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If optimizing for CO2 reduction, the key metric is marginal cost per unit of low-emissions electricity. If battery storage charged by clean energy has a lifetim
by philipkglass 2y ago
If optimizing for CO2 reduction, the key metric is marginal cost per unit of low-emissions electricity. If battery storage charged by clean energy has a lifetime cost per megawatt hour of $150 while solar PV has a lifetime cost of $50 per megawatt hour, it's more cost effective to keep building (and curtailing) solar until more than 2/3 of annual solar generation needs to be discarded.
- meatmanek 2y agoStorage gets more economically feasible when power input gets cheaper, too. If you've got a bunch of solar power that you have to shut off in the middle of the day, it doesn't really matter if that pumped-hydro storage option only gives you about 75% of your energy back, that's 75% that you would've thrown away anyway.
- kyriakos 2y agoThat's assuming you live in a place with abundance of water to use for energy storage. I live in a very dry place and this is a serious issue, government keeps burning diesel and shutting down both solar parks and residential PV during daytime in winter because it's sunny and not very cold.