this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2024
108 points (97.4% liked)

Science

22943 readers
17 users here now

Welcome to Hexbear's science community!

Subscribe to see posts about research and scientific coverage of current events

No distasteful shitposting, pseudoscience, or COVID-19 misinformation.

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
 

To make solar power viable, we need a solution for overnight energy storage.

Batteries are complicated.

Do you know what isn't? Water go up. stonks-up

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] pooh@hexbear.net 5 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I think hydro power storage is a good idea where it can be done (and especially where you have existing hydro power), but most places don't have a giant reservoir nearby that could be used for this purpose. Something that I think could be a better option for widespread grid storage are flow batteries. These work by basically pumping an electrolyte solution back and forth across a membrane to store or discharge energy. They aren't as energy dense as lithium batteries, but they have some advantages like being able to be used indefinitely without storage capacity degradation (though you do have to do upkeep on the pumps and whatever else). They're already used in places like hospitals and for grid storage in China. These current flow batteries use vanadium, but there's research being done on flow batteries that use iron instead, which is cheap and abundant in comparison. Short video on that: https://youtu.be/mu6mZZuPdpI

[–] HexReplyBot@hexbear.net 2 points 2 months ago

I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:

[–] Hexboare@hexbear.net 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

The storage and generating capacity is much less, but flow batteries are still good.

You don't necessarily need a giant reservior, you can flood old mining sites like this - https://naif.gov.au/our-projects/genex-kidston-pumped-hydro-storage-project/