Solar panels and wind turbines give the world bountiful energybut come with a conundrum.
Youve probably heard aboutgiant lithium-ion batteriesstockpiling that energy for later use.
But when providing backup power, even a big battery bank will usually drain in four hours.
A company called Hydrostor pumps water in and out of caverns to store energy generated by renewables.© Hydrostor
We need to think about all these factors, how they work.
But bringing in more storage can only help in making this more cost-effective.
Its exploiting energy from the wind and the sun, along with the power of gravity.
(For perspective, the U.S. has around 150 gigawatts of wind power and 140 gigawatts of solar.)
Companies are figuring out how to store energy underground, too.
That forces the water aboveground into a reservoir.
Were kind of creating a piston underground of water, said Jon Norman, president of Hydrostor.
Solar and wind power would be wasted no more.
This article originally appeared inGristathttps://grist.org/climate/long-duration-energy-storage-batteries-store-solar-wind-power/.
Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.
News from the future, delivered to your present.
