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As "Spectacular" Eclipse Covers Europe, Fears Turn To Its Power Grid
Some parts of Europe witnessed a near total solar eclipse this morning, an event which, while fun to observe (not without the proper equipment please), presents a challenge for solar panels: namely, a lack of sun. As it turns out this same problem happens at night but, as WSJ reports, the rapidity with which an eclipse darkens the earth could cause blackouts if the energy grid can’t tack up the slack quick enough. Here’s more:
The solar eclipse will provide an acid test for a continent that has placed a big bet on renewable energy—but whose aging electricity grids could buckle under the strain of a sudden drop in solar power.
“Given the growth of renewables across Europe in recent years, this will require an unprecedented amount of careful balancing of supply and demand across the grid,” said Valentin de Miguel of consulting firm Accenture...
The partial disappearance of the sun Friday will place a huge strain on Europe’s energy system. Normally, when the sun goes down, it takes about an hour for the light to fade. That gives time for electricity grids to substitute the power flowing from solar panels with electricity generated from traditional sources such as coal and natural gas.
An eclipse blocks the sun in just a few minutes, though, leading to a potential sudden drop of up to 35,000 megawatts of generation capacity. That is the equivalent of about 20 large coal-fired power plants coming off the grid at the same time. Conventional electricity suppliers will have to seamlessly substitute power to prevent blackouts, and then they must shut down capacity as solar power rebounds.
A break in the switch from solar to conventional power sources could “result in a cascade of electricity blackouts, similar to when a tree falls on a local power line but across the country,” said Alessandro Abate, a professor at Oxford University’s Department of Computer Science, who is studying Friday’s eclipse.
Since the last solar eclipse occurred over Europe in 1999, the region’s energy supply has radically changed. Europe has made a major push into renewable energy, with the share of electricity coming from such sources rising to about 20% by 2012 from 12% in 2002, according to Eurostat.
As recently as five years ago, there was “no idea that Europe would have been so full of photovoltaic panels at that time,” said Francesco Starace, CEO of Italian utility Enel SpA on Thursday.
But the addition of so many intermittent power sources, including wind, has raised concerns about the potential instability of electricity grids that were built to distribute power from huge, central power plants with relatively stable output.
“The grids were built decades ago when there was really no renewables, especially solar,” Mr. Abate said.
And a bit more from BBC…
Oxford University scientists are using the event to try to understand how eclipses affect electricity grids.
The deep shadow will reduce the output from solar panels, which now supply a significant proportion of power needs right across Europe.
The researchers will look to see how this dip in performance impacts the stability of grid networks.
...and here’s a map from BBC which shows where the display will be the most spectacular…
… and some pictures from around the world...
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Two more pigeons and the eclipse would have been total.
coal-fired power plants
Does Obama know about this?
I haven't figured it out yet, but somehow the eclipse is Putin's fault.... maybe Psaki can explain it?
Putin deliberately cut off Russia's gas flows to the sun to punish it for not paying its bills. The sun over Europe is now on "cash in advance" terms and came out again once Brussels printed some Euros and sent them to Putin.
WTF...can't they print electricity?
! ! !
March 20th, 2015: HUGE Astrological Trigger Point
Why don't they just turn on their wind generators to make up for the loss of solar?
Smegley Wanks, +100 for your explanation.
I would have given you +1000 but your explanation is too complicated and requires too much thought for the average American shlub.
Something along the lines of Putin stole Crimea to block the sun might work better, LOL
The power grid can never go down and Carrington events are fake. They were a joke made up by Arthur W. Carrington to scare Londoners in 1859.
I didn't realize swans had such short beaks.
Or just say 'fuck the EU Sun'
how many damn times is Andrew Heath going to redo his website...jesus
Lets not kidd ourselves, our handlers pay close attention to celestial events - especially big ones.
.
It doesnt matter if you believe in it or not - they do.
You are exactly correct.
