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> Why would you not charge your utility battery bank with surplus solar or wind power? Because you spent the money on more generating capacity, instead, and di
by ncmncm 4y ago
> Why would you not charge your utility battery bank with surplus solar or wind power?
Because you spent the money on more generating capacity, instead, and displaced exactly that much more carbon emission.
You put any excess power on a transmission line to someplace else that would otherwise be burning fossil fuel, and collect revenue. Maybe spend that on more generation.
If you are maxing out your transmission lines, spend money building those out. The more of those you have, the more places you can get revenue from.
When it starts to look like there will be nobody left to sell your excess to, then build storage.
- WJW 4y agoThis is already a reality on several grids across the world though. On weekend days with lots of sun and wind (ie low demand and high supply), prices dip below zero. Just from an economic standpoint it can also be a valid choice to build storage next to unpredictable generating capacity, for example if you build a wind farm and want to sell during daytime (when prices are highest) as much as possible.
- ZeroGravitas 4y agoThose negative price stories have been around for years but the last time I checked, they still weren't because we had 100% renewables, which people assume to be the case. There's someone paying that negative price and it's generally fossil producers. (Technically, a 100% renewable grid could go negative I'd there were separate subsidies, but as soon as renewable goes below that level it would just be shut off rather than pay money to generate.)