Meh, this article really only discusses lithium ion and lead acid batteries. It is well known both of these are abysmal for grid storage, and are at best relatively expensive solutions for mobile energy.
There are already several energy storage solutions that are starting to be installed that aren’t these and that are far more cost effective. Flow batteries are an example. For the same cost as lithium ion we get 3x the energy storage and 3x the lifespan (and are essentially 100% refurbishable) for the same cost. They just come at a price of weight and volume (which isn’t a problem for most grid or residential storage). There are others as well.
The article does do a good job talking about thermal as a solution, and this is very true. They don’t talk about high temperature thermal energy storage, though that is admittedly more of an industrial use case.
I will also say thag more solar is also something that is compelling and interesting - meaning we significantly overbuild solar capacity to capture the majority of mismatch of demand vs supply. We often think about trying to build the minimum amount of solar to get to match the output we need, but in the end it is probably cheaper to massively outscale what we build vs what we need.
Innefficient, can be catastophic to local environments, not feasible in like 70% of places, but that kind of energy storage is in une in a few places in China amd the US where it is a good option in the local geography.
We don’t need grid residential we need grid storage full stop. If it doesn’t work at scale and isn’t cost effective then it’s not a solution to get renewables to base supply
Meh, this article really only discusses lithium ion and lead acid batteries. It is well known both of these are abysmal for grid storage, and are at best relatively expensive solutions for mobile energy.
There are already several energy storage solutions that are starting to be installed that aren’t these and that are far more cost effective. Flow batteries are an example. For the same cost as lithium ion we get 3x the energy storage and 3x the lifespan (and are essentially 100% refurbishable) for the same cost. They just come at a price of weight and volume (which isn’t a problem for most grid or residential storage). There are others as well.
The article does do a good job talking about thermal as a solution, and this is very true. They don’t talk about high temperature thermal energy storage, though that is admittedly more of an industrial use case.
I will also say thag more solar is also something that is compelling and interesting - meaning we significantly overbuild solar capacity to capture the majority of mismatch of demand vs supply. We often think about trying to build the minimum amount of solar to get to match the output we need, but in the end it is probably cheaper to massively outscale what we build vs what we need.
What about using solar to pump water into a reservoir and then using that to run hydroelectric systems at night? Too inefficient?
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Just most places: https://re100.eng.anu.edu.au/global/
Innefficient, can be catastophic to local environments, not feasible in like 70% of places, but that kind of energy storage is in une in a few places in China amd the US where it is a good option in the local geography.
As a bonus, if you over build the solar anyways, now you have excess power that could go to hydrogen generation
We don’t need grid residential we need grid storage full stop. If it doesn’t work at scale and isn’t cost effective then it’s not a solution to get renewables to base supply