https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608273/grid-batteries-are-poised-to-become-cheaper-than-natural-gas-plants-in-minnesota/
[Can we now agree to stop building fossil-fueled 'peaker' electricity
generation stations in favour of advanced battery storage as we are
reaching the point where the more flexible battery storage units are
less expensive on a life cycle cost basis, as well as environmentally
superior?
links in on-line article]
Grid Batteries Are Poised to Become Cheaper Than Natural-Gas Plants in
Minnesota
A new report suggests the economics of large-scale batteries are
reaching an important inflection point.
by Michael Reilly July 12, 2017
When it comes to renewable energy, Minnesota isn’t typically a
headline-grabber: in 2016 it got about 18 percent of its energy from
wind, good enough to rank in the top 10 states. But it’s just 28th in
terms of installed solar capacity, and its relatively small size means
projects within its borders rarely garner the attention that giants like
California and Texas routinely get.
A new report on the future of energy in the state should turn some heads
(PDF). According to the University of Minnesota’s Energy Transition Lab,
starting in 2019 and for the foreseeable future, the overall cost of
building grid-scale storage there will be less than that of building
natural-gas plants to meet future energy demand.
Minnesota currently gets about 21 percent of its energy from renewables.
That’s not bad, but current plans also call for bringing an additional
1,800 megawatts of gas-fired “peaker” plants online by 2028 to meet
growing demand. As the moniker suggests, these plants are meant to spin
up quickly to meet daily peaks in energy demand—something renewables
tend to be bad at because the wind doesn’t always blow and the sun
doesn’t always shine.
Storing energy from renewables could solve that problem, but it’s
traditionally been thought of as too expensive compared with other forms
of energy.
The new report suggests otherwise. According to the analysis, bringing
lithium-ion batteries online for grid storage would be a good way to
stockpile energy for when it’s needed, and it would prove less costly
than building and operating new natural-gas plants.
The finding comes at an interesting time. For one thing, the price of
lithium-ion batteries continues to plummet, something that certainly has
the auto industry’s attention. And grid-scale batteries, while still
relatively rare, are popping up more and more these days. The Minnesota
report, then, suggests that such projects may become increasingly
common—and could be a powerful way to lower emissions without sending
our power bills skyrocketing in the process.
