Comments on: Blackout panic misses the facts http://www.leftfootforward.org/2009/09/blackout-panic-misses-the-facts/ Left Foot Forward is a political blog for progressives. We provide evidence-based analysis on British politics, news and policy developments. Sat, 11 Feb 2012 22:33:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: rwendland http://www.leftfootforward.org/2009/09/blackout-panic-misses-the-facts/comment-page-1/#comment-89 rwendland Sat, 12 Sep 2009 23:19:42 +0000 http://www.leftfootforward.org/?p=619#comment-89 Those that highlight the intermittency issue rarely seem to worry about the poorish availability of current generation HVDC links. I think the current 2GW France HVDC interconnect has an unanticipated outage rate of about 1% (plus another 1%-ish for scheduled maintenance) on one bipole (half the power). 1% is 3.5 days per year unexpected outage, with 1GW immediately dropping out. That sounds about as serious as wind intermittency, and at least with wind you would get at least several hours warning from weather forecasting to prepare backup plant. Next generation HVDC links may be a lot more reliable, with better conversion electronics, but not the current high-power ones. Those that highlight the intermittency issue rarely seem to worry about the poorish availability of current generation HVDC links. I think the current 2GW France HVDC interconnect has an unanticipated outage rate of about 1% (plus another 1%-ish for scheduled maintenance) on one bipole (half the power). 1% is 3.5 days per year unexpected outage, with 1GW immediately dropping out. That sounds about as serious as wind intermittency, and at least with wind you would get at least several hours warning from weather forecasting to prepare backup plant.

Next generation HVDC links may be a lot more reliable, with better conversion electronics, but not the current high-power ones.

]]> By: Richard Angell http://www.leftfootforward.org/2009/09/blackout-panic-misses-the-facts/comment-page-1/#comment-9132 Richard Angell Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:58:07 +0000 http://www.leftfootforward.org/?p=619#comment-9132 <span class="topsy_trackback_comment"><span class="topsy_twitter_username"><span class="topsy_trackback_content">RT @peterkyle: Joss Garman for @leftfootfwd takes apart rightwing myths on wind power http://bit.ly/JlzJy (via @wdjstraw)</span></span> RT @peterkyle: Joss Garman for @leftfootfwd takes apart rightwing myths on wind power http://bit.ly/JlzJy (via @wdjstraw)

]]> By: Richard Angell http://www.leftfootforward.org/2009/09/blackout-panic-misses-the-facts/comment-page-1/#comment-37238 Richard Angell Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:58:07 +0000 http://www.leftfootforward.org/?p=619#comment-37238 <span class="topsy_trackback_comment"><span class="topsy_twitter_username"><span class="topsy_trackback_content">RT @peterkyle: Joss Garman for @leftfootfwd takes apart rightwing myths on wind power http://bit.ly/JlzJy (via @wdjstraw)</span></span> RT @peterkyle: Joss Garman for @leftfootfwd takes apart rightwing myths on wind power http://bit.ly/JlzJy (via @wdjstraw)

]]> By: Peter Kyle http://www.leftfootforward.org/2009/09/blackout-panic-misses-the-facts/comment-page-1/#comment-9133 Peter Kyle Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:28:27 +0000 http://www.leftfootforward.org/?p=619#comment-9133 <span class="topsy_trackback_comment"><span class="topsy_twitter_username"><span class="topsy_trackback_content">Joss Garman for @leftfootfwd takes apart rightwing myths on wind power http://bit.ly/JlzJy (via @wdjstraw)</span></span> Joss Garman for @leftfootfwd takes apart rightwing myths on wind power http://bit.ly/JlzJy (via @wdjstraw)

]]> By: Shamik Das http://www.leftfootforward.org/2009/09/blackout-panic-misses-the-facts/comment-page-1/#comment-9134 Shamik Das Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:12:58 +0000 http://www.leftfootforward.org/?p=619#comment-9134 <span class="topsy_trackback_comment"><span class="topsy_twitter_username"><span class="topsy_trackback_content">Mail & Telegraph taken to task after over on @leftfootfwd - http://tinyurl.com/blackout-myths</span></span> Mail & Telegraph taken to task after over on @leftfootfwd – http://tinyurl.com/blackout-myths

]]> By: Will Straw http://www.leftfootforward.org/2009/09/blackout-panic-misses-the-facts/comment-page-1/#comment-9135 Will Straw Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:48:55 +0000 http://www.leftfootforward.org/?p=619#comment-9135 <span class="topsy_trackback_comment"><span class="topsy_twitter_username"><span class="topsy_trackback_content">Joss Garman for @leftfootfwd takes apart rightwing myths on wind power http://bit.ly/JlzJy</span></span> Joss Garman for @leftfootfwd takes apart rightwing myths on wind power http://bit.ly/JlzJy

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