And FWIW, there is a lot more to existence than what a scientist can measure in a lab. (However, those aspects should not be a basis for law or government, which is a physical world concern.)
absolutely agree. The average joe in cube world and even Mcmansion millionaires don't care about it. but the big boys, the owners...do.
Thanks for the link/info!
And the "advanced" don't believe that nature can affect your health, nor that the planets can and do follow patterns that society mimics.
Strauss and Howe posit about the Fourth Turning, lo and behold, Pluto becomes a pain every 80 years.
I used to think it was coincidental, as I truly believed science and chemicals were the way. Glad my mind is open to reality, as it appears everything so many hold as infallible will soon be nothing more than distant memories.
The universe is working to bring us back to natural balance. This is going to be an epic fall.
Mar20: Massive incoming solar storm, New China Gold Fix and CERN cranks up. 2 interesting connections/comments. Plenty of 322s popping up. DYODD.
Earths Shields Under Pressure/CERN https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgatGHI0sbo The CERN-2015 Test and the NWO Time Manipulation of 12-21-14 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLwIu2XKRSM The BIG BANG: CERN to Restart March 23rd 2015, The Ritualistic Timing and The New Age Deceptionhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ireFSDK0yHE
Mel Parkin5 days ago There is many bad signs to CERN, Solar eclipse, the TETRAD, Cern is named after a celtic god cernunnos (horned), Shivas is statute outside (God of destruction), CERN symbol 666, Symmetry ritual dance performed at CERN, Top scientists have warned this experiment has dangers, Minvera is also linked to CERN (another god, roman for war) and this is also dates for Quinquartaria a festival to Minvera for war..YES this is also the international year of light.. YES, Satan is also known for light.. those who worship the Sun .. This is also linked with time..8 =infinity, locked in time.. GOD help us all, I so hope christ returns soon.. before they destroy all, the earth, animals, and us
Gabriel Ayoob
3 days ago Hong Kong HKFE halts all gold contracts until after Friday, http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/13/gold-hkex-idUSL5N0WF2U320150313. China will take control over the new fix starting March 20th. On March 22nd new Gold Platinum and Silver contracts will be implemented. China will be leading the way for the new international Gold fix. its funny how that date 3-22 is the same number of skulls and Bones number 322.
Replying to myself is perhaps bad form, but I want to make sure everyone gets my point:
Let's round off the Fed's current Adjusted Monetary Base to $4 Trillion. From the crisis starting point of $800 Billion, they have printed $3,200 Billion.
A Nimitz-class aircraft carrier costs about $4.5 Billion. So doing the math, the Fed has printed enough "money" to build 711 Nimitz-class carriers. Since these are 1092 feet long, if one would place them end to end, they would stretch 776,533 feet, or 147 miles. In other words, one could drive from Baltimore MD to Richmond VA on top of these printed aircraft carriers and never touch the ground.
So does printing money distort the real world?
So does printing money distort the real world?
No. A Freeway of Nimitz Class Carrires from Baltimore to Richmond would distort the real world quite a bit.
The created digits on Bank computers is quite unreal. There is absolutely NO PHYSICAL PRODUCTION to justify the existence of those Trillions upon trillions of magical digits.
The REAL WORLD is not distorted. It is that our Financial system has become based more upon DELUSION than that which is real.
Notes are promises to pay. Federal Reserve Notes are promises to pay for goods and services in the future, near term, or long term. When it becomes impossible to make enough of those goods and services exist for future delivery, or, the goods and services do not exist then the currency loses VALUE, or, becomes VALUELESS, respectively.
That is the inherent danger of hyperinflating the currency supply. Perhaps we are not currently experiencing price hyperinflation but because of the currency creation...we will. There is no possible way that we can produce enough goods and services in the future, or SELL enough goods and services to justify the creation of that currency today. Our GDP cannot grow at the same rate as the currency creation rate...EVER. And that is what dooms our financial system.
