Don’t let them lie to you. There is not enough wind or solar (AKA land for solar farms) that can give us the power we need to survive and advance as a civilization.
Wind and Solar Can’t Support the Grid https://t.co/U1mJqDmMIi via @wattsupwiththat
— Cees Boogaart (@CeesBoogaart) December 7, 2024
In October of 2025, the isolated small city of Broken Hill in New South Wales, Australia with a 36 MW load (including the large nearby mines) could not be reliably served by 200 MW of wind, a 53 MW solar array, significant residential solar, and a large 50 MW battery all supplemented by diesel generators.
Many people falsely believe that wind, solar and batteries have been demonstrated to provide grid support and deliver energy independently in large real word applications. Few people realize that we are a long way away from having wind, solar and batteries support a large power system without significant amounts of conventional spinning generation (nuclear, gas, coal, hydro, geothermal) on-line to support the grid.
Broken Hill Outage – Wind, Solar and Battery Can Not Support the Grid
The recent outages occurring in Broken Hill help illustrate the inability of wind, solar and batteries to support electric grids without significant help from machines rotating in synchronism with the grid. (Note – wind power is produced by rotation but not in synchronism with the grid).
Around 20,000 people live in the Broken Hill area. Over $650 million in investment made Broken Hill home to a 200 MW wind plant, a 53 MW solar array, and a large battery that could provide 50 MW of power for 100 MWh through advanced grid forming inverters. Broken Hill is home to over 6,000 small-scale solar systems providing a per capita energy small solar production level almost twice the Australian average. The area also contains two poorly maintained diesel-powered gas turbine generators in the area, one which was off-line for maintenance.
h/t Dan
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