11–20 of 257 posts
The fact that in the opening hook the author mistook the state of South Australia for a province just me doubt even more how close to reality this is.
Is that not close enough to how states in Australia work that you can accept the mistake and move on?
The graph partway down is pretty interesting. In terms of grid battery capacity that's in the works, Australia is second only to China (albeit a fairly distant second). They're even beating the US in 3rd place, which also highlights how much we're slacking in this space. If Australia is successful here, I wonder if it will spur more investment in places like the US. China is probably not a good bellwether since they…
Edit: although I do wonder if all the "planned" projects will become reality
The graph partway down is pretty interesting. In terms of grid battery capacity that's in the works, Australia is second only to China (albeit a fairly distant second). They're even beating the US in 3rd place, which also highlights how much we're slacking in this space. If Australia is successful here, I wonder if it will spur more investment in places like the US. China is probably not a good bellwether since they…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The cost however remains remarkably high. A combination of renewables and giant piles of lithium is more expensive than nuclear, by quite a bit. [1] Anyways, the future is a mix of all sorts of things and this is a strict improvement so it's hard to be anything other than supportive. [1] https://spectrum.ieee.org/what-energy-storage-would-have-to-...
It doesn't matter that nuclear is cheaper if you can't build a nuclear plant . The difference is that a lithium battery facility can be installed and functional in 12-24 months. A nuclear plant takes 12-24 years . Much like World War I strategies, a solution that nobody has the political will to implement isn't a solution.
These things aren't comparable without putting it together as a system.
> A nuclear plant takes 12-24 years.
You're thinking about wild outliers there. It's around 6.5 years median [1].
[1] https://hannahritchie.substack.com/p/nuclear-construction-ti...
Anecdotal: SA was pushing towards clean energy notably before the battery came in, but in turn, had a very unstable grid, and the things like energy trading et al. were tied up in international ownership iirc (needing authorization to do a large energy trade required someone from France giving approval, timezones didn't match up, and the grid fully shut down for a significant period of time)
After the battery was put in and operational, (noting that other things may also have been happening that I'm not aware of), the grid ended up being a lot more stable. Almost a night-and-day feeling to the change.
Overall the local sentiment about it is "electricity is too expensive", https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-15/australian-energy-reg... A very hot topic.
The graph partway down is pretty interesting. In terms of grid battery capacity that's in the works, Australia is second only to China (albeit a fairly distant second). They're even beating the US in 3rd place, which also highlights how much we're slacking in this space. If Australia is successful here, I wonder if it will spur more investment in places like the US. China is probably not a good bellwether since they…
Probably a dumb question, but would mass-batterification leave our society extremely vulnerable to EMP?
The graph partway down is pretty interesting. In terms of grid battery capacity that's in the works, Australia is second only to China (albeit a fairly distant second). They're even beating the US in 3rd place, which also highlights how much we're slacking in this space. If Australia is successful here, I wonder if it will spur more investment in places like the US. China is probably not a good bellwether since they…
Probably a dumb question, but would mass-batterification leave our society extremely vulnerable to EMP?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It doesn't matter that nuclear is cheaper if you can't build a nuclear plant . The difference is that a lithium battery facility can be installed and functional in 12-24 months. A nuclear plant takes 12-24 years . Much like World War I strategies, a solution that nobody has the political will to implement isn't a solution.
> The difference is that a lithium battery facility can be installed and functional in 12-24 months. These things aren't comparable without putting it together as a system. > A nuclear plant takes 12-24 years. You're thinking about wild outliers there. It's around 6.5 years median [1]. [1] https://hannahritchie.substack.com/p/nuclear-construction-ti...
The fact that in the opening hook the author mistook the state of South Australia for a province just me doubt even more how close to reality this is.
province - an administrative district or division of a country Is that not close enough to how states in Australia work that you can accept the mistake and move on?