Texas is Relying on Batteries

[iku]

Nope....
You noobs rarely have anything I want to hear about.

AMF

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

AMF

Meh....I dont even know you so I guess I'll never know what I lost.

 

[iku]

Meh....I dont even know you so I guess I'll never know what I lost.

correct

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

correct

rest well in the thought that I dont need any info from you Jr.

 

[iku]

rest well in the thought that I dont need any info from you Jr.

I wont offer any. You couldn't process it.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

I wont offer any. You couldn't process it.

Sure thing Jr.

 

[Synthaholic]

 

[Synthaholic]

Renewables are saving Texas. Again. So give them their due.​

This summer, like last summer, Texas has battled a brutal heat wave that regularly reaches triple-digit temperatures. This summer, like last summer, the heat wave triggered record levels of energy demand. This summer, like last summer, there have miraculously been no rolling blackouts; in fact, this year, the state’s grid operator has so far asked for just one day of voluntary energy conservation.

And this summer, like last summer, renewables have been the heroes of the story — yet they remain curiously vilified by politicians in the Lone Star State.

In recent years, renewable energy has been ramping up across Texas. The state has rapidly increased solar capacity, for instance, enabling as much as 16,800 megawatts of solar power to be produced on the grid as of the end of May. That’s roughly six times the capacity that existed in 2019 (about 2,600 megawatts), according to data from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s grid operator.

This increase — coupled with greater wind and storage development — is what has allowed Texans to beat the heat and keep their electricity bills down.

After all, several thermal-energy plants in the state went offline in recent weeks, as coal, natural gas and nuclear facilities appeared to buckle under extreme temperatures and shrinking maintenance windows. Additional solar and wind generation more than made up the difference. Renewables overall have lately represented roughly 35 to 40 percent of power generation at peak, compared with about 30 percent last year.

The result is not only that renewables have enabled Texas residents to keep the lights and air conditioning on during this hellish heat. They probably also saved Texans “billions of dollars” last week alone by keeping prices from spiking, says Doug Lewin, an Austin-based energy consultant and author of the Texas Energy and Power Newsletter.

What’s responsible for this … ahem … windfall?
Federal tax incentives, including those in the Inflation Reduction Act, have certainly encouraged additional renewable development nationwide. Technological advances have as well, with wind and solar development costs growing increasingly competitive against fossil fuels even before taking subsidies into account. Improvements in storage technology have also helped address renewables’ most-cited weakness: their intermittency. With better batteries, air conditioners can reliably keep blasting even on cloudy, windless days.

 

[Blues Man]

We cannot run this country on batteries.

 

[Synthaholic]

We cannot run this country on batteries.

No, we run it on solar, wind, water and fill in the blanks with small nuclear.

 

[miketx]

They are having to turn to battery power because of their failed energy policies, and not being connected to the national grid.


Heat is battering Texas’s power grid. Are giant batteries the answer?
The worst may be yet to come, with extreme weather forecast to persist into next weekend

The outsize role battery storage is playing in keeping the power on is welcome news to clean energy companies, which have been fighting the fossil fuel lobby’s efforts to place blame for the state’s electricity woes on the increasing share of renewables in its energy mix.

Battery storage is a boon to wind and solar, as it allows them to capture and store the energy created at times when it may not be needed and then make it available to ratepayers at peak hours.

But amid this heat emergency, batteries have also proved useful in bailing out more traditional power plants.

When a large coal facility got knocked offline during peak hours this week amid the stress of the extreme heat, energy that was being stored in batteries elsewhere in Texas was quickly dispatched to carry the grid through the evening. The batteries were also crucial to keeping the power on when a nuclear plant hiccuped and went offline earlier in the week, said Doug Lewin, a Texas energy consultant.

So are you with your dildo.

 

[Blues Man]

No, we run it on solar, wind, water and fill in the blanks with small nuclear.

You have it backwards.

We should run on nuclear and we wouldn't need wind solar or batteries.

 

[Hollie]

No, we run it on solar, wind, water and fill in the blanks with small nuclear.

That's obviously, (to thinking humans), unworkable. There simply isn't enough open land available across much of the country for solar and wind farms. Both of those forms of energy are unreliable for consistent power generation.

 

[justoffal]

They are having to turn to battery power because of their failed energy policies, and not being connected to the national grid.


Heat is battering Texas’s power grid. Are giant batteries the answer?
The worst may be yet to come, with extreme weather forecast to persist into next weekend

The outsize role battery storage is playing in keeping the power on is welcome news to clean energy companies, which have been fighting the fossil fuel lobby’s efforts to place blame for the state’s electricity woes on the increasing share of renewables in its energy mix.

Battery storage is a boon to wind and solar, as it allows them to capture and store the energy created at times when it may not be needed and then make it available to ratepayers at peak hours.

But amid this heat emergency, batteries have also proved useful in bailing out more traditional power plants.

When a large coal facility got knocked offline during peak hours this week amid the stress of the extreme heat, energy that was being stored in batteries elsewhere in Texas was quickly dispatched to carry the grid through the evening. The batteries were also crucial to keeping the power on when a nuclear plant hiccuped and went offline earlier in the week, said Doug Lewin, a Texas energy consultant.

Batteries are not clean energy....not in the least. But they are always a good idea. Remember that they are chemically toxic and can easily create environmental havoc.

The real need here is a complete change of architecture. Homes need to be constructed to incorporate geo thermal heat capture. The standard build for traditional dwellings is highly inefficient. A home designed properly can be cooled with less than 30 percent of the current energy draw typical to standard building designs.
Also long commutes to work need to be reconsidered. A total restructuring of our society will become a necessity in the not too distant future politics notwithstanding.

Roof construction should incorporate heat exchange technology. No motors needed. A series of tubes that run through the roof and then run under the house. No motors needed.
circulation of either air or fluid will be via density change.

The best way to handle any overage is by source reduction.

 

[justoffal]

You have it backwards.

We should run on nuclear and we wouldn't need wind solar or batteries.

Right now nuclear is the best option. A hybrid steam plant using both nuclear and parabolic solar to generate steam would be very interesting. Hell....they could incorporate all three technologies....nuke,wind and Solar...in the same place to extend the life of the reactor rods without generating so much as an ounce of Co2

 

[Blues Man]

Right now nuclear is the best option. A hybrid steam plant using both nuclear and parabolic solar to generate steam would be very interesting. Hell....they could incorporate all three technologies....nuke,wind and Solar...in the same place to extend the life of the reactor rods without generating so much as an ounce of Co2

If we upgrade to integral fast reactors we can use the nuclear 'waste" from out old obsolete light water reactors to power the entire country for 200 years or more.

 

[justoffal]

If we upgrade to integral fast reactors we can use the nuclear 'waste" from out old obsolete light water reactors to power the entire country for 200 years or more.

Yes there are many more options that we can explore. However the current system depends on controlling profit margins for the corporate vultures.

 

[Synthaholic]

There simply isn't enough open land available across much of the country for solar and wind farms.

Of course there is. There are also floating solar farms in lakes and the Gulf.

 

[Synthaholic]

Remember that they are chemically toxic and can easily create environmental havoc.

They don't need to be. Look up sodium and zinc batteries.

 

[justoffal]

They don't need to be. Look up sodium and zinc batteries.

One simple design I like is the salt block. Heat is stored in it during the day in a specialized insulated container. Up to one ton each and capable of reaching 1300f....I read somewhere.
At night the heat can be redrawn out into various forms of usage. Also there are the magnetically suspended metal discs that store motion energy up to 10,000 tons to be recaptured as electro mechanical force at night.