[beefman]

For comparison, electricity was sold to the U.S. grid at about $48/MWh in 2023. This is less than any of the cost projections mentioned in the article.

Howabout materials? It says this weighs 28 tons and makes 1.2 MW. That's 21g/W assuming a 100% capacity factor, no balance of plant, and assuming those are short tons. Compare to an iPhone 15, which consumes about 1W per 150g in use. That's a materials intensity multiple (EROI estimate) of ~ 7. An average automobile on an average commute dissipates about 67kW, or 27g/W for a multiple of ~ 1.

[rsynnott]

That would benefit from various subsidies; from the article it _looks_ like the $54/MWh projected figure is before subsidy.

[beefman]

Subsidies would be useful in getting it from $108/MWh to $54/MWh faster, but they don't change the underlying physics of the technology.

[rsynnott]

Sorry, what I mean is that the $48/MWh figure benefits from significant subsidy; it's not a realistic cost of provision.

[beefman]

Perhaps surprisingly, it is a realistic cost and could be much lower if the electricity market were efficient (as opposed to being an amalgam of regional monopolies with essentially no price incentives).