Re:Solar and Wind Energy May Be Nice, but How Can We Store It?
by crdoconnor on Wednesday April 06, 2016 @05:12AM
(#11437590)
By and large, don't. Let the market for electricity react to fluctuations in output via variable pricing.
This is already being done to a certain extent in Germany (aluminum smelters will scale production up or down based upon the supply of electricity).
Over time as fluctuations in electricity supply from renewables become more common, the demand side will react. Those periods when the wholesale price of electricity drop to zero won't recur forever as somebody enterprising will make use of it. It won't happen overnight but it will happen.
It's ironic that the same industry (utilities) that told us the market was a solution to all of our energy problems when it wasn't (see Paul Krugman's defence of Enron's bullshit in the early 00s) is now conveniently forgetting that canard when it's actually true for once because renewables threaten its bottom line.
This is already being done to a certain extent in Germany (aluminum smelters will scale production up or down based upon the supply of electricity).
Over time as fluctuations in electricity supply from renewables become more common, the demand side will react. Those periods when the wholesale price of electricity drop to zero won't recur forever as somebody enterprising will make use of it. It won't happen overnight but it will happen.
It's ironic that the same industry (utilities) that told us the market was a solution to all of our energy problems when it wasn't (see Paul Krugman's defence of Enron's bullshit in the early 00s) is now conveniently forgetting that canard when it's actually true for once because renewables threaten its bottom line.