The Energy Sector Holy Grail Found!

Why Energy Storage Is Proving Even More Disruptive Than Cheap Renewables

Jeff McMahon, August 2, 2019 (Forbes)

The falling price of renewable energy has been dominating the headlines, but more dramatic change is happening behind the scenes, where battery storage is disrupting the way utilities provide power…[The key is] the electronics…[In the past, utilities relied on] slow, inflexible fossil-fuel plants…[for] enough energy to meet peak demand…Now, utilities will have abundant cheap power from renewables. Paired with batteries, that power can be deployed by computer in microseconds to ensure reliability or fulfill other ancillary services…

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[Tightly coupled storage and solar PV is] a solid-state computer-controlled power plant…[and a shift] from slow and heavy to fast and light…[With cheap renewables, energy will be abundant and the grid reliability will be for] flexibility and balancing…That reliability will be watchdogged by the resources themselves, networked across the grid..[In July,] NextEra announced a new 700 MW renewables+battery hybrid plant—described as America's largest so far—in Anadarko, Oklahoma, the heart of oil country.” click here for more

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