More Clarifying Info on Renewable Electric Energy

Gary Pitt has penned another letter to the editor of the WILCO Sun correcting another letter writers claim that excess solar energy is stored in the Grid and used later.

Electric grid's paltry storage capacity

Dr Kahn's letter of June 14 illustrates the need to educate the general public about some energy fundamentals. Dr Kahn assumes that excess power feeds into the grid where it is "essentially stored." This is a troubling assumption [because it] is essentially not true.

An Electric Reliability Council of Texas [ERCOT manages Texas electric grid] report dated February 2015 states that they have 36 megawatts of battery storage in a grid with 74000 MW capacity. So energy stored is 0.049 percent of capacity: in reality there is no storage available on the grid.

Donna Nelson, chair of the Texas Public Utility Commission said in March 2015 that wind and solar energy are inconsistent and fossil fuels are needed to power the grid during times the wind dies and the sun isn't shining.

We are fortunate to expect our power to be available 100 percent of the time. Today renewables cannot deliver on that promise.

Look, I am not against renewables and support continuing research in that arena. I just believe we should be reasonable about expectations regarding cost and availability.

GARY PITT

Duck Creek Lane