Mark_b:

Yes, I know about peakers. Usually they employ a gas turbine, and then the turbine exhaust is used to boil water to run steam system as well. But even with lots of people having solar cells on their roof you still will need the short notice peak suppliers. In certain instances the photovoltaics will be useless during a peak (cold nights, snowy days) as well as during hurricanes and ice storms that take down part of the grid.

You would not believe how many times we have lost power at my place. I already have a portable generator and I’m planning to put in a 10KW natural gas generator that will kick on when we lose power. I just wish they made them so the exhaust would heat my hot water too.

So I really don’t see how wind and solar can change the design requirements for the main power grids. If they can be used in some locations, then fine. Go for it.

And yes, I understood that you meant that a computer controlled solid state power inverter could backfeed the grid when it had more power available than was required at the site. That could get excessively interesting in the event of windstorm damage to the local grid so I would presume you would need to give control of that capability to the power company, just like they have a box installed that can shut off my air conditioning if required.