out, but more than a few of us felt as if we were picking up a mess left by children who usually started discussions by saying :"You could just do this...".

As for fitting drilling shafts with PTOs for power generation, unless the shaft power comes from renewable sources, it's still fossil fuel power. For the gyrations necessary to add to the shaft load and the variability of the resulting power, I'd question the logic of doing it. I'd like to see the reasoning behind such a scheme, but not so curious I'd go searching for more information.

[Paul Land]

Awesome, how much HP does a rotary shaft generator require to generate ?

Norman D. Dyer, patented in 1972, a rotary torque indicator for well drilling apparatus that can be adapted/modified/re-purposed/ invented or what ever for power generation. Its just a retro-fit shaft generator, Railroads have tons of them collecting dust. constant out-put @ xxx revolutions. As long as bit is turning its putting out.

[Mike90250]

Norman D. Dyer, patented in 1972, a rotary torque indicator for well drilling apparatus that can be adapted/modified/re-purposed/ invented or what ever for power generation. Its just a retro-fit shaft generator, Railroads have tons of them collecting dust. constant out-put @ xxx revolutions. As long as bit is turning its putting out.

You Sir, have made a bold claim. It's up to you to prove to us it works efficiently..

Sure, I can put gear onto a drill rod, and generate power, but what is the added load onto the drill rod? I could just bolt a 2nd alternator onto it's engine, and harvest power whenever the engine is running. But it's not "free energy" Something has to make the drill rod turn.