Don, I like how you deployed a fable to dispel a myth! (Sam Clemens/Mark Twain would surely have enjoyed it too.) Your analogy works really well to illustrate and clarify the technicalities that people seldom hear about or consider.

Another downside to over-reliance on renewables for grid-scale power generation is that they don’t provide grid (or system) “inertia,” which can be thought of as a grid’s shock-absorber and comes built-in with the large rotating turbines of conventional generating systems (e.g., gas, hydro, and nuclear). While synthetic forms of inertia are being developed as add-ons for wind/solar/battery systems, they add substantially to the cost of renewables.

Last but not least: consider the ‘cost’ (in financial AND human terms) of more frequent or widespread “blackouts.” I did a quick AI query about the major one in Europe earlier this year (though I already knew the answer). Here’s what “Gemini” had to say: “a consensus is emerging among grid experts and in preliminary reports that a lack of system inertia was a critical contributing factor to the severity and rapid collapse of the Spanish and Portuguese power grid during the major failure of April 28, 2025.”