Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by otter-rock 1439 days ago
People often don't realize that intermittent renewables must be paired with backup generation or storage. But energy storage at the scale of a 100% renewable system is currently an unsolved problem. So you really only have two options:

1. Continue to back up with fossil fuels

2. Temporarily back up with nuclear

Check my comment history for a debate on nuclear safety.
1 comments
black_puppydog 1439 days ago
> Temporarily back up with nuclear

I think the assumption that we can build nuclear baseload capacity faster than storage solutions is... just that. An assumption. Needs citation.

link
rich_sasha 1439 days ago
Well, in principle, we know how to build nuclear. We're slow at it, it's expensive, but it's sort of off-the-shelf.

Long term energy storage, by batter or otherwise..? I don't believe anyone has done it. We're not talking about maybe smoothing out energy supply/demand over 24h, were talking producing energy in the summer for the winter.

link
otter-rock 1439 days ago
I'm saying there's no storage solution yet. Even combining all storage types, you'd still run out of materials (battery) or locations (hydro) before finishing.

It's not speed vs speed. It's speed vs forecasted capacity.

link