Problem: the capital & maintenance costs of the grid vary very little with its u... | Hacker News

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		bell-cot 7 months ago \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: University of Texas-led team solves a big problem ... Problem: the capital & maintenance costs of the grid vary very little with its utilization %. So if you build loads of wind & solar & battery all over - either (1) you've got to build so much battery capacity, all over, that you'll never need the grid, or (2) you've still got to build the grid to get you through occasional "calm & dark" periods. Either way, you're looking at vastly higher capital expenses.

markvdb 7 months ago [–]

Not necessarily. A slightly different approach might become lower TCO in the medium term:

- moderately overbuild solar

- batteries for short term storage

- natural gas for seasonal storage

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