4 ms·
Solar and wind _alone_ means no storage (otherwise, it's not _alone_!). This means you need to build at so very many locations as to have consistent power for b
by chii 4y ago
Solar and wind _alone_ means no storage (otherwise, it's not _alone_!). This means you need to build at so very many locations as to have consistent power for baseload, and a transmission infrastructure to distribute across that location, that it becomes almost a global problem. Aka, a global grid spanning continents.
Of course, this is actually desirable imho, but yes, both geopolitics as well as cost, stops this from happening.
- ncmncm 4y agoStorage is not a source of energy. It is a way of managing an existing stock of energy. Grid, likewise. So, storage is just a part of the grid, and the grid may be fed by wind, solar, hydro, and geo "alone".
- snovv_crash 4y agoOver a short timeframe storage can be a sink or a source of energy. The grid needs to be managed both over short and long timeframes - you can't just say "100MWh in = 100MWh out over the last 24h", it also needs to be balanced so that the input and output is constant on a per-millisecond basis.
- ncmncm 4y agoThat is what power system engineers are employed to get right.
- chii 4y ago> Storage is not a source of energy. strictly speaking, sure. But it's a source for all intents and purposes, because in order to achieve the same outcomes using renewables as with fossil fuel powerplants, you'd need to pair it with storage. Or produce so much renewables, and be able to distribute it so widely, that no single location would lack power at any given time.