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zoul | 3 months ago

Solar power is very cheap and still getting cheaper:

https://www.statista.com/chart/35117/levelized-cost-of-energ...

discuss

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chickenbig|3 months ago

Solar power doesn't work well in the UK in winter, with 1/3 of the energy output of summer months.

Taking the limit of free solar power, what would the storage requirements look like for the UK?

TheOtherHobbes|3 months ago

The UK is aiming for around 27GW of battery storage by 2030.

But it's not a simple picture. The grid needs to be expanded to distribute power from renewables more efficiently, batteries aren't the only storage option, and the concept is still too centralised.

A combination of distributed rooftop solar with domestic batteries, maybe local storage in substations, strategic national storage, and a mix of sources would be a more effective strategy than trying to park huge batteries around the country in the hope they'll be big enough.

The UK still has a post-war mindset around energy which doesn't make sense in the 21st century.

crote|3 months ago

So build three times as much? Solar has gotten cheap enough that such solutions are quite viable these days. And as a bonus, electricity will be basically free during the summer.

DoctorOetker|3 months ago

take a look at all the roofs next winter, if its anything like the other side of the canal, you'll see that the average roof coverage is substantially less than 1/3.