2 ms·
The gating condition has been met several different places. California, Hawaii, and parts of the southwest. But the assured transition to energy storage has not
by Manuel_D 4y ago
The gating condition has been met several different places. California, Hawaii, and parts of the southwest. But the assured transition to energy storage has not happened, despite energy prices going negative on a regular basis. Why? Because storage remains nowhere near cost effective. Batteries and hydroelectric storage aren't cheap enough, and the former is actually getting more expensive as supply chains get clogged. Real world examples disprove your claim that storage will be built once a surplus of intermittent energy is produced. There is no solution. Only prototypes and wishful thinking, and hostility to those that point this out.
- ncmncm 4y agoAs you are surely already well aware, "going negative" for short moments does not indicate enough surplus renewable generating capacity to charge up storage.
- Manuel_D 4y agoAs early as 2017, California started seeing hours of surplus electricity prices. Not minutes. Yet even after half a decade, the assurances that people would start storing and reselling this energy have not panned out. It turns out that white papers and prototypes are different from building the real thing. You can keep telling yourself that cheap, scalable energy storage is just around the corner. But fantasy is not reality, and energy storage remains a fantasy.
- ncmncm 4y agoYet, money in California is still better spent on renewable generating capacity, because there is is not enough of it yet to wholly displace fossil fuels. And, in fact, that is where money is still being spent, because they have a grid to run and nothing to prove to you.