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Solar power has begun to transform the world’s energy system

(www.newyorker.com)
353 points dmazin | 1 comments | 09 Jul 25 12:31 UTC | HN request time: 0.298s | source
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markus_zhang ◴[10 Jul 25 10:32 UTC] No.44519407[source]▶
I recall that other power plants such as thermal power is still required to provide “inertia” for the whole system, as solar fluctuates a lot. The recent Spain-Portugal outage showed that there is not enough inertia in the system.

I don’t really understand inertia in power plants but I wonder if it helps to push nuclear as primary and solar as secondary?

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1. ethan_smith ◴[10 Jul 25 17:12 UTC] No.44523178[source]▶
Grid inertia is the rotational kinetic energy in synchronous generators that stabilizes frequency during sudden load changes - modern solutions include grid-forming inverters, synchronous condensers, and virtual inertia systems that can provide this stability without requiring traditional thermal plants.