Blackburn: Wind and Solar could make up 3/4 of NC energy needs

[supernova]

Maybe it's not wind or solar, but both.

John Blackburn on renewable energy

File this information away for the next time you hear that wind and solar power can't replace the giant electricity-generating plants because the sun and wind are "intermittent" and therefore unreliable.

They are intermittent when considered separately, says John Blackburn, an energy economist with top-flight credentials. But taken together, solar and wind are complementary sources of potential power—highly reliable and relatively inexpensive power—that could supply most of North Carolina's future electricity needs.

That's because the sun shines brightest during the day and the summer, while the wind blows hardest at night and in the winter. When one ebbs, in other words, the other picks up and fills in for it, Blackburn says. This is especially true in North Carolina, which has plentiful quantities of sun and wind.

It's more than a theory. Blackburn's new study of available solar and wind sources demonstrates how the two, working in tandem, could someday supply more than three-fourths of the state's electric power. That is, if the public utility companies and state leaders would get behind them.

Full Article:http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/john-blackburn-on-renewable-energy/Content?oid=1433963