Again, progress is nice. But I'm still skeptical how well the state's grid can handle another major statewide heatwave, to say nothing about the transition to EVs.
This was always the future, it simply arrived earlier than expected.
[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-04-12/china-... | https://archive.today/8Dy4D ("China Already Makes as Many Batteries as the Entire World Wants")
[2] https://www.pv-magazine.com/2024/04/12/catl-unveils-first-ma... ("CATL unveils first mass-producible battery storage with zero degradation")
[3] https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights... ("Lithium-ion battery capacity to grow steadily to 2030")
[4] https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=61202 ("U.S. battery storage capacity expected to nearly double in 2024")
That would be the "killer app" for these stellar renewable supply milestones.
https://www.mr-sustainability.com/stories/2021/overbuilding-...
https://www.wartsila.com/energy/towards-100-renewable-energy...
https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2020/05/14/overbuilding-solar-at...
It is much better to use today's money to build more renewables instead of wasting it on expensive storage. Some storage makes sense to reduce the evening peak. But we will have a better idea of what storage we need, and what storage is cheapest to build in a decade when there are a lot more renewables.
As an energy storage solution, pumping water up into a tower and then letting it drop during high demand is simple. Its earth friendly because then at peaks it can take some of the load off the generation, which could be less environmentally friendly. Renewables are better than fossil fuels, and not spending the energy to build solar panels is better than the process to create solar panels.
As long as it's not a toxic battery, then it should be a pretty good interim.
This is a PGE problem. They have jacked up our rates to fix their lack of maintenance and planning... I reman suspect that they will do anything of benefit for the state or their customers. Meanwhile we have a mandate from the state to make stoves, heaters and cars electric real soon!
As a Bay Area resident im going to say this out loud: between the states mandates and PGE's prices it looks a hell of a lot like we just redlined a big chunk of the bay.