Quote:
Originally Posted by Pinner
So if it's not windy the train won't work? Or do they have big batteries to store the "special'" wind power?
|
Well the trains aren't hooked up directly to wind power. Just hooked into the grid like your house or the store down the street is. With a mix of power sources (coal, wind, some hydro, etc.) feeding into that grid, you can't determine whether the power is coming from any single one of those sources. You can't determine where your electrons are coming from if you're on the grid. What you can do though is influence the generation source breakdown of what is being fed into the grid. That is what this program does. Power to be fed into the grid that is equal to that needed to run the C-Train is purchased that is guaranteed by the supplier to be generated by wind sources. That power then of course goes into powering toasters, air conditioners, tvs, lights in offices and yes the C-Train. Take the program out though, and it would be (more) coal instead of wind.
The thing with wind power is that it can only make up so much of the load demand because of the issue you mention. Basically, you don't know exactly when it will be windiest. That's why wind sources typically make up a max of only 5-15% (I can't remember the exact numbers, but it is in this range somewhere) of the power going into the grid. Solar power has similar problems, only at a greater expense.