{"id":2539,"date":"2009-08-25T13:26:25","date_gmt":"2009-08-25T21:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=2539"},"modified":"2018-02-02T19:44:17","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T19:44:17","slug":"unlocking-the-grid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/08\/25\/unlocking-the-grid\/","title":{"rendered":"Unlocking the Grid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sarah Kass was the program producer for <\/em>Unlocking the Grid, a collaboration between Climate Watch and KQED’s Quest<\/a> program, which airs tonight at 7:30 on KQED Channel 9.<\/em><\/p>\n

Wind Power: A Personal Perspective<\/p>\n

By Sarah Kass<\/p>\n

Last summer I visited the Netherlands, the original home of the windmill. Surprisingly, I saw hardly any of the quaint structures we associate with Dutch wind power. One hundred years ago Holland had about 10,000 wooden windmills<\/a> dotting its landscape. Today, barely 10% remain. What I saw instead were high-tech wind turbines, white and spare and gracefully generating electricity with wind from the North Sea.<\/p>\n

Many view these modern-day towers as an eyesore, but I see them as a sign of hope. Like giant flowers across a landscape, they symbolize for me a clean energy future. But wind power–and solar–have a handicap that fuels doubts that renewables will ever be more than a small percentage of U.S. power. These energy sources can’t be counted on when night falls or the wind subsides. Their inconsistent nature poses a problem for a world with an enormous appetite for electricity. If only excess power could be stored on a grand scale, it might solve many of our energy problems.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t that electrical energy isn’t currently storable, but as Andrew Tang, Senior Director of PG&E\u2019s Smart Meter<\/a> program points out, the current generation of batteries can\u2019t store electricity at a price that\u2019s cost-effective. But both he and Steve Berberich from California System Operators<\/a> were optimistic about future storage possibilities. Tang described an experimental project that uses a sodium sulfur battery<\/a> the size of an 18-wheeler trailer. The battery would be located next to a substation or somewhere in the network, and its stored power would be used during times of peak demand. He also talked about the future of plug-in electric cars, whose batteries could both store energy and in theory, put it back onto the grid when the car\u2019s not in use.<\/p>\n

Berberich envisioned several possibilities for storing excess power. He proposed converting it to hydrogen, which could be burned in a gas plant or could be used in a fuel cell. And he suggested using power to compress air, which could be injected into the ground and called upon when the wind\u2019s not blowing and the sun\u2019s not shining.<\/p>\n

Whatever the final solution to storage, you can guarantee it will be a game changer in the renewable power industry. No longer will wind and solar be looked upon as unreliable. Hopefully this missing puzzle piece will go a long way toward helping us detach from our dependence on fossil fuels. But we\u2019ll still be left with the challenge of getting all that clean, green energy onto the power grid. And you can be sure that environmental concerns, zoning, aesthetics, and cost will undoubtedly be cantankerous issues for years to come.<\/p>\n

Watch the TV show online, and view exclusive web-only videos on energy-saving technologies for the home on Climate Watch’s Smart Grid special series page<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The second TV collaboration between Climate Watch and Quest examines the challenges that lie ahead in reinventing California’s power grid. Yep, they’re bigguns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11413,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[454,517,678],"coauthors":[],"series":[],"affiliates":[],"programs":[],"collections":[],"interests":[],"class_list":["post-2539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-power","tag-quest","tag-smart-grid","tag-wind"],"acf":{"template_type":"standard","featured_image_type":"standard","is_audio_post":false},"yoast_head":"\nUnlocking the Grid | Climate Watch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/08\/25\/unlocking-the-grid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Unlocking the Grid | Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The second TV collaboration between Climate Watch and Quest examines the challenges that lie ahead in reinventing California's power grid. 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