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Wind and solar not steady enough for the national grid
There’s lot to like about solar and wind energy, if you discount the higher cost. They’re clean, with no greenhouse gas emissions, and they’re powered by resources that cost nothing when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing.
Therein lies the problem. As intermittent sources of power, wind and solar pose challenges to the operators of the nation’s regional power grids, whose highest priority is maintaining the reliability of a system that is the envy of the rest of the world for delivering electricity virtually all of the time.
If renewable energy is really going to take off, then the nation needs to develop a reliable system of storing the power produced by solar farms and wind turbines, a priority of the federal government and now the government of New Jersey. (Johnson, NJ Spotlight)
