First, it’s great they have so much green power generation. I didn’t realize that.
In addition to generation there is local distribution. Power lines, transformers, etc. Is there any information on that part of it? I wonder if they needed to upgrade their grid.
Yep, we've just added a new 1.4GW interconnect between Norway and the UK. I believe it's the longest undersee interconnect in the world. Hopefully more will follow, I think more interconnects over greater distances are really important to help smooth out both demand and supply issues with renewables.
They aren't necessarily generating it -- sometimes they're just storing it. When we produce too much electricity from wind turbines here in Denmark, Norway buys this at a negative price (to offload the Danish grid), stores it (using pumped hydroelectric energy storage), and sells it back into the market when prices are positive again.
I’m not aware of any pumped hydropower, but we can buy cheap and use less of the stored water when prices are low. The dams have capacity to store water on a seasonal timescale. However with shifting weather patterns and more renewables these margins may become strained. This winter we may have to import not only to handle peak loads, but also because some dams may run dry.
Palmer Lucky did not create Oculus. He was a Masters student at USC and 3D printed a pretty case for a prototype developed by an international research project. I would know, because I've personally tested one of the early prototypes ...in Hamburg, Germany. He took it and ran and came up with some BS about having created it from scratch all by himself in his parents' garage in Silicon Valley. He's a liar and a fraud.
One thing I noticed while touring the university in Eindhoven was that students are pretty much brainwashed to serve the lighting industry. I really disagreed with the sentiment that there was any so-called "innovation" to be made in the field. This might sound ridiculous, but if The Netherlands wants to create actual change, they'll need to move beyond LEDs.
