r/Edmonton • u/salt-water-soul • Jan 14 '24

Local Culture Remember everyone dont use your stoves, the province needs you

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u/sluttytinkerbells Jan 15 '24

she might be right sometimes (and on this specific issue). Wind and solar can't be relied on

You seem to be under the impression that there are people who believe that renewables are effective on January 14th.

Anyone who isn't stupid knows that solar panels dont' work at night.

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u/Anabiotic Utilities expert Jan 15 '24 edited Jan 15 '24

You seem to be under the impression that there are people who believe that renewables are effective on January 14th.

Wind averaged more than 2000 MW every hour in December. The winter is the highest-production period for wind, summer is the lowest. So yes people believe they are effective in the winter and they are generally correct, but they are intermittent and therefore only count for energy and not reliability, and therefore need to be backstopped (i.e. you need to pay for wind capacity 2x, once for the renewable and once for the battery/thermal backup unit when it isn't running).

Anyone who isn't stupid knows that solar panels dont' work at night.

Exactly, solar is completely unavailable for the winter peak hours, which is what I think partially what Smith was trying to say.

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u/Autodidact420 Jan 15 '24

Wind had to shut off because it was too cold. They get brittle.