mivey
Senior Member
That's another concern. Let's just go with a solar cost of 30?/kWh for a moment (without subsidies). How much more will storage add to the ?/kWh? Considering that fossil and nuclear base load units can produce at 3-8 ?kWh solar seems to have too much of a chasm to cross right now. It seems to me it would take some major advancements in solar technology to close the gap.They need to do more of what they haven't done -- storage development.
I have seen pumped-back storage as well as some local ice production (used for cooling during the day). As for flywheels, I would think the other types storage you mentioned would make more sense. Storage is certainly something we need to develop. Energy conversion is such an inefficient process.
I like the idea of paying people a higher price for peak use of the energy they have banked in their EV batteries at night at a lower cost. Not a big resource but every little bit helps.
As for other battery banks, I just don't see how a battery bank is as cheap as running a turbine or engine using stored fuel.