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> Energy storage and baseload are in fact solved problems: a good grid (because it's always windy somewhere), and a combination of batteries for overnight stor
by realusername 7y ago
> Energy storage and baseload are in fact solved problems: a good grid (because it's always windy somewhere), and a combination of batteries for overnight storage and power-to-gas for long term storage.
That's far from solved, countries close to each other have very similar weather pattern and wind electricity is especially unreliable. We're also very unlikely to have a massive breakthrough in turbines since we're close to the theoretical maximum already.
- adrianN 7y agoThe talks I heard by the engineers that actually studied this disagree with you.
- realusername 7y agoHere's what a real wind production looks like: https://twitter.com/TristanKamin/status/1153626109814202368 https://twitter.com/TristanKamin/status/1153626109814202368, spot the problem. Wind turbines obey Betz's law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betz%27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betz%27s_law and are already close to maximum efficiency, the only thing you can do is drop the production cost.
- imtringued 7y agoIs the problem that the chart only covers a specific month and does not combine multiple intermittent energy sources into one? Depending on the region, seasonal differences caused by low wind are canceled out by higher solar production and low solar production is canceled out by higher wind production. That chart completely fails at showing that.
- adrianN 7y agoNow add enough batteries to those charts to store 10h or so of energy and expand the grid to western Europe. Add in some solar as well. Experts wrote thick reports on how to transition to renewables. You shouldn't dismiss their work with half a dozen graphics on Twitter.