In reply to Jed Rothwell's message of Wed, 13 Mar 2013 16:37:12 -0400: Hi, [snip] >Thus, even when there is no demand for the power they produce, operators >keep turbines spinning, sending their surplus to the grid because the tax >credit assures them a profit. > >On gusty days in the five states with the most wind power Texas, >California, Iowa, Illinois and Oregon -- this can flood power grids, >causing prices to drop below zero during times when demand is light. >Wholesale electricity during off-peak hours in Illinois has sold for an >average price of $23.39 per megawatt hour since Jan. 1, after hitting a >record low of -$41.08 on Oct. 11, the least since the Midwest Independent >Transmission System Operator Inc. began sharing real-time pricing in 2005.
More widespread use of electric cars could make a difference here. They could have a built in voltage sensor that allowed them to automatically charge when the grid voltage rose above a certain level (which tends to happen when there is more supply than demand). Of course, they would also have to be programmed to ensure that they were recharged by a settable future time, regardless. However being able to recharge whenever there is a surplus in supply would decrease the demand for recharging power when there wasn't a surplus. [snip] Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html
