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Re:Explosion at US natural gas plant raises risk of shortage... by makomk on Saturday June 11, 2022 @02:44PM (#31707005)
The technology is not there for the grid to handle a whole bunch of excess solar energy during peak sunny days. We just don't have options for energy storage on the scale required. The usual approach of groups pushing for this is to handwave the problem away and call for more subsidies on domestic solar, which is of course popular with the public because it means money for them and punts the incredibly expensive and difficult part until later for someone else to deal with.
Re:Explosion at US natural gas plant raises risk of shortage... by FooBarWidget on Saturday June 11, 2022 @02:53PM (#31707091)
This isn't even about storage. This is just about having thick enough electric cables so that the grid doesn't overload. Right now the grid fails even if there are consumers for all that power. We're failing to transport the power.
Re:Explosion at US natural gas plant raises risk of shortage... by native_samples on Saturday June 11, 2022 @03:05PM (#31707218)
Residential solar is very different to regular solar though. Grids weren't designed to aggregate lots of tiny feeds from people's houses, and it makes sense not to over-build that ahead of demand because in many cases the maths don't really work out except via subsidies, which can be here today, gone tomorrow.
Re:Explosion at US natural gas plant raises risk of shortage... by zozbot234 on Saturday June 11, 2022 @02:49PM (#31707052)
The technology is there, it's called demand response. Air conditioning and refrigeration are major workloads at the peak of summer, and can easily absorb any "excess" supply at a moment's notice. The heat capacity of whatever is being actively cooled then acts as your "battery".
Re:Explosion at US natural gas plant raises risk of shortage... by morsch on Saturday June 11, 2022 @02:51PM (#31707077)
Among many other things. We should have started figuring out this stuff -- and implementing it -- twenty years ago. Such a missed opportunity.