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> we will have to add storage This is the problem: with current technology, if you include storage, solar / wind has both the worst prices and externalities.
by nephanth 4y ago
> we will have to add storage
This is the problem: with current technology, if you include storage, solar / wind has both the worst prices and externalities.
Replacing storage with load-following (hydro, Geothermal, modern nuclear) is necessary unless we find ways of storage that beat current theoretical limitations
- ncmncm 4y ago> include storage, solar / wind has both the worst prices and externalities. Absolutely false. Most storage used today (95%+) is pumped hydro, which is very cheap. Costs for all kinds of storage are falling even faster than solar or wind ever did. There are no theoretical limitations on storage. Most storage is just E = Fx, understood and applied for centuries. If you have to lie to make your case, what does that tell readers about your case?
- nephanth 4y agoMy bad if it was unclear, "theoretical limitations" obviously concerned chemical means of storage. Hydro is ideal, but the problem is it needs mountains and huge amounts of water, which aren't accessible everywhere You also didn't address the main point: storage drives up costs and externalities which most people advocating for intermittent sources seem to completely sweep under the rug