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> if batteries and solar get cheap enough Solar is cheap enough. Batteries are never going to be cheap enough (unless, of course, some disruptive technology e
by himinlomax 2y ago
> if batteries and solar get cheap enough
Solar is cheap enough.
Batteries are never going to be cheap enough (unless, of course, some disruptive technology emerges.)
- happyopossum 2y ago> Solar is cheap enough Until you actually have to pay for someone to install it and connect it to the grid - real prices in a lot of markets haven’t really come down much at all over the past 10 years, the cheaper panel costs are offset by higher labor, interconnect, and other material costs.
- rjprins 2y agoDon't underestimate the price efficiencies of globalized industry.
- imtringued 2y agoBatteries have a technological learning curve similar to semiconductors and solar panels, but with a much bigger time constant. If my memory serves me well, then capacity per price (or was it by density?) is doubling every eight years.
- pfdietz 2y agoBatteries aren't cheap enough to use as a the sole storage modality, because they suck for very long term storage. Their cost per unit of energy storage capacity is not amortized over enough charge/discharge cycles. The answer to that is use a different (typically less efficient) way to store energy in that case. Cost savings can be dramatic at scale. The strawman argument that storage isn't feasible because batteries by themselves don't cut it is regularly seen from nuclear bros. Even MIT came out with a study doing this, a study that very carefully avoided the word "hydrogen".