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Unfortunately, the usefulness of solar is limited by our energy storage capabilities. Water is one of the best ways of fixing this (either to supplement solar,
by Rebelgecko 6y ago
Unfortunately, the usefulness of solar is limited by our energy storage capabilities. Water is one of the best ways of fixing this (either to supplement solar, like running a hydro dam on a cloudy day, or as a direct storage system, where excess electricity is used to pump water uphill so that the potential energy can be harvested later)
- csomar 6y agoThe way I see it, we haven't worked had on energy storage capabilities. We optimized for cellphones and Laptops, and these cover most of your day or more now. For homes, the market is still no that big, because batteries are expensive and electricity is widely available. As we move to solar, electricity will become very cheap in the day and very expensive at night. This will create the required capital to create storage solutions in houses and factories. Also you don't need a portable battery when installing it at home, so I think the cost could be reasonable.
- Retric 6y agoPeaking power plants actually cost more per kWh than solar backed battery storage. However, until we install enough solar that’s a pointless exercise as simply directly using solar energy is more efficient and there isn’t a regular surplus to capture. The economics of this get really interesting. In a largely solar grid, 1 axis Solar tracking systems add production in the morning and evenings, thus offsetting the need for a lot of battery storage. However, we aren’t currently using significant battery storage so that isn’t worth it yet. Similarly shipping a surplus East / West time shifts it, but we don’t currently have that surplus.