An example of one can be found on http://www.heatingsave.co.uk

John

Adding energy storage (such as compressed air) is an added expense for renewables which will add to their cost. Solar thermal is the only renewable technology that might be able to build in some storage, but these are not widespread systems, and far less common than, for example, wind.

I am not against RPS per se, but I do think that some smart-metering is needed to accompany the standard . It’s unfair and improper for a RPS to condemn the use of coal-fired plants for electricity but then demand that they also stick around as backup for them. Smart-metering is something we should be doing more of anyway (to help to shave some of the daytime demand peak to use more electricity at night) and this can play well synergetically with RPS.

I am just saying the smart-metering should be part and parcel with RPS, both to lower overall costs, and to insure grid stability. Many RPS proponents do not seem to give adequate emphasis to this side of the equation.

You’ve commented several times before (which we love!) about the importance of realizing that some types of renewable energy do not produce perfectly consistency levels of energy and therefore a “sheddable load” must be added to keep the grid stable.

You make it seem like adding renewable power sources, like solar and wind, to the grid will damn it to fail unless a backup system, presumably powered by fossil fuels, is added to make sure the grid stays up with the sun doesn’t shit and the wind doesn’t blow.

While storage and consistency are issues to be considered, renewable technologies have been working hard to provide steady energy streams. Solar thermal power stores energy as heat and new technologies involving compressed air have shown promise.

It seems backwards to condemn the entire RPS because it might only be a viable solution most of the time. I am convinced that had the RPS been instated the utilities could have figured out how to effectively balance the grid by 2020, when the RPS mandate would require 15 percent of the energy to be generated from renewables.

Now it’ll be the cleantech entrepreneurs who get to figure it out.

If I have misrepresented your argument please comment.

I suppose Washington D.C. would realize that if more than two members of Congress had ever passed a science class…..