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Solar and wind are intermittent. Grid scale energy storage is not even a thing yet.

by mono442 7mo ago

defrost 7mo ago
https://reneweconomy.com.au/big-battery-storage-map-of-australia/ https://reneweconomy.com.au/big-battery-storage-map-of-austr...
- mono442 7mo ago
  That's not much. Projects listed there can't store energy for winter needs.
  - defrost 7mo ago
    Ahhhhhhh . . . it's Australia. Winters here have more sunshine than UK summers.
  - triceratops 7mo ago
    It's windy and sunny in the winter too.
  - pydry 7mo ago
    Neither could French nuclear plants when they were turned off for weeks at a time for emergency maintenance. So, France fired up the gas. 5x cheaper electricity, on the other hand, makes power-to-gas economic, which can smooth out seasonal variations in a carbon neutral way.
    - modo_mario 7mo ago
      Isn't power to gas still ridiculously inneficient? Last I checked it seemed like something pushed by gas companies since it upholds gas infrastructure and most of the intermittence is currently supported by gas.
      - pydry 7mo ago
        It's very costly compared to normal gas but it's still marginally cheaper to use solar and roundtrip p2g to use on a cold, windless night than it is to use nuclear power produced on any day of the year. There's just zero economic incentive while polluting gas is dirt cheap and maxxed out solar and wind rarely even covers 100% of current electricity demand.
        modo_mario 7mo ago
        How is it marginally cheaper? We don't even do it anywhere to a notable degree and it would make obvious sense to do so if it was cheap. Also I suspect this presumes that these gas plants and gas infrastructure cost nothing since they already exist. >There's just zero economic incentive while polluting gas is dirt cheap and maxxed out solar and wind rarely even covers 100% of current electricity demand. It requires that we go beyond that 100% and as we do the incentives for it drop and the economic case for polluting gas goes up.
ViewTrick1002 7mo ago
This data is a year old now: https://blog.gridstatus.io/caiso-solar-storage-spring-2025/ https://blog.gridstatus.io/caiso-solar-storage-spring-2025/

Solar and wind are intermittent. Grid scale energy storage is not even a thing yet.

by mono442 7mo ago

Solar and wind are intermittent. Grid scale energy storage is not even a thing yet.

https://reneweconomy.com.au/big-battery-storage-map-of-australia/ https://reneweconomy.com.au/big-battery-storage-map-of-austr...

mono442 7mo ago
That's not much. Projects listed there can't store energy for winter needs.
- defrost 7mo ago
  Ahhhhhhh . . . it's Australia. Winters here have more sunshine than UK summers.
- triceratops 7mo ago
  It's windy and sunny in the winter too.
- pydry 7mo ago
  Neither could French nuclear plants when they were turned off for weeks at a time for emergency maintenance. So, France fired up the gas. 5x cheaper electricity, on the other hand, makes power-to-gas economic, which can smooth out seasonal variations in a carbon neutral way.
  - modo_mario 7mo ago
    Isn't power to gas still ridiculously inneficient? Last I checked it seemed like something pushed by gas companies since it upholds gas infrastructure and most of the intermittence is currently supported by gas.
    - pydry 7mo ago
      It's very costly compared to normal gas but it's still marginally cheaper to use solar and roundtrip p2g to use on a cold, windless night than it is to use nuclear power produced on any day of the year. There's just zero economic incentive while polluting gas is dirt cheap and maxxed out solar and wind rarely even covers 100% of current electricity demand.
      - modo_mario 7mo ago
        How is it marginally cheaper? We don't even do it anywhere to a notable degree and it would make obvious sense to do so if it was cheap. Also I suspect this presumes that these gas plants and gas infrastructure cost nothing since they already exist. >There's just zero economic incentive while polluting gas is dirt cheap and maxxed out solar and wind rarely even covers 100% of current electricity demand. It requires that we go beyond that 100% and as we do the incentives for it drop and the economic case for polluting gas goes up.

ViewTrick1002 7mo ago

This data is a year old now: https://blog.gridstatus.io/caiso-solar-storage-spring-2025/ https://blog.gridstatus.io/caiso-solar-storage-spring-2025/