marsden_online (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
marsden_online) wrote2009-12-26 09:56 am
marsden_online) wrote2009-12-26 09:56 am
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Storing solar generated electricity; we can, after a fashion
One of the difficulties with the generation of electricity is that it really needs to be used immediately. Thus we have our crazy New Zealand spot market. This is particularly an issue for solar (and wind) generation where the output can rise or fall quickly with changing weather.
Ways of dealing with this include storing heat (generated by the sun) as thermal energy (which were are pretty good at) and then using this to drive steam turbines on demand, or the more experimental splitting water using excess excess power generated during the day and recombining it in a fuel cell at night.
Both of these are ways of storing generation capacity rather than directly storing electricity. Here in New Zealand we make significant use of another way of storing generation capacity - hydro dams.
There is no reason we couldn't make greater use of solar or wind in New Zealand, especially in summer, and just not run the hydro plants as much. Even if water has to be spilt from the dams what would we be losing? In fact the revitalisation of downstream areas might bring other benefits.
Of course the electricity market in NZ has been constructed to try and wring every last cent of profit out of the infrastructure, and unused generation is anathema to that. And some electricity generators rely more on hydro than others.
But I'd love to see Christchurch coated in solar panels. if cloudy Germany can do it why can't we?
Ways of dealing with this include storing heat (generated by the sun) as thermal energy (which were are pretty good at) and then using this to drive steam turbines on demand, or the more experimental splitting water using excess excess power generated during the day and recombining it in a fuel cell at night.
Both of these are ways of storing generation capacity rather than directly storing electricity. Here in New Zealand we make significant use of another way of storing generation capacity - hydro dams.
There is no reason we couldn't make greater use of solar or wind in New Zealand, especially in summer, and just not run the hydro plants as much. Even if water has to be spilt from the dams what would we be losing? In fact the revitalisation of downstream areas might bring other benefits.
Of course the electricity market in NZ has been constructed to try and wring every last cent of profit out of the infrastructure, and unused generation is anathema to that. And some electricity generators rely more on hydro than others.
But I'd love to see Christchurch coated in solar panels. if cloudy Germany can do it why can't we?