Re:Why Is Hydroelectricity So Green, and yet Unfashionable?
by throwawaytoilet on Thursday October 27, 2022 @07:36PM
(#33365515)
I quite like what this startup is thinking. https://www.energybank.nz/. For offshore wind energy storage.
Re:Why Is Hydroelectricity So Green, and yet Unfashionable?
by pencilguin on Friday October 28, 2022 @01:51AM
(#33368116)
This Energy Bank system could possibly be practical.
Unlike "Energy Vault" (NRGV), a purely fraudulent investment scam. Energy technologies seem to be favorites of frauds (fusion especially so). It seems like nothing is so obviously nonsensical as to attract the attention of regulators.
Re:Why Is Hydroelectricity So Green, and yet Unfashionable?
by pencilguin on Friday October 28, 2022 @01:44AM
(#33368089)
There are, in fact, far more than enough suitable sites to store as much energy as we could ever care to store. Hydro power generation needs a watershed, but storage really needs only a hill.
But there are lots of different storage technologies, and costs are falling fast, so pumped hydro may be undercut in places.
Yes we know. It is still cheaper on a cost-per-kwh basis than batteries, by a significant margin.
> I would love to see an analysis of whether it is feasible to build enough such large scale reservoirs (and how many we would need) to store an order one fraction of the daily energy needs. (at city/country/world levels)
No it is not, there are not enough suitable sites in most places in the world to make this work for world levels. That said, it is entirely up in the air if there would be enough mineable lithium to make batteries for similar amounts of storage.
Efficient electrical energy storage at scale is currently unsolved.