Reply #85: Forget the operational profiles blather...

[DrGregory]

>Your thinking is bound by the fallacy that we need to duplicate the operational characteristics of centralized thermal >plants (like coal and nuclear) in order for us to provide electricity on demand to the end user. That is false.

I don't know what your "operational profiles" blather means.

I do know that the MAJORITY of the USA's energy demand is baseload - that
is the power is demanded 24 hours a day. We have industries that operate
24 hours a day - you probably don't care about them, or would like to see
them shut down - but anyone who is serious about providing electricity for
the nation has to take them into account.

We have plants that smelt steel with electric furnaces, or that electro-refine
aluminum, or build cars, or airliners, or parts for same that operate around the
clock. How do we provide for their electric demand??

If we were totally solar, in the middle of the night there is no solar power;
the whole country is submerged in night. Therefore, if these plants, which you
don't care about, or don't want to consider; are to continue operating in the
USA, we have to find a way to provide them power at night.

If all our power is solar; then the only way we can provide for the power demand
at night is to STORE the energy. If the solar plant is truly going to take over
for an on-demand plant of 1 Gwe capacity; then the solar plant absolutely needs
to store the equivalent of 15 Kilotons.

BOOM - if something goes wrong.

Dr. Greg