Batteries: Difference between revisions
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Just as wind power itself is practical only on a small scale in places where its expense (due to the energy source being so diffuse) can be justified because other sources would be equally or even more expensive, so is the required back-up and/or battery storage, both of which add not only to the expense, but also to the environmental impacts of wind energy. | Just as wind power itself is practical only on a small scale in places where its expense (due to the energy source being so diffuse) can be justified because other sources would be equally or even more expensive, so is the required back-up and/or battery storage, both of which add not only to the expense, but also to the environmental impacts of wind energy. | ||
On a large scale, the quest for battery systems to make it smooth and dispatchable only underscores the [[wikipedia:Rube_Goldberg_machine|Rube Goldberg]]/[[wikipedia:W._Heath_Robinson|Heath Robinson]] character of wind power on the grid. | On a large scale, the quest for battery systems to make it smooth and dispatchable only underscores the [[wikipedia:Rube_Goldberg_machine|Rube Goldberg]]/[[wikipedia:W._Heath_Robinson|Heath Robinson]] character of wind power on the [[Electrical grid|grid]]. | ||
Revision as of 14:38, 28 August 2017
Because wind power is intermittent and highly variable, it requires either back-up power or battery storage to be useful. This is a simple fact of off-grid living, for example.
Just as wind power itself is practical only on a small scale in places where its expense (due to the energy source being so diffuse) can be justified because other sources would be equally or even more expensive, so is the required back-up and/or battery storage, both of which add not only to the expense, but also to the environmental impacts of wind energy.
On a large scale, the quest for battery systems to make it smooth and dispatchable only underscores the Rube Goldberg/Heath Robinson character of wind power on the grid.