Once a Gamble in the Desert, Electric Grid Batteries Are Everywhere
An early grid battery was installed in the Atacama Desert in Chile 15 years ago. Now, as prices have tumbled, they are increasingly being used around the world.
In the last few years, one of these has gone up adjacent to a new solar installation somewhat close to my area. I wish I heard more about them (especially this one I have seen) but I mostly hear about hydropower since that is the primary source we have. I live really far away from any power source and our local power coop has discussed possibly putting one closer to town but nothing has come of it. I think it could be great but am not sure how these things work in a supplementary capacity. Last year our grocer lost many products due to a fire two hours away causing a lengthy power interruption. I think these things could be great for local power but my view is from a rural western US standpoint and probably won't apply to many places.
Batteries are effectivly another "power plant" on the grid. They have different properties than hydro/nat gas/coal/etc, but most of them are postive, like being able go kick on immedialty, versus some lag time with the others as power demand moves around.
They are a great natural compliment to solar/wind, as they collect excess power for use when these sources lag, smoothing the curve out for the two cheapest sources of power. By cheapiest I mean in everyway. Cheap to build, maintain, and require no ongoing "buy fuel" costs that most others do, all while kicking out no pollution. Solar is especially cheap, and very reasonable to DIY. Batteries themselves are also cheap and getting cheaper.
If youre in a rural area, you may be able to do a microgrid based on agrivoltaics, i.e farming/ranching in harmony with solar panels. Turns out lots of crops like the shade and increases moisture that solar panels provide, especially grasses/clover that sheep or cattle can graze while the farm makes passive income from the sun. Form a local power coop with your neighbors or village, and you might be able to make sure that grocer never loses power again.
Form a local power coop with your neighbors or village, and you might be able to make sure that grocer never loses power again
That is essentially what our power coop has proposed. I think they are talking about solar only, but it hasn't been popular with the ranchers 🙁️ It was just this year, so I think it will gain traction over time. This climate is complicated with regard to the shade from panels but the studies about solar panels in ranch land are good and I think it will happen, we just need more town folks to show up to the meetings. The grocer incident will be, I think, a game changer. The ranchers depend on that store also.
They're mostly not set up as a backup system, but to time-shift wind and solar so that it isnt necessary to use more expensive fossil fuel generation. For example, here is what utility-scale battery use looked like on Dec 5 in California