4 ms·

Why can’t they just discharge surplus electricity into the ground or something?

by jliptzin 5y ago

toqy 5y ago
Just turn on the crypto mining rigs when the price is wrong
- jliptzin 5y ago
  Or that
  - Melatonic 5y ago
    Folding at home en masse or maybe a small datacenter next to every nuclear plant that is doing some fancy modeling to further improve nuclear power plants?
YawningAngel 5y ago
You can't "just" put 1GW of power into the ground, that energy is conserved and is still going to do something (quite a lot of somethings, in fact)
- tyho 5y ago
  Eh, you could dissipate it by boiling ~20M^3 water per second. That's about the same as this river: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Teme#/media/File:Ludlow_bridge.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Teme#/media/File:Ludlow_...
  - YawningAngel 5y ago
    Since power plants are already in the business of boiling water, I imagine that if it were a simple case of bypassing turbines and allowing the water to be cooled without generating electricity they would do so. Or perhaps such a solution is in fact feasible, but negative energy prices were not a practical problem when current plants were built
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
- jliptzin 5y ago
  Even if it’s dispersed over a wide area deep underground?
  - YawningAngel 5y ago
    I have no expertise in this area so I don't really know, but i imagine dispersing 1GW of power over a wide area deep underground presents substantial challenges of its own
542354234235 5y ago
I think the answer is to use surplus energy to make and store hydrogen. The combine that with implementation of hydrogen powered vehicles in the large transport sector (trains and long haul trucks) would be a good way to store and make use of energy without building massive energy storage devices. Battery electric is already a bad fit for those sectors, since the heavy batteries significantly reduce useful transportation weight and long charging times mean expensive delays in moving goods. It would also help build out hydrogen distribution networks, which could be strategically installed at transportation hubs and along strategic routes to start, which then could be utilized by local transportation, making them more viable using hydrogen where battery electric isn’t as feasible (local buses and delivery trucks that can refill hydrogen in a few mins to run with minimal downtime).

Why can’t they just discharge surplus electricity into the ground or something?

toqy 5y ago

Just turn on the crypto mining rigs when the price is wrong

jliptzin 5y ago
Or that
- Melatonic 5y ago
  Folding at home en masse or maybe a small datacenter next to every nuclear plant that is doing some fancy modeling to further improve nuclear power plants?

YawningAngel 5y ago

You can't "just" put 1GW of power into the ground, that energy is conserved and is still going to do something (quite a lot of somethings, in fact)

tyho 5y ago
Eh, you could dissipate it by boiling ~20M^3 water per second. That's about the same as this river: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Teme#/media/File:Ludlow_bridge.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Teme#/media/File:Ludlow_...
- YawningAngel 5y ago
  Since power plants are already in the business of boiling water, I imagine that if it were a simple case of bypassing turbines and allowing the water to be cooled without generating electricity they would do so. Or perhaps such a solution is in fact feasible, but negative energy prices were not a practical problem when current plants were built
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
jliptzin 5y ago
Even if it’s dispersed over a wide area deep underground?
- YawningAngel 5y ago
  I have no expertise in this area so I don't really know, but i imagine dispersing 1GW of power over a wide area deep underground presents substantial challenges of its own

542354234235 5y ago

I think the answer is to use surplus energy to make and store hydrogen. The combine that with implementation of hydrogen powered vehicles in the large transport sector (trains and long haul trucks) would be a good way to store and make use of energy without building massive energy storage devices. Battery electric is already a bad fit for those sectors, since the heavy batteries significantly reduce useful transportation weight and long charging times mean expensive delays in moving goods. It would also help build out hydrogen distribution networks, which could be strategically installed at transportation hubs and along strategic routes to start, which then could be utilized by local transportation, making them more viable using hydrogen where battery electric isn’t as feasible (local buses and delivery trucks that can refill hydrogen in a few mins to run with minimal downtime).