Inertia. The principles of physics apply to energy. Wind and solar are not reliable sources of production of energy thus the demand for understanding the principle of inertia comes into play.
8/17/2019
Think of it like this, when you are driving at 55 miles per hour and arrive at the base of a hill your vehicle has inertia. It's the force that tends to keep your vehicle moving even if it lost power. The force of inertia make it so you don't have to put much strain on the engine, you don't have to use much gas or electric to drive your vehicle over the hill. If you start off at zero miles per hour, at a standstill at the base and start going up the hill you have no inertia, the principle of force in physics that is a part of calculation of energy. Your vehicle will use MORE ENERGY than if it has inertia. Your vehicle if very old will struggle and the force lacking inertia may even cause the engine to fail. Wind energy has a problem of lack of inertia.
In power generation and maintenance on the electric grids inertia plays this same vital role. The hills encountered in electric flow is like driving and encountering a hill putting it in simple terms and when wind and solar are relied on as the major production source, inertias are chaotic, and not there too many times. With reliable nuclear, coal, natural gas we are driving along at top speed with tonnes of inertia and thus barring other technical matters that can cause blackouts, this inertia keeps the entire system going up that hill when there are massive spikes in energy use just fine. Like with that car you are driving the grid can lose power when it's filled with solar and especially chaotic wind and getting it up that hill is more difficult.
Environmentalists and politicians will rant and rage like a little child about saving the planet and all this other nonsense. They rarely understand this principle of inertia and how inertia demands that we have, if any, only a tiny fraction of power "generated" by what is erroneously called "clean energy" of wind and solar.
If we don't base our entire energy policy on these facts about inertia we start creating a system that's more like 3rd world countries. Actually many countries already have. This is why those countries in the year 2019 are starting to see blackouts "when they shouldn't really" because they have forced on the grid unreliable energy methods that completely drain it of inertia. There is so much more stop and go now instead of freeway driving because politicians have deemed the inertia not an important factor because they are completely clueless about it and when anyone tries to inform them they get these glassy looks in their eyes and their minds grasp what they understand, movies that told them everything Al Gore wanted them to know.
Inertia creates a stable delivery system and can only be guaranteed by using nuclear, coal, natural gas in reasonble cost frames.
The peaks and valleys of energy use each day are like driving in hilly areas.
Wind and solar just do not provide the kind of stability to keep inertia working for us in "keeping the lights on". These sources of chaotic inertia free energy actuall are using more energy.
reference article at StopTheseThings.com and "inertia" at Wikipedia.com
copyright 2019 Kenneth Wegorowski