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A comment on From liquid air to supercapacitors, energy storage is poised for a breakthrough.

Re:From liquid air to supercapacitors, energy storage is poi... by oconnore on Friday February 05, 2016 @01:08PM (#11043333)
These buzz articles always focus on the sexy energy storage methods: lithium ion, liquid batteries, electrolysis, supercapacitors, etc. I've seen very little evidence that these can compete on either $/kWh, or efficiency, with pumped hydro (where available), thermal (Isentropic Energy Ltd [1]), or kinetic.

[1]: https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Isentropics-Pum...

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Re:From liquid air to supercapacitors, energy storage is poi... by ohitsdom on Friday February 05, 2016 @01:25PM (#11043473)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but none of the options you listed are portable.
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Re:From liquid air to supercapacitors, energy storage is poi... by oconnore on Friday February 05, 2016 @01:33PM (#11043532)
Right. In the context of grid storage of renewable energy, that doesn't matter.

You need a li-ion or similar in your phone and your laptop (and maybe your car), but that doesn't make it the best tech for flattening out a peaky solar/wind grid.

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Re:From liquid air to supercapacitors, energy storage is poi... by mikeash on Friday February 05, 2016 @01:32PM (#11043524)
The article is all about storage for the electrical grid, to shave peak demand and allow more wind/solar use, so portability isn't a requirement.
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