Energy Storage Vital To Attaining High Penetration for Renewables

Frequent commenter Frank Eggers is right as rain with his comments on my recent solar thermal piece in which he writes:

Superior (technology) would not solve the problem resulting from the fact that the sun is not always shining. …. Instead of concentrating only on the solar generation of electricity, 2GreenEnergy should also cover power storage systems without which solar power would remain impractical, (including) batteries, water pumped to a higher elevation, air compressed into underground caverns, flywheel storage, storing heat in tanks containing a mixture of KNO3 and NaNO3.

Thank you, Frank. While we try to cover storage technologies to some degree, there is no doubt that we could always do a better and more thorough job. And this subject will be increasingly important as the penetration of renewables grows over time. At under 2% (the current penetration rate), I really think it’s fairly meaningless. But yes, as we get into the teens and higher, it will be vital — and it’s never too early to start addressing the problem.

I believe you’ll be interested in this month’s free webinar, featuring Dr. David Doty, an extremely senior physicist whom I’ll be interviewing on this very subject. He has a unique approach and capability in synthetic (liquid) fuels that I find compelling. I hope you’ll agree.