But what is most illuminating is that you have revealed the source of your own confusion in the way that you framed your argument and your question. You believe the fantasy world of finance as being more real than the physical reality which presents itself.
Your question revealed that about you. Think about it.
The financial world is delusional. The real world is differentiated from it, absolutely divorced from it.
You, probably intentionally, ignore the point that the Fed could have bought those 711 carriers with the money they printed. There is no fantasy when the Fed, and member banks, can create "money" from nothing, which can then be used to buy real property. When anyone else does it, it is called "counterfeiting", was at one time punishable by death, being recognized as a threat to the financial system. When the Fed, and member banks do it, it is called either "monetary policy" or "fractional reserve lending", and is the subject of bonuses, praise, and fawning.
Your statement revealed that about you. Think about it.
Putin supplied the sun ray blocking chemical weapons to Assad
Sun to Merkel.."How do you like fucking austerity?"
Converge on GUDHI PADVA during the SHEMITAH
oh noooooooo...
"The trigger is being pulled now which will initiate a multi-year process of massive and unprecedented change. The biggest changes will be political and governmental, economic and financial, social and religious in nature … throughout every nation on Earth."
tip of hat to truthseeker.
I love predictions that cover the entire range of human activity because they have a much better chance of being accurate...
Somewhere.
I predict people will fuck.
. . . . Somewhere.
They will also keep wanking. A lot.
I hope I can still get the Chicken Curry take-out.
Gudhi's is the best.
I'll have the Saag Paneer platter, please, and can I get the apocalyptic rapture ecstacy on the side?
Truthseeker, I think this already happened a couple of days ago when the Wookie went to Japan ;-).
Y2K-style scaremongering in order to distract attention from Greece...
She'll just say that the sun needs a job
Total Avian Eclipse.
Don't you mean Avian Zombie Apoc-eclipse?
keep away from my uranus pal
"my uranus" You own his anus?
Ugandi's on Uranus.
he he he
he he he
you siad ur anus
Are you joking with the solar panels? Ever herd of clouds, and i already got the eclipse on tape, an hours worth of cloudy eclipse.
Oxford University scientists are using the event to try to understand how eclipses affect electricity grids.
Here's an Idea, maybe use nighttime as an example............
Fucking dipshits
So much for the "sun never sets on the British Empire".
Thanks for the laugh you jerk. I shot coffee out of my nose. LOL
Current flows during peak demand periods, relating to predictable imbalances in panel output.
(Night-time is regarded as "off-peak" for good reason . . . .)
I watched the eclipse this morning, it was a bit cloudy but you could make it out. The temperature dropped two deg C, but it was the eerie twilight that got my attention and there was a stillness that is hard to describe. I was listening to the radio in my car and they had some kids on talking about the event, one kid said "I'm here to watch the apocalypse". I thought to myself what does that kid know?
For just a few minutes the population programmers had lost power... it was a moment they could break free!
Putin did it.
but but you mean solar power don't work when it's dark out- quick call al gore.
I guess they're gonna have to go to the hand cranks to print more notes.
We'll take two fresh ones, and no candyman this time.
Similar to Fuki, engineers can never plan for every inevitable eventuality.
We're next to the ocean....you didn't think a big wave might hit us?
bet all those european "green" fucktards fired up their diesel generators so that they could continue to bitch online how everyone causes air pollution but them.
Crescent over Europe...hmmm.
"Look in the sky, Achmed! The bright orb is being eaten by Shaitan! It must be a message from Allah!"
"Yes! Europe is Ours!"
"Allahu Akbar!!"
"Let's chop off some heads!"
"Good evening Achmed..."
Bull shit article.
Solar is a trivial part of the grid, and likely always will be.
kaiserh you be right, just don't let the wind stop..think of the children.
I think of the children when I pass wind.
Just doing my part.
Having seen a total eclipse wayyy back in the 60s-early 70s, the wind actually picked up as it went dark, so maybe the wind generators will pick up. Like the other poster said, I doubt the reporter has 2 brain cells to rub together.
