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So to address the point of renewables and storage. Storage of the electricity produced by renewables is only needed when it exceeds demand. The UK is part of a
by tlocke 5y ago
So to address the point of renewables and storage. Storage of the electricity produced by renewables is only needed when it exceeds demand. The UK is part of a European grid, and so a wind farm in Scotland only needs to store electricity if the whole of Europe is already running on 100% renewable. We've not reached that level so far, and won't for quite a while.
- Beldin 5y agoI would argue it's the other way around: storage is needed for when demand exceeds supply. You need to make up the difference somehow. When supply exceeds demand, you could just "bleed it off" or reduce supply by decoupling generators.
- tlocke 5y agoI think we're talking at cross-purposes. I'm saying that it's only when the supply from renewables exceeds total demand, you need storage. Otherwise if the supply from renewables doesn't meet demand then there's nothing left over to store, and you'd need to start burning gas. Note that the end-game is that renewables become so pervasive that there are significant periods when renewable generation does exceed total demand, and then you generate hydrogen with it. That hydrogen then displaces the natural gas that's currently used, the storage / pipework infrastructure for natural gas being equally suitable for hydrogen.