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Seems like an interesting take on peak energy supply -- charging it up for "free" from renewable sources and discharging instantly when needed. Edited for clar

Seems like an interesting take on peak energy supply -- charging it up for "free" from renewable sources and discharging instantly when needed. Edited for clarity: For people that are in the know regarding grid-level energy: is this the path of least-resistance for renewable adoption? I.e. Renewable+energy storage for peak demands, something else for baseline production?

pjc50 8y ago
> better ways to use clean energy? I'm not sure what this question is really asking? Better ways to store it to match supply to demand? In response to edit: > is this the path of least-resistance for renewable adoption? I.e. Renewable+energy storage for peak demands, something else for baseline production? This is a false dichotomy. There is baseline demand; on the other side the supply can be divided into dispatchable and non-dispatchable. Renewables can't be turned on by demand, so they're non-dispatchable. Perhaps surprisingly nuclear plants go in the non-dispatchable class; they produce a constant amount of power, apart from occasional month-long shutdowns for refuelling or maintenance. The path of least resistance is to just keep adding more wind and solar, for the time being. A certain amount of highly dispatchable gas plants are needed to cover the difference. The tricky thing is working out how they should be paid, as they run less and less often. The battery is then just another piece of dispatchable power generation, and can be paid to cover peaks. Eventually we reach a point where the spread on the spot market between high and low prices becomes very wide: there will be times when electricity is being given away, and times where a plant is fired up a few times a year to cover midwinter. A good market for more batteries.
- eutropia 8y ago
  Sorry, edited my question to make more sense. I didn't really put enough effort in the first time.

pjc50 8y ago

> better ways to use clean energy? I'm not sure what this question is really asking? Better ways to store it to match supply to demand? In response to edit: > is this the path of least-resistance for renewable adoption? I.e. Renewable+energy storage for peak demands, something else for baseline production? This is a false dichotomy. There is baseline demand; on the other side the supply can be divided into dispatchable and non-dispatchable. Renewables can't be turned on by demand, so they're non-dispatchable. Perhaps surprisingly nuclear plants go in the non-dispatchable class; they produce a constant amount of power, apart from occasional month-long shutdowns for refuelling or maintenance. The path of least resistance is to just keep adding more wind and solar, for the time being. A certain amount of highly dispatchable gas plants are needed to cover the difference. The tricky thing is working out how they should be paid, as they run less and less often. The battery is then just another piece of dispatchable power generation, and can be paid to cover peaks. Eventually we reach a point where the spread on the spot market between high and low prices becomes very wide: there will be times when electricity is being given away, and times where a plant is fired up a few times a year to cover midwinter. A good market for more batteries.

eutropia 8y ago
Sorry, edited my question to make more sense. I didn't really put enough effort in the first time.