The value of resilience

[Ampster]

After the rolling blackouts in California a few weeks ago i noticed new displays on generators "on sale" at my local lumber yard and hardware stores.
No surprise then that an article like this would come out..

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2020/09/02/think-we-cant-place-a-value-on-resilience-think-again/

[SunEagle]

What bothers me is that I never see any % chance of how much sun may be blocked from pv systems should we ever get another volcanic release.

There are way too many historical instances where even a small volcanic release in the right areas block out a large portion of the sun hitting our planet.

Right now we see most of those volcanic events in the Philippines or 3rd world countries that have not developed a high percentage of solar pv to generate like we have in the West US.

What would happen if one of the mountains in the North West (like St Helen's) let go all that ash again into the atmosphere. How will that affect the green energy production down wind of the event?

Again while I am very much for solar pv energy production I have to add in all of the variables that would allow us to get the proper amount of sunlight to generate power. Without power sources unaffected by volcanoes added into the mix the US population could suffer from not having enough power to go around. That would make the rolling blackouts currently occurring seem like an irritation instead of a heart stopper.

[Ampster]

You are correct. The Krakatoa eruption affected the weather around the world for years. Life is full of uncertainties.
It all depends on how one wants to deal with them. There are still people out there that worry if they have enough toilet paper.

[SunEagle]

You are correct. The Krakatoa eruption affected the weather around the world for years. Life is full of uncertainties.
It all depends on how one wants to deal with them. There are still people out there that worry if they have enough toilet paper.

I agree that worrying does not do much for anyone but if you just go over the events listed under Volcanic winter in Wikipedia you will see that more then a couple have happened and can happen again.

All I am saying is not to put all our eggs in one basket. We need to make sure we have enough power generation across the country to handle the loss of solar.

[peatmoss]

Its time to dust off nuclear energy and give it another try.

[Ampster]

..........

All I am saying is not to put all our eggs in one basket. We need to make sure we have enough power generation across the country to handle the loss of solar.

One basket?
That was the whole point of the article, people who rely on just their power provider do have all their eggs in one basket so to speak.

[bcroe]

Its time to dust off nuclear energy and give it another try.

I am led to believe, Thorium reactors would be the best solution. Maybe retrofit our current
plants? Bruce Roe

[peatmoss]

I agree, there are lots of safe new designs. Its the cleanest always on option.

[SunEagle]

One basket?
That was the whole point of the article, people who rely on just their power provider do have all their eggs in one basket so to speak.

Maybe I read the article wrong but it looked to me like the "resilience" factor was a measure of using solar and stored energy. If solar is not producing then IMO the resilience factor goes way down.

[littleharbor]

Stop building Fukashima type plants in seismically active and Tsunami risk areas would be a good start.

[SunEagle]

Stop building Fukashima type plants in seismically active and Tsunami risk areas would be a good start.

I agree with you. It makes no sense to build anything in a seismic area unless it can handle at least a 9 and has a lot of backup.

Why do you think they put all of our ballistic missiles up in the Dakota's and Montana? Nothing shaking up there.

[solardreamer]

I wonder how distant volcanic eruption would compare to local wildfire smoke in terms of solar production impact. My solar production is already down from recent wildfire smoke in NorCal.

[solarix]

As a full time solar installer, I vote for some federal spending to get the remaining engineering done on Thorium MSR's, otherwise in ten years we will be leasing them from the Chinese.

[peatmoss]

solarix I agree 100%. I live in Northern CA as well and I've taken quite a hit on output due to the smoke. Not to mention I had to go rinse the panels as they were caked with ash.

[SunEagle]

I wonder how distant volcanic eruption would compare to local wildfire smoke in terms of solar production impact. My solar production is already down from recent wildfire smoke in NorCal.

Smoke and ash from fire reduces output for a much shorter time then volcanic ash.

But don't worry and be happy that you are going green.