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Storage batteries are going to fill gaps in generation swings, not power gigawatt scale grids for more than a few minutes. This is the crux of my point and i st
by eldaisfish 5y ago
Storage batteries are going to fill gaps in generation swings, not power gigawatt scale grids for more than a few minutes. This is the crux of my point and i stated it as such.
A lot of smaller batteries is effectively equivalent to a single larger battery and that does not get around the problem from above - they simply cannot store enough energy for more than short periods. A handful of large hydro reservoirs store more potential energy than all chemical batteries in the world combined.
Meanwhile, extreme weather events are getting more common. Texas - for example - had a nearly 10,000 MW shortfall between their forecast and the actual, served demand. Is a battery every going to supply capacities like that for hours on end? No. During that cold snap, some wind turbines froze, some didn't see enough wind and much of the solar wasn't generating at full tilt. What then? Do we shrug our shoulders and say "no heat, too bad"?
Chemical storage batteries cannot power large grids for extended periods and that is the fundamental problem being ignored, not their cost.
The problem with HN is that people do not think outside their silicon valley and techbro bubble. Another comment here suggested that domestic loads can be served with a battery. Sure, if you live in California and don't need much heat. This is the problem - when someone points out that what is proposed is not viable everywhere and that a mix of solutions is needed, it gets downvoted because it doesn't follow the "renewable energy is the be all and end all" argument.
- N1H1L 5y agoDefine short periods. Also gas lines froze more than turbines did BTW at Texas, just FYI. Very few conventional sources can also backstop 10GW of demand mismatch. Which is why having a national grid is so much better, power from Arizona can be used to top up shortfalls in Texas and vice versa. > Chemical storage batteries cannot power large grids for extended periods and that is the fundamental problem being ignored, not their cost. You are being downvoted because this is just an opinion, not backed by any facts on the ground. Most solar installs today itself come with 4 hours of battery backup. Also, several posters and I have given cost figures on how much multi-day battery backups would cost even at current prices. So your insistence that batteries only last for a few minutes is getting downvoted, and calling people techbros isn't helping either.