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Schiendelmanlast Monday at 10:51 PM2 repliesview on HN

I'm not sure I understand the question. It's always cheaper.


Replies

LorenPechtelyesterday at 6:45 PM

What are you smoking??

Storage is more expensive than generation. Always.

We see some storage on the grid because storage is fast. Batteries can respond to load changes a lot faster than anything else. Demand goes up, the batteries are drawn down while cheaper generators are spun up. A few places use pumped hydro for the same purpose, but that's very situational.

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womble2yesterday at 1:14 PM

No it isn't. Storage capacity for energy is expensive, if you want to have a grid that is largely dependent on intermittent sources and still have a stable grid providing power at all times you need large amounts of storage as well as generating capacity.

For example if nuclear costs 1bn for a GW and solar+wind costs 0.6bn but you need to also install 0.5bn of storage to make the grid reliable to the safety margin you deem acceptable then it is no longer a cheaper system.

Amount of storage needed scales up rapidly as you get towards an grid with entirely intermittent generation.

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