Hillhater
100 TW
Pumped Hydro is the "go to" standard for power storage for most of the world currently and huge new capacity being installed and planned as we speak. It doesnt need huge water resources to be viable, some are practically closed circuit systems recycling water between dams/lakes etc, others ( Japan) use sea water sources on the coast.Rube said:Hydro is a option for inertia storage, turn the tap to up output but environmental impact and limited water mean high temp batteries may make sense. I'm no expert so interested in the communities' thoughts.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/no-batteries-needed-pumped-hydro-for-energy-storage-79785/
Australia is in process of planning its 4th PH storage facility in QLD (the Kidson project) to supplement grid buffering and reduce dependency on Gas generator plants.
However, there is a huge cost advantage to that Silicon storage system, if their cost estimates are true ($700k for 10 MWh installation) is less than 1/4 the cost of a PH installation.
they just need to get that efficiency up. !