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You are working on the most urgent and important topic that I know of. But it is also very hard to pull through. I wish you the best success. Here are two rece

by jpfr 7y ago

You are working on the most urgent and important topic that I know of. But it is also very hard to pull through. I wish you the best success. Here are two recent startups in the field with multi-million funding. They were serious approaches. Many people involved with good planning, etc. They still fizzled out when it came to installing their first capacity. https://www.power-technology.com/news/newsgaelectric-receives-90m-eu-grant-for-energy-storage-project-in-northern-ireland-5777106/ https://www.power-technology.com/news/newsgaelectric-receive... https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/lightsail-energy-cheap-compressed-air-storage-hibernation https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/lightsail-energ... I believe a reason for the funding problems is the high uncertainty for the economics of storage. Electrical energy is traded in a market. And your trading strategy in the market has a big impact on whether you earn money. Without solid numbers for energy storage and the expected trading outcome, investors will have a hard time.

davedx 7y ago
Yeah if you drill into how the Tesla grid storage solutions make money, it’s not just about the storage capacity but also about being able to respond to demand or frequency issues extremely quickly, which LiIon batteries are very good at. There’s a lot of money available to the fastest dispatcher.
- galacticdessert 7y ago
  A lot of money seems excessive, at least in Europe. The flexibility market profitability depends a lot on the national market it plays in, as for instance the prices are quite low in Germany/north Europe, but very high in Australia. Rather than a way of making money, I like to think about flexibility and fast dispatching as an enabler for way more renewables to come online, and that is crucial for the human race right now.
  - davedx 7y ago
    Makes sense -- the grid storage system I read about was indeed the one they built for the Australian wind farm. I think there's a big gap for both types of storage - fast dispatching for intraday demand variations, replacing gas peakers, and more static storage as in the OP for multi-day gaps in renewable production such as periods of high pressure during winter when wind speeds and irradiance are both very low. Can't wait to see how this market develops.

by jpfr 7y ago

davedx 7y ago

Yeah if you drill into how the Tesla grid storage solutions make money, it’s not just about the storage capacity but also about being able to respond to demand or frequency issues extremely quickly, which LiIon batteries are very good at. There’s a lot of money available to the fastest dispatcher.

galacticdessert 7y ago
A lot of money seems excessive, at least in Europe. The flexibility market profitability depends a lot on the national market it plays in, as for instance the prices are quite low in Germany/north Europe, but very high in Australia. Rather than a way of making money, I like to think about flexibility and fast dispatching as an enabler for way more renewables to come online, and that is crucial for the human race right now.
- davedx 7y ago
  Makes sense -- the grid storage system I read about was indeed the one they built for the Australian wind farm. I think there's a big gap for both types of storage - fast dispatching for intraday demand variations, replacing gas peakers, and more static storage as in the OP for multi-day gaps in renewable production such as periods of high pressure during winter when wind speeds and irradiance are both very low. Can't wait to see how this market develops.