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Not so fast. I work in large scale renewable energy. While we do invest heavily in solar and batteries, battery storage is a much riskier proposition long term

Not so fast. I work in large scale renewable energy. While we do invest heavily in solar and batteries, battery storage is a much riskier proposition long term than just solar generation. No single renewable is going "to win". The only way to make renewables work is if you use every one practical in a particular market. And even then oil, gas and coal aren't going to go away because some markets and use cases just require it. Energy is complicated. Don't buy anyone's line where they promise you the moon.

_hypx 3y ago
Agreed. Here's what I've noticed: > I get a little of this feeling when I watch Americans argue about climate change; the discussions seem stuck back in 2010 This article itself feels like a throwback to 2010. He acts like solar + batteries solves the entire problem. It doesn't. In fact, it barely scratches the surface. We have much larger needs such as industrial, heavy transportation, agriculture, etc. Writing an outdated article about the rapidly dropping price of solar power while handwaving all other problems doesn't solve the problem. The author is basically just now catching up to 2010. He is in reality still stuck in 2010 despite what he thinks.
goethes_kind 3y ago
"Season battery storage" sounds very wrong to me. Maybe he is talking about some kind of flow battery where you can just add more tanks of electrolyte. But we don't have that yet.
- pfdietz 3y ago
  Seasonal energy storage would be an e-fuel, like hydrogen.
mperham 3y ago
How likely are cars with V2G to be the grid batteries of the future?
- throwawaaarrgh 3y ago
  From my view: Uncertain. It's currently more of a "we would like to explore X" rather than a "we will depend on X". It's actually simpler to just pay for and build the more industrial scale battery installations, even considering the difficulties of financing, real estate, construction, regulations, etc. But I just work for one big company, maybe someone else is taking it much more seriously. Personally I'm still not sure how the hell all the apartments and cities in the world are going to both install enough chargers and solve subscription charging when almost all the charger companies have absolute dogshit hardware on 3+ year old obsolete charging standards. Their software is so bad I can't believe someone was paid to write it. So, yeah, V2G? Let's get reliable managed chargers everywhere first and then think about the grid
- keep_reading 3y ago
  Extremely unlikely because it doesn't align with the financial incentives of the power companies to improve infra to support mass V2G when those batteries are not guaranteed to be available in the first place
  - adregan 3y ago
    A recent episode[0] of the catalyst podcast makes a pretty convincing argument that in aggregate, car behavior is so predictable that V2X could be a valuable asset. 0: https://pca.st/episode/77c6a8a5-4967-4a71-9da0-f1ab7d56c703 https://pca.st/episode/77c6a8a5-4967-4a71-9da0-f1ab7d56c703
    - TheLoafOfBread 3y ago
      It won't. Simple argument why should people allow adding more cycles to their batteries in their expensive cars.
      - adregan 3y ago
        For money, of course.
    - 3y ago

_hypx 3y ago

Agreed. Here's what I've noticed: > I get a little of this feeling when I watch Americans argue about climate change; the discussions seem stuck back in 2010 This article itself feels like a throwback to 2010. He acts like solar + batteries solves the entire problem. It doesn't. In fact, it barely scratches the surface. We have much larger needs such as industrial, heavy transportation, agriculture, etc. Writing an outdated article about the rapidly dropping price of solar power while handwaving all other problems doesn't solve the problem. The author is basically just now catching up to 2010. He is in reality still stuck in 2010 despite what he thinks.

goethes_kind 3y ago

"Season battery storage" sounds very wrong to me. Maybe he is talking about some kind of flow battery where you can just add more tanks of electrolyte. But we don't have that yet.

pfdietz 3y ago
Seasonal energy storage would be an e-fuel, like hydrogen.

mperham 3y ago

How likely are cars with V2G to be the grid batteries of the future?

throwawaaarrgh 3y ago
From my view: Uncertain. It's currently more of a "we would like to explore X" rather than a "we will depend on X". It's actually simpler to just pay for and build the more industrial scale battery installations, even considering the difficulties of financing, real estate, construction, regulations, etc. But I just work for one big company, maybe someone else is taking it much more seriously. Personally I'm still not sure how the hell all the apartments and cities in the world are going to both install enough chargers and solve subscription charging when almost all the charger companies have absolute dogshit hardware on 3+ year old obsolete charging standards. Their software is so bad I can't believe someone was paid to write it. So, yeah, V2G? Let's get reliable managed chargers everywhere first and then think about the grid
keep_reading 3y ago
Extremely unlikely because it doesn't align with the financial incentives of the power companies to improve infra to support mass V2G when those batteries are not guaranteed to be available in the first place
- adregan 3y ago
  A recent episode[0] of the catalyst podcast makes a pretty convincing argument that in aggregate, car behavior is so predictable that V2X could be a valuable asset. 0: https://pca.st/episode/77c6a8a5-4967-4a71-9da0-f1ab7d56c703 https://pca.st/episode/77c6a8a5-4967-4a71-9da0-f1ab7d56c703
  - TheLoafOfBread 3y ago
    It won't. Simple argument why should people allow adding more cycles to their batteries in their expensive cars.
    - adregan 3y ago
      For money, of course.
  - 3y ago