Technology

There is another major advantage...

There is a major problem with solar and wind. Daily and seasonal variation in solar flux and wind speed forces us to size our renewable generators based on their minimum expected output. We have to install enough solar panels that we can supply our needs with only low-angle sunlight on short, winter days. But we won't do that, because that many solar panels are about four times what we need to supply our needs on long summer days. With that much oversupply on the grid, generators won't be able to command sufficient revenue to justify that number of panels. But we need that number of panels to supply our winter demands.

We can match a large percentage of daily variation with sufficient grid-scale storage. We fill up reservoirs with our excess mid-day production, and run that water through hydropower plants overnight. But it is simply not possible to expand storage sufficiently to match seasonal variation.

If we build out sufficient solar generation capacity to meet winter demand, we don't need seasonal storage. The problem we have becomes one of seasonal oversupply. The solution to that problem is an increase in demand. We need energy-intensive products that can be brought online in daylight hours from spring to autumn, then shut down for winter.

Producing net carbon-zero fuels could very well create part of the demand needed to justify massive expansion of our renewable power grid.