The "eclipse wind" is a known phenomenon - http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/news/story.aspx?id=1190.
More of a noticeable change in direction rather than windspeed.
The way to overcome that likelyhood would be to give FAR more high-explosive power to the people (Sulfuric acid - my favorite HE precursor chemical, which also can store fuck tons of chemical energy when used in stationary batteries).
But between their fear of the people and their love of cumbersome and expensive regulations - Eurocrats would never have the courage or common sense to actually distribute power like that- they like their evil monopolies too much, just like everywhere else.
I guess night does not happen in europe, this is a major problem!
Night time was banned over here in Europe by order of our European overlords a few months ago. A shame really, the owls are really confused.
Complete damp squib here around London, just like a very dull day, some cars on the motorway didn't even have their headlights on.
DavidC
Islamic Halal Croissants served with camel's butter and date paste in the Left Bank no go zone !
The US Power Grid nearly went down again due to the cold weather on the East Coast. If we had two plants trip, it would've been game over with rolling blackouts in below zero temps.
So how do they manage every night?????
Dont they have Daylight savings time over in Europe???? That would work....lol
Read an article that said UK school kids were going to watch the eclipse on tv because school officials felt it was too dangerous for the kids to watch the actual event. Public education raising one fucktard at a time.
You think that's bad? When I was a little kid, my mom sent me to a catholic school. That year there was a solar eclipse.
The nun teachers made us put our heads down on our desks. They not only didn't want us to watch it, they didn't want us to even know it was happening. We might think or something dangerous like that.
You're so vain .... I bet you thought this Eclipse was about ya !
Funny, I thought Europe lost the sun once a day. You'd think they'd be prepared for a temporary loss of solar power on the grid.
In general, I trust European Electrical Engineers' abilities more than a WSJ reporter's ability to understand power generation technology.
Holy crap, what a bunch of utter horse shit. Power is not provided to the grid directly from solar cells, the power is stored and distributed to the grid from storage. An eclipse won't have any more effect than nighttime. Indeed, this notion that there is no time to switch to non-solar generation is just as ignorant...it's not like we don't know exactly what time the eclipse will occur. This article is an epic fail.
Exactly, and if they don't have enough power storage, that's simply the stupid engineers fault! A third grader would figure they need more storage!!
Hate to burst your bubble, but there is NO storage technology that's feasible for a large power grid. It's a use-what you produce type of system. As demand goes up and down, you throttle your turbines, there's no excess going to storage.
Best idea so far is to use excess energy to pump water behind a hydroelectric dam, but no one is doing that yet (as far as I know).
Seems Britain's well ahead (as usual) http://www.withouthotair.com/c26/page_191.shtml
Dinorwig (1.72 GW peak capacity) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinorwig_Power_Station
Ffestiniog (360 MW peak capacity) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ffestiniog_Power_Station
Handy having Snowdonia nearby - and even more handy seeing as the Welsh weather is pretty wet and windy (so lots of turbine capacity too), but beware the ROI on poor installations - http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-24844182 (this one'll take HUNDREDS of YEARS to repay the installation cost alone . . . . . ! !)
lol, and this crap from the WSJ ...
And it was all cloudy in Paris, couldn't see a thing! :(
(except getting a bit darker ...)
The sky is falling!!!! THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!!!
I wonder what they did during the dark ages.
They lived a horrible and short life, then they died.
Strange: where I was, the sun was shining, there was clear blue sky and I barely noticed the 50% effect.
Apparently we should have had cloudy skies, 90% coverage and Biblical sways of darkening wyrd.
*shrug*
Reality is stranger than fiction sometimes.
Q: Was that dress Gold-White or Blue-Black?
A: It was cornflower blue and brown and you're all suffering under mass psychosis.
How can anyone be hating on this article? 5, for sure. Fire Angel