Category Archives: Energy Storage

Intermittent wind, solar, and wave power can not replace fossil fuels and nuclear power electricity generation without energy storage

Renewable costs don’t include transmission & energy storage backup from Nat Gas & Coal plants

Posted on November 23, 2020 by

Preface. Wind and solar advocates don’t include transmission and backup costs in their net energy and cost calculations. But without fossil backup, the electric grid will come down due to lack of storage. There is almost nowhere left to put … Continue reading →

Posted in Electric Grid & EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Energy Storage, Solar, Solar EROI, Wind, Wind EROI | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

EV cars and utility scale energy storage batteries are not likely to materialize

Posted on September 21, 2020 by

Preface.  Clearly there’s not enough minerals and metals to shift from fossil fuels to electric vehicles and utility scale battery storage, due to peak critical elements, peak platinum group elements, peak precious elements, peak rare earth elements, and peak everything … Continue reading →

Posted in Automobiles, Batteries, Battery - Utility Scale, Peak Lithium | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

Concentrated Solar Power is dying out in the U.S.

Posted on June 12, 2020 by

Preface.  Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) contributes only 0.06 % of U.S. electricity, mainly in California (64 %) and Arizona (24 %) because extremely dry areas with no humidity, haze, or pollutants are required. Of the 1861 MW power they can … Continue reading →

Posted in Concentrated Solar Power, CSP with thermal energy storage, Grid instability, Seasonal Variation | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

How safe are utility-scale energy storage batteries?

Posted on November 28, 2019 by

This 2 MW battery, installed by the Arizona Public Service electric company, exploded in April 2019 and sent eight firefighters and a policeman to the hospital (Cooper 2019). At least 23 South Korean lithium-ion facilities caught fire in a series … Continue reading →

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Gravity energy storage

Posted on November 7, 2019 by

Preface. This is interesting, but not commercial. And as my book “When trucks stop running” explains, trucks are the basis of civilization, and can’t run on electric batteries or overhead wires. Even if they could, I explained why a 100% … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy Storage, Research | Tagged | 9 Comments

Pumped Hydro Storage (PHS)

Posted on October 13, 2019 by

Preface. This is the only commercial way to store energy now (CAES hardly counts with just one plant and salt domes to put more in existing in only 5 states). Though of course hydropower is only in a few states … Continue reading →

Posted in Dams, Energy Production, Hydropower, Pumped Hydro Storage (PHS) | Tagged , , , , , | 15 Comments

Utility scale energy storage has a long way to go to make renewables possible

Posted on May 15, 2019 by

What follows comes from my book “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation” , which is also where you’ll find the references backing up what I’ve written below. I often get letters from people about energy breakthroughs … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy, Batteries, Battery - Utility Scale, Critical Thinking, Electric Grid & EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Electricity Infrastructure, Renewable Integration | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Can Zinc batteries save the electric grid?

Posted on February 17, 2019 by

Preface: Right now, and as long as natural gas lasts, the electric grid will stay up since it is the main storage and way to balance unreliable wind and solar power. Hydropower can also play a major role in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Batteries, Energy Storage, Lithium-ion | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Underground pumped hydro storage is the only technology capable of massive storage for renewable electricity

Posted on September 27, 2017 by

[ Picard concludes that “None of the candidate technologies for massive-scale renewable and sustainable generation of ‘‘green’’ electricity deliver it in a form suitable for high-efficiency storage. None of the prospectively-massive storage modes for transformed electricity is at present well … Continue reading →

Posted in Electric Grid & EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Energy Storage, Grid instability, Hydropower, Renewable Integration | Tagged , | 4 Comments

How are energy storage batteries coming along? U.S. House hearing 2015

Posted on April 5, 2017 by

[ My favorite quotes from this U.S. House of Representatives session: THOMAS MASSIE, KENTUCKY. I want to say this has been a very enlightening hearing, and it confirms my personal experience, which is batteries are not sexy. Buckets of acid … Continue reading →

Posted in Batteries, Energy Storage, U.S. Congress Energy Policy | Tagged , | Comments Off on How are energy storage batteries coming along? U.S. House hearing 2015