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Not so easy to reduce the grid load all the time, needs a big battery for every night and for multiple dark days you still need the grid a lot.

sneak 1y ago
Paying reasonable rates for generation also incentivizes distributed storage for anyone who wants to buy batteries and help load shift. Large neighborhood batteries seem to make a lot more sense to me than batteries in every home.
- looofooo0 1y ago
  Would be nice, the rate could be grid size battery/PV + cost savings from localized production. Not sure if it is economically feasible then.
- KPGv2 1y ago
  > Large neighborhood batteries Boy people hated their HOA before, imagine how much they'll hate their HOA (because neighborhood batteries would need to be owned by someone, and that someone is the HOA) when they can cut off your power bc you left a garbage can out too long!
ThatPlayer 1y ago
Spinning steam turbine generators also can't just turn on/off instantly. They need to ramp up/down. If you can't ramp up fast enough to meet demand, you have issues. When solar drops off pretty fast, and people come home from work and start turning on appliances, you suddenly have a huge amount of power needed from generators. Even has a name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_curve https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_curve The solution of course is more batteries, but you can't really incentivize non-peak generation until you get the batteries. That's part of the NEM3 change that the blog mentions, to change the incentives from just solar to solar and battery.
epistasis 1y ago
Big batteries are actually very easy, and getting cheap enough that they account for a significant chunk of new grid assets when there are enough renewables. Take the Texas ERCOT market, which is the closest thing to a free electricity market that exists in the US. A huge chunk of new grid assets are batteries, becuase they are one of the most profitable things to install right now (see the map at the bottom of the page) https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=64586 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=64586 Additionally, many people are now buying EVs, and an EV stores 2-5 days worth of electricity. If big batteries on wheels are commonplace, then simpler and cheaper immobile batteries are pretty easy too.
- looofooo0 1y ago
  Ok what do you do after 5 darkdays? You will need the grid.

sneak 1y ago

Paying reasonable rates for generation also incentivizes distributed storage for anyone who wants to buy batteries and help load shift. Large neighborhood batteries seem to make a lot more sense to me than batteries in every home.

looofooo0 1y ago
Would be nice, the rate could be grid size battery/PV + cost savings from localized production. Not sure if it is economically feasible then.
KPGv2 1y ago
> Large neighborhood batteries Boy people hated their HOA before, imagine how much they'll hate their HOA (because neighborhood batteries would need to be owned by someone, and that someone is the HOA) when they can cut off your power bc you left a garbage can out too long!

ThatPlayer 1y ago

Spinning steam turbine generators also can't just turn on/off instantly. They need to ramp up/down. If you can't ramp up fast enough to meet demand, you have issues. When solar drops off pretty fast, and people come home from work and start turning on appliances, you suddenly have a huge amount of power needed from generators. Even has a name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_curve https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_curve The solution of course is more batteries, but you can't really incentivize non-peak generation until you get the batteries. That's part of the NEM3 change that the blog mentions, to change the incentives from just solar to solar and battery.

epistasis 1y ago

Big batteries are actually very easy, and getting cheap enough that they account for a significant chunk of new grid assets when there are enough renewables. Take the Texas ERCOT market, which is the closest thing to a free electricity market that exists in the US. A huge chunk of new grid assets are batteries, becuase they are one of the most profitable things to install right now (see the map at the bottom of the page) https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=64586 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=64586 Additionally, many people are now buying EVs, and an EV stores 2-5 days worth of electricity. If big batteries on wheels are commonplace, then simpler and cheaper immobile batteries are pretty easy too.

looofooo0 1y ago
Ok what do you do after 5 darkdays? You will need the grid.