> Also, intermittent power can be a function of transmission network quality, not just generation type.
Yes, but hydro is the only renewable power source that is weather-independent. Wind, solar and tidal energy all fluctuate wildly during the day. In case there's no backup/storage (e.g. with pump-hydro systems, cheap-ish and effective, but a crime on nature!) you have to either import power from outside the country or resort to conventional power generation. Oh, and even hydro sucks for nature, because hydro plants interrupt natural pathways for fishes and like pump-hydro plants, there's a HUGE additional negative impact if you use a dam (in contrast to natural state, animals can't pass over the waterway, and as seen in China, important areas of biodiversity simply get flooded).
The lack of a truly environment-friendly energy storage is and will be keeping renewables from ever truly replacing fossil energy. Batteries need vast amounts of (rare) metals which have to be mined, refined and manufactured, molten-salt high power solar towers are a safety risk (as anything operating at three-digits-celsius temperature is)...
Much as i don't want to cause any further depression in an already quite depressing thread, but if you follow Joseph Tainters work on The Collapse of Complex Societies.
The lack of a truly environment-friendly energy storage is and will be keeping renewables from ever truly replacing fossil energy.
Fortunately this is slowly changing. Different technologies are right in different situations, but the battery story in particular is undergoing rapid development.
For example flow batteries[1] usually don't require rare metals, are (fairly) cheap, reliable and are slowly becoming available.
One of the first uses is on cellular towers in South and Central America where the power grid isn't reliable.
Geothermal has its own shares of risks (crossing waterways in the ground can lead to contamination and the drilling can cause earthquakes, http://www.deutschlandfunk.de/erdwaerme-in-deutschland-erdbe...), and biomass fouling towers look ugly, stink and the cow manure (or whatever is to be used as fuel) has to be transported.
If you work out the energy density of pumped hydro it's actually rather high. If your worried about the enviorment you can make it a completly closed system so the only impact is just building some buildings and an underground pipe.
However, just building two ponds in the middle of nowhere and pumping in water is another option.
Yes, but hydro is the only renewable power source that is weather-independent. Wind, solar and tidal energy all fluctuate wildly during the day. In case there's no backup/storage (e.g. with pump-hydro systems, cheap-ish and effective, but a crime on nature!) you have to either import power from outside the country or resort to conventional power generation. Oh, and even hydro sucks for nature, because hydro plants interrupt natural pathways for fishes and like pump-hydro plants, there's a HUGE additional negative impact if you use a dam (in contrast to natural state, animals can't pass over the waterway, and as seen in China, important areas of biodiversity simply get flooded).
The lack of a truly environment-friendly energy storage is and will be keeping renewables from ever truly replacing fossil energy. Batteries need vast amounts of (rare) metals which have to be mined, refined and manufactured, molten-salt high power solar towers are a safety risk (as anything operating at three-digits-celsius temperature is)...