[wsetchell]

I wonder how they're thinking about this versus the steady march of solar + battery performance.

I would think that in the 5-10 years it'll take to get this safe enough for a commercial product, solar + battery would be scaling and they'd never be able to catch up on price due to the efficiency ceiling.

Maybe there's something possible in aviation for this. There might be electric drones/planes applications which would be way better if they didn't have to carry batteries.

[thysultan]

This does not compete with this solar/batteries so much as it competes with electrical wires.

[msandford]

Yeah that's the idea. But if you have somewhere remote enough that's there's no power there then solar and wind are competitors to building wires. There are thousands upon thousands of houses in the US that choose to put up solar and wind and use batteries vs spend $50k to have wires pulled. Same for wells and septic vs city water and sewer.

[waheoo]

Probably thinking about west coast of the South Island, New Zealand. Its rugged weather down there, still no mobile reception for most of it, sparsely populated and right up against the Alps.

They struggle to get powerlines/phone lines through already so I'm not surprised they're thinking this might be a valid option to relay power for small settlements.

[taneq]

Solar + batteries competes with wires by being distributed. You install as much generation as you need, right where you need it. In this context you could think of it as a "wireless power receiver" and the sun as the transmitter.

[mr_toad]

> You install as much generation as you need, right where you need it.

You must live in a large, flat, country.

Take a look at a topographical map of New Zealand.

[taneq]

Yep, and fair enough, NZ is a lot more bumpy. It's still not that difficult to install rooftop solar etc. in most situations, even if it's not applicable to every case, though.

[mr_toad]

Wind and hydro are more practical in many parts of New Zealand. They don’t call it Aotearoa for nothing.