[realusername]

Yeah sure, it's right around the corner, I had the same conversation on HN 3 years ago haha.

Say what you want about nuclear plants but they work, right now and we have example of countries successfully creating a grid with it.

I can't say the same about the magical batteries.

[karmakurtisaani]

Exponential growth is a funny thing. First it looks like nothing is happening, and all of a sudden everything has changed. Check out discussions about wind and solar some 10 years ago.

E: for reference from memory, it took about 50 years to install the first TW of solar. The next TW took 2 years, and the next TW is projected to take only 1 year, 2025.

[realusername]

For now it looks more like a flat curve than an exponential one. Batteries haven't followed PV at all, especially not for a grid scale usage.

Making batteries viable for home use is a very different story to make them viable for a grid.

[rhubinak]

> Making batteries viable for home use is a very different story to make them viable for a grid.

True. But both are stories from the same book. Meaning: If more homes install batteries and some become fully off-grid you will stabilize the whole grid without needing to install more power generation. This is exactly what happened in Pakistan (src: https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/08/pakistan-energy-affo...) and I expect will happen all over the world as:

1. PV+battery prices continue falling

2. Climate change resulting in more sunny days (one of the very few upsides)

3. The need to become more self-sufficient due to energy price volatility due to shitty govt/shitty grid/shitty neighbors attacking your neighbors

Would be nice to see some subsidy from the govt (is EU listening?) like: "here's low interest loan to take your home off grid payable over 20+ years (expected lifetime of the whole PV+bat system) during which you promise you won't connect to grid".