DisasterousGiraffe OP t1_jd9elij wrote on March 22, 2023 at 7:47 PM

Reply to comment by Fuzzers in IPCC chart says Solar PV and Wind Turbines are best way to achieve Deep, Rapid, and Low Cost emission cuts before 2030. by DisasterousGiraffe

Not sure what reason is for the apparent contradiction, but the planned additions to US electricity generation seem to be mostly solar.

Fuzzers t1_jd9jfab wrote on March 22, 2023 at 8:18 PM

and that's a good thing! But as I said originally, base load electricity generation for renewables requires storage, of which in the EIA data is 17%. So 17% of all new possible base load generation is battery storage, and 14% is natural gas.

Right now, 39% of all electricity generation in the states is through natural gas, and I can guarantee they won't be replacing those plants with solar/wind+battery storage anytime soon, because its not economically feasible to do so.

Since 2011, 121 coal fired plants have converted to natural gas, because that's the most economical and logical thing to do. A replacement to solar/wind + battery storage would be more capitally intensive and have a longer payback period.