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You're far from correct. Large-scale energy storage is one of the biggest unsolved problems today, and there are numerous startups in the space. LightSail is an
by ztratar 10y ago
You're far from correct. Large-scale energy storage is one of the biggest unsolved problems today, and there are numerous startups in the space. LightSail is an interesting one, and is using compressed air combined with micro-droplets of water to ensure stable, efficient energy transfer.
Renewables success is heavily tied to battery technology. The wind isn't always moving and the sun isn't always shining, so you need to store that energy. Right now with existing battery tech, most of the energy is lost in a storage process due to heat or battery wear/tear.
If energy storage was solved today, the oil/gas industry would be on their knees.
- maxerickson 10y agoChina is installing an 800MW-h vanadium flow battery: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2016/12/13/vanadium-flow-batteries-the-energy-storage-breakthrough-weve-needed/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2016/12/13/vanadium-f... The cost claimed for a small installation coming online in Washington is $0.05 per kilowatt hour. That might not be cheap enough to beat out fossil fuel generation, but it is cheap enough to run the world on.
- Gibbon1 10y agoIf one runs the numbers, Pumped Heat Electrical Storage should work fine for time shifting energy at scale. None of the technology needed is at all novel or untested. All of the technologies needed scale up very well. Basically you store electric power as heat using motor/generators and axial flow compressors/turbines. Storage media is 'a big steel tank of hot rocks'. One can quibble but the end to end efficiency is going to be better than 60%. Could be as high as 80%. Far as I understand the reason such doesn't exist is there is no current market need until you have excess peak solar or wind power.