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Small-scale solar installations are not supposed to get you off-grid and like you observe, a small-scale/battery storage isn't going to change that. Instead, t
by tuukkah 3y ago
Small-scale solar installations are not supposed to get you off-grid and like you observe, a small-scale/battery storage isn't going to change that.
Instead, the idea is the grid-scale combination of solar, wind and hydro with various storage and adaptive consumption solutions. For example: when water levels are down, pump water up the dam during sunny/windy hours to store energy for the bad months.
- hedora 3y agoNormal hydro is failing due to climate change (at least in the US west), so that’s not a great bet to make. Nuclear is maybe 2-3x more than renewables at this point, but that’s actually a pretty good deal, given its safety record vs literally everything else. Of course, it’s best to produce as much as possible with cheap wind, solar, and battery, but getting from 80% to 100% means over-provisioning to the point where nuclear would be cheaper.
- tuukkah 3y agoThat's part of the point: pumped storage (and other solutions) can be used even though the climate changes. Batteries won't have to be the main storage solution. Another part: over-provisioning does not increase the costs much as there will be flexible demand for the additional electricity produced.