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I'm sure it would be much more cost-effective to have community storage, rather than individual storage, and it would balance the load a lot if some users used
by jacknews 1y ago
I'm sure it would be much more cost-effective to have community storage, rather than individual storage, and it would balance the load a lot if some users used more power during th day than at night.
I think it's called a 'grid'.
- epistasis 1y agoOf course then you have the collective action problem, and convincing your neighbors that grid storage is actually a real thing that exists. And that grid storage is not of the wrong political partisanship. The box of what's considered "politically incorrect" is getting fairly large these days: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/sep/10/south-dakota-solar-energy https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/sep/10/south-da...
- floatrock 1y agoSnark aside, there are examples of community-scale energy infrastructure below grid-scale: see "district heating" and "co-gen plants". Sand battery people have been experimenting with neighborhood-scale infrastructure (though industrial heat uses is a better return on that tech right now)
- jacknews 1y agoI've also seen flywheels used locally. It just makes much more sense to have a big battery where the local substation is, than for everyone to install megawatts of battery individually.
- spzb 1y agoIn a manner of speaking, the grid is already the storage mechanism. In summer you sell the excess to the grid; in winter you buy it back. Obviously you pay more to buy than you get for selling but that's the premium for using someone else's infrastructure. You'd spend a load more buying a battery the size of a small house.