Run-of-the-river hydroelectricity[edit]

In many European counties and North America the environmental movement has eliminated the
construction of dams with large reservoirs. Run of the river projects have continued to be built,
such as the 695MW Keeyask Project in Canada which began construction in 2014.[46] The
absence of a reservoir results in both seasonal and annual variations in electricity generated.

Tidal power[edit]

Types of tide

Tidal power is the most predictable of all the variable renewable energy sources. Twice a day the
tides vary 100%, but they are never intermittent, on the contrary they are completely reliable. It is
estimated that Britain could obtain 20% of energy from tidal power, only 20 sites in the world
have yet been identified as possible tidal power stations.[47]

Wave power[edit]
Waves are primarily created by wind, so the power available from waves tends to follow that
available from wind, but due to the mass of the water is less variable than wind power. Wind
power is proportional to the cube of the wind speed, while wave power is proportional to the
square of the wave height.[48][49][50]

Coping with variability[edit]

Historically grid operators use day ahead forecasting to choose which power stations to make up
demand each hour of the next day, and adjust this forecast at intervals as short as hourly or even
every fifteen minutes to accommodate any changes. Typically only a small fraction of the total
demand is provided as spinning reserve.[51]
Some projections suggest that by 2030 almost all energy could come from non-dispatchable
sources – how much wind or solar power is available depends on the weather conditions, and
instead of turning on and off available sources becomes one of either storing or transmission of
those sources to when they can be used or to where they can be used.[39] Some excess available
energy can be diverted to hydrogen production for use in ships and airplanes, a relatively long
term energy storage, in a world where almost all of our energy comes from wind, water, and solar
(WWS). Hydrogen is not an energy source, but is a storage medium. A cost analysis will need to
be made between long distance transmission and excess capacity. The sun is always shining
somewhere, and the wind is always blowing somewhere on the Earth, and during the 2020s or
2030s it is predicted to become cost effective to bring solar power from Australia to Singapore.[52]
If excess capacity is created, the cost is increased because not all of the available output is used.
For example, ERCOT predicts that 8.7% of nameplate wind capacity will be reliably available in
summer[53] – so if Texas, which has a peak summer demand of 68,379 MW[54] built wind farms of
786,000 MW (68,379/0.087), they would generate, at a 35% capacity factor,[55] 2.4 million MWh
per year – four times use, but might be sufficient to meet summer peaks. In practice it is likely
that there are times with almost no wind in the entire region, making this not a practical solution.
There were 54 days in 2002 when there was little wind power available in Denmark.[56] The
estimated wind power installed capacity potential for Texas, using 100 meter wind turbines at
35% capacity factor, is 1,757,355.6 MW.[57] In locations like British Columbia, with abundant water
power resources, water power can always make up any shortfall in wind power.[58]
Wind and solar are somewhat complementary. A comparison of the output of the solar panels
and the wind turbine at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy shows the effect.[59] In winter there
tends to be more wind and less solar, and in summer more solar and less wind, and during the
day more solar and less wind. There is always no solar at night, and there is often more wind at
night than during the day, so solar can be used somewhat to fill in the peak demand in the day,
and wind can supply much of the demand during the night. There is however a substantial need
for storage and transmission to fill in the gaps between demand and supply.
As physicist Amory Lovins has said:
The variability of sun, wind and so on, turns out to be a non-problem if you do several sensible
things. One is to diversify your renewables by technology, so that weather conditions bad for one
kind are good for another. Second, you diversify by site so they're not all subject to the same
weather pattern at the same time because they're in the same place. Third, you use standard
weather forecasting techniques to forecast wind, sun and rain, and of course hydro operators do
this right now. Fourth, you integrate all your resources — supply side and demand side..."[60]
The combination of diversifying variable renewables by type and location, forecasting their
variation, and integrating them with despatchable renewables, flexible fueled generators, and
demand response can create a power system that has the potential to meet our needs reliably.
Integrating ever-higher levels of renewables is being successfully demonstrated in the real
world:[61]