Home-scale battery systems is clearly a bad idea IMO.
Utility-scale battery systems is how you democratize the idea for real. Have the entire city own multiple, giant 200 MW-hr Battery that all the citizens can use. Then use net-metering credits to have Solar-homes charge the communal battery.
Not everyone can afford $20,000+ systems to store a few hours of electricity. The people who need reliable home-electricity get $500 generators with some gasoline or propane fuel (which is sufficient for days of electricity during a disaster).
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The city can choose whatever battery best fits its requirements. For the near term, Lithium Ion is available, as well as Pumped Hydro. Flow batteries still seem to be "5 year away" technology, but flow batteries just make a lot of sense at the 200MWhr utility scale.
> Home-scale battery systems is clearly a bad idea IMO.
.. makes me think you're trolling.
There are plenty of places where people need storage on their side of the meter, and the idea that you can better democratise power supply by having it owned by a large multinational or nation state owned entity sounds ludicrous.
The $20k (I'm assuming that's usd?) for 'a couple of hours power' is just plain disingenuous.
For anyone plonking down $800k for a bespoke abode, spending $30k for gen + storage, with or without grid connection, seems a minor addition to the capex.
Utility-scale battery systems is how you democratize the idea for real. Have the entire city own multiple, giant 200 MW-hr Battery that all the citizens can use. Then use net-metering credits to have Solar-homes charge the communal battery.
Not everyone can afford $20,000+ systems to store a few hours of electricity. The people who need reliable home-electricity get $500 generators with some gasoline or propane fuel (which is sufficient for days of electricity during a disaster).
-------
The city can choose whatever battery best fits its requirements. For the near term, Lithium Ion is available, as well as Pumped Hydro. Flow batteries still seem to be "5 year away" technology, but flow batteries just make a lot of sense at the 200MWhr utility scale.