Adding clean energy to the US power grid just got a lot easier

Re:Adding clean energy to the US power grid just got a lot e... by Gibbon1 on Friday July 28, 2023 @05:11PM (#36913384)

What I've read and seems to be backed up by how fast utility batteries are being installed is the drop in price of batteries means that suddenly the payback period for batteries is a couple of years.

Batteries exist in a different economic regime than rate payers. Where the price per megawatt varies by 2X or more. Which makes it easier for batteries to make money be arbitrage. As in buy power at 10am for $40/MWH, sell it at 7pm the same day for $80/MWH.

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Re:Adding clean energy to the US power grid just got a lot e... by applied_heat on Friday July 28, 2023 @10:10PM (#36916109)

My benchmark for utility scale solar is the installation in Australia that was 100MW and 129MWH and cost about 100 million

So making $40/MWH * 100 MWH/day = $4000 per day * 365 day/yr = 1.4 million revenue per year. Not enough to pay back $100 million.

Like you said The economics of it keep improving though Imp

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Re:Adding clean energy to the US power grid just got a lot e... by Gibbon1 on Friday July 28, 2023 @11:53PM (#36916705)

I think that thing makes money because utilities will pay though the nose for a reserve of instant on demand power.

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Re:Adding clean energy to the US power grid just got a lot e... by applied_heat on Saturday July 29, 2023 @12:07PM (#36921581)

Right, so then we are back to that cost being recovered from ratepayers.

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Re:Adding clean energy to the US power grid just got a lot e... by Gibbon1 on Saturday July 29, 2023 @04:53PM (#36924442)

But they're paying less for that than before. The price power commands depends a lot on how flexible the power source is. Batteries because they provide grid stabilization can charge a premium price.

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