27 Matching Annotations
  1. Jul 2025
    1. Long-term contracts, together with domestic gas production, typically accounted for 80-90% of the European Union’s natural gas consumption before the 2022 crisis. In the past two years, that share has dropped to around 50%. If no new contracts are signed and existing ones are not renewed, the share of spot gas and flexible LNG in total EU gas supply could increase to around two-thirds by 2030, which could increase exposure to short-term price volatility.

      This effectively sounds like a good argument for 24/7 style PPAs which include batteries, because this reduces exposure to the price of power on the spot market.

      Given the trend towards higher volatility, the consequences of being on the wrong side a price spike seem greater, and being able to hedge against that sounds increasingly valuable.

  2. Dec 2024
    1. Among other projects, ESS is providing its iron-based flow battery to the Nigerian firm Sapele Power, for use at a power plant. The goal is to cut the widespread use of diesel backup generators in Nigeria, by improving efficiency at the power plant.

      Flow batteries are being used in Nigeria to cut the use of backup diesel generators. Diesel is expensive enough to justify the use of an alternative.

  3. Oct 2024
    1. An interesting heuristic I came up with is that we should install 1 kWh of batteries for every kilowattpeak (kWp) of solar panels. On average solar panels will output around 20% of their rated peak power worldwide (see table). A good rule of thumb is that you want a minimum of 5 hours of storage in the future renewable grid. Five times 20% is 100%, hence 1 kWh of batteries for 1 kWp of solar panels.

      This shows the Germany having only 11-12% capacity factor for solar? I assumed it was close to Spain's figure

  4. Jul 2024
    1. As solar is displacing traditional assets, such as gas power plants, we are observing a relatively sharp increase in the price of some of the power reserves, which happens in the opposite direction than the prices on the day-ahead markets.

      This implies a massive rise in value for being able to provide reserve dispatchable power, like from batteries

  5. May 2024
    1. Over the past three years, battery storage capacity on the nation’s grids has grown tenfold, to 16,000 megawatts. This year, it is expected to nearly double again, with the biggest growth in Texas, California and Arizona.

      10x in 3 years?!

  6. Apr 2024
  7. Dec 2023
  8. Nov 2023
    1. Ore extraction is largest for EVs, growing 55 times from 2021, compared to 13 and 9 times for solar PV and wind power, respectively

      The share of mining going to cars is not really something we discuss in digital technology discussions enough

  9. Sep 2023
  10. Apr 2023
    1. You can indeed prolong moderns Li-Ion batteries lifespan by keeping them at a lower charge. If you never ever use it disconnected, you should keep it at 40%. E.g. Uber driver cellphone always-on in travels. However for daily light usage, 60% is considered the 'sweet spot' for practicality, and 80% gives you more freedom. 100% is when the battery is at its peak 'stress' level, and thus wear faster.
  11. Jan 2023
    1. But that’s just one way to get batteries into low-income customers’ homes. Sunrun also acts as a third-party owner of solar and battery systems that Grid Alternatives installs for customers that can’t or don’t want to borrow money to finance it. Third-party owners can monetize the value of federal tax credits for low-income households that don’t pay a large enough federal tax bill to take advantage of the credits themselves. 

      This feels like the project partner thing from before - income households can't access the support themselves, so you need an intermediary to arrange someone with a tax bill to recude, and presumably take a cut in the process.

    1. But filling a battery up and leaving it charged for days on end is not attractive – most battery operators make money by cycling (charging and discharging) at least once a day. Of all the interesting things to do with batteries, it’s not clear that solving curtailment will be the most lucrative.

      I wonder how much throughput to you need to break even?

  12. Dec 2022
  13. Oct 2022
  14. Jul 2022
  15. Jan 2022
  16. Sep 2019
    1. What killed the electric scooter back then is the same thing that killed the electric car of year 2000: terrible lead-acid battery technology

      Lithium Ion batteries matured and saved the electric scooters and cars market. Back then in the year 2000, lean-acid battery was too immature

  17. Sep 2017
  18. Jun 2017
    1. series of small, powerful and inexpensive paper-based “BioBatteries” that developed from a simple origami shape in the lab of Assistant Professor Seokheun “Sean” Choi, PhD—and run on bacteria found in a few drops of dirty water—could transform point-of-care diagnostic testing in remote locations across the globe where medical resources are scarce

      Cool!

  19. Feb 2017
    1. A) Lithium-ion cells used in cars aren’t especially hazardous and are classified as landfill safe, B) They’re almost all recycled anyway

      Great to know that! I've heard the myth multiple times but never found out if it was true or not (didn't search for a long time though). Links to sources would be appreciated.