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It's really location-dependent. The upper midwest US can go weeks without direct sunshine or much wind in late December through the first week of February. Batt

It's really location-dependent. The upper midwest US can go weeks without direct sunshine or much wind in late December through the first week of February. Batteries fed by solar simply won't suffice- even on sunny days, there are fewer hours of sun. To reduce the number of power plants in the area, we'd need to import electricity from elsewhere, at which point you need to overprovision some geographies and run significant amounts of HVDC lines across the country. Neither of these are free or without their own impacts. Whether that would be better than fission or waiting for fusion or continuing with natural gas is debatable- steel and aluminum are not entirely coal free yet either, nor is the concrete or any of the construction work. OTOH, very sunny areas like the southwest could do quite well here.

WaitWaitWha 4y ago
> OTOH, very sunny areas like the southwest could do quite well here. from the article: > Locations must be chosen carefully to avoid tidal forces and stormy weather from destroying the panels as well as their mooring and anchoring systems. That sort of removes anywhere we have hurricanes, tropical cyclones, typhoons and such; mostly where we have ample sun. That said, it does look interesting. Maybe if they have some more built-in self protection from weather?
- zdragnar 4y ago
  Anything in a climate that could freeze would require heating elements much like windmills currently do. Unfortunately, windmills don't accumulate ice very quickly, compared to a floating solar panel would in say Lake Superior in winter. I imagine that hurricanes would also rule out much of the east coast and gulf of mexico, leaving... California and Hawaii?
kibwen 4y ago
In this specific example, the Midwest is ideal for wind farms: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/wind/where-wind-power-is-harnessed.php https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/wind/where-wind-power-is... . Wind is already the majority of the energy generated in Iowa: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_Iowa https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_Iowa So as far as being location-dependent, indeed it is, though that doesn't preclude other renewable solutions.
- zdragnar 4y ago
  Since I am from further north, I consider Iowa to be more Midwest than upper Midwest. We do have some wind mills around, but they are stationary more often than not, especially in the period I mentioned in January where we don't get much sun or wind. If we littered the landscape of Iowa with enough windmills to fill chemical or mechanical batteries, though, that might cut down on the distance we need to import energy at least.

WaitWaitWha 4y ago

> OTOH, very sunny areas like the southwest could do quite well here. from the article: > Locations must be chosen carefully to avoid tidal forces and stormy weather from destroying the panels as well as their mooring and anchoring systems. That sort of removes anywhere we have hurricanes, tropical cyclones, typhoons and such; mostly where we have ample sun. That said, it does look interesting. Maybe if they have some more built-in self protection from weather?

zdragnar 4y ago
Anything in a climate that could freeze would require heating elements much like windmills currently do. Unfortunately, windmills don't accumulate ice very quickly, compared to a floating solar panel would in say Lake Superior in winter. I imagine that hurricanes would also rule out much of the east coast and gulf of mexico, leaving... California and Hawaii?

kibwen 4y ago

In this specific example, the Midwest is ideal for wind farms: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/wind/where-wind-power-is-harnessed.php https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/wind/where-wind-power-is... . Wind is already the majority of the energy generated in Iowa: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_Iowa https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_Iowa So as far as being location-dependent, indeed it is, though that doesn't preclude other renewable solutions.

zdragnar 4y ago
Since I am from further north, I consider Iowa to be more Midwest than upper Midwest. We do have some wind mills around, but they are stationary more often than not, especially in the period I mentioned in January where we don't get much sun or wind. If we littered the landscape of Iowa with enough windmills to fill chemical or mechanical batteries, though, that might cut down on the distance we need to import energy at least.