Hey Rob!
Yes I remember "the blackout" well. As of 9:45AM Nuclear is producing 8000Mw and Hydro 5000Mw Gas 1500Mw Solar 96Mw Wind 73Mw and biofuel 36Mw. Nuclear and Hydro are our main base (88%) and the gas ramps up top cover peaks. Our spikes are actually very gradual and fairly easily managed. The reason I say it is mostly political is because.....well.....it is. I have applied over 25 times over the past 5-7 years to grid-tie, with systems ranging from 10kw down to 1kw - all have been denied due to "lack of capacity from our feeder station". I could believe that, if dozens of new houses hadn't been built just in a 2 mile radius of my place - all connected to this same inadequate feeder. They are able to provide power TO you just not FROM you. In all honesty a 1kw system probably wouldn't even see an electron leave my property, let alone make it past all those new houses to the feeder station. This is what I mean about it being political. Just this week our provincial government has decreed that natural gas as a heating fuel will be banned in the coming years and everyone will have to use electricity.....double speak for sure.
In all fairness though my desire to grid-tie isn't sustainable. If we all did it or were able to the utility would fold. It works solely to my advantage as I use them as my battery, yet doesn't address the main issue - we all want power when we want it and want to store it when we don't. Whether it is on our electricity bill to be carried forward or in a battery bank in the shed....We are a society that wants what we want...when we want it! As long as we as individuals are willing to pay for that ( off grid is a perfect example ) then combining our knowledge, successes and failures ( like on this forum) is I believe the best way to go about that.
Tim
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