Wind and solar energy
are expensive and
can’t keep the lights on
24/7.
A lot of energy storage
will be essential for a
100% renewables
electric grid when the
sun is not shining,
and the wind
is not blowing.
“Low-cost storage
is the key to enabling
renewable electricity
to compete with fossil
fuel generated electricity
on a cost basis,”
according to
Yet-Ming Chiang,
a materials science
and engineering
professor at MIT.
Chiang, professor
of energy studies
Jessika Trancik,
and others,
have determined
that energy storage
would have to cost
less than US $20
per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
for the grid to be
100% powered by
a wind-solar mix.
Their analysis
is published in Joule.
Lithium-ion
batteries, dipped to
$175/kWh in 2018,
but that's very far
from $20/kWh.
For 100% wind & solar system
to be competitive, energy storage
costs would have to drop to:
-- $10-20/kWh to be competitive
with nuclear power .
-- $5/kWh to be competitive
with natural gas power plants.
According to the US EIA’s
Annual Energy Outlook,
estimates for 2050
are 15% of U.S. electricity
from solar PV, and 17%
of our electricity from
coal-fired power plants.
And remember that
electricity generation
does not supply the
liquid fuels for cars,
tricks, motorcycles,
lawn mowers, trains
and airplanes.
And EIA projections
are just educated guesses --
in the past EIA never predicted
a coming "fracking revolution".