Prospects for Wind and Solar Dominated Energy Generation for Continents

Abstract:

An economic optimization study demonstrated that a combination of low costs for wind and solar generation, continental-scale High Voltage Direct Current transmission networks, and use of natural gas plants as a backup would lower greenhouse gas emissions by 80% for the US contiguous 48 states. Use of large geographic scale networks allowed reliability and low-cost energy from renewable sources. In this talk the results of research on the viability of this approach for each of Earth’s six inhabited continents will be discussed. Evidence will be presented that shows that on continental scales, weather variability in both resources and contemporaneous variability indicate that these large-scale energy generation domains can supply most global electric energy requirements with much lower carbon dioxide emissions and low cost.