Musk really does seem to be following his pattern of maximally engaging government contracts and subsidies. (That's not necessarily a criticism, just an observation, and one others have made before.)
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Tesla Wins Contract to Help Power the California Grid
41–50 of 218 posts
Re: Tesla Wins Contract to Help Power the California Grid
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think this is very much a success of technology. I see it as battery tech having advanced enough (at a slow, but exponential rate) to bring us to a point where this is technologically possible AND economical
I guess what I am trying to say is that the future is rather lame and predictable. When imagining the future we are sometimes thinking there will be some giant jump forward, while in reality it is just decades and decades of minimizing microchips, increasing photovoltaic efficiency, improving batteries. This technology (except the microchip) is from the 19th (!) century. On top of that we are using some statistical m…
The day a room temp superconductor is developed (and is scalable to mass production) you'll see that change in a crazy hurry. Assuming we're alive then, which is probably not a safe assumption. There are a few things like that which could change the game almost overnight, but a room temp superconductor would be one of, if not the biggest.
Re: Tesla Wins Contract to Help Power the California Grid
#43There was a really neat class I took in college on the economics of elctricity markets, and one of the things you discuss is base vs peak power generating plants (as discussed other places in this thread) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacity_factor seems to be a nice introduction to the idea.
A few years ago, one of the more interesting responses I had to an announcement of a project in to modern asset-generic, topology-generic, risk model-generic, actor-perspective oriented transaction protocols[1] was a US academic engineer interested in applications to electrical grids and embedded power systems in resource-constrained environments. I would like to have continued further and still believe in the currency of such a system (especially given rapidly evolving, complex risk models in infrastructure systems of all types), unfortunately my employer had other priorities and I have not had reason to return to the project. The IFEX protocol notes in particular may be interesting reading for those in the area, however.
Re: Tesla Wins Contract to Help Power the California Grid
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's pretty important to realize that this isn't the problem that needs solving. Batteries aren't great for large amounts of power for long periods of time (yet). What they are good at is smoothing out the supply curve from potentially intermittent suppliers like solar and wind, and that is one of the things that causes price spikes.
Having real-time pricing of electricity coupled with users who can adapt their usage automatically to real-time prices will also considerably moderate power demand.
Most peoples electricity usage is relatively inelastic and no one wants the cognitive overload of checking electricity prices before they put the TV on.
Re: Tesla Wins Contract to Help Power the California Grid
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think this is very much a success of technology. I see it as battery tech having advanced enough (at a slow, but exponential rate) to bring us to a point where this is technologically possible AND economical
I guess what I am trying to say is that the future is rather lame and predictable. When imagining the future we are sometimes thinking there will be some giant jump forward, while in reality it is just decades and decades of minimizing microchips, increasing photovoltaic efficiency, improving batteries. This technology (except the microchip) is from the 19th (!) century. On top of that we are using some statistical m…
If the future is predictable to you, use that ability to make trillions of dollars and then use the resulting power to impact the future. Whining about it on the internet just makes you seem dismissive.
Re: Tesla Wins Contract to Help Power the California Grid
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Having real-time pricing of electricity coupled with users who can adapt their usage automatically to real-time prices will also considerably moderate power demand.
Most peoples electricity usage is relatively inelastic and no one wants the cognitive overload of checking electricity prices before they put the TV on.
However, wouldn't it make sense to e.g. adjust heating/air conditioning depending on electricity spot price? That's then just a gadget that gets the information and guides the home system.
It'll probably be more meaningful in some industrial plants though, if there's any such energy-intensive industry.
Re: Tesla Wins Contract to Help Power the California Grid
#47I think its important to note, for those who complain Tesla can't compete against pumped storage or other utility scale storage methods, that Tesla is able to have this deployed in 3 months (this is partly because Tesla can just drop racks of batteries on site and be up and running, and partly because of the regulatory environment after the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage complex leak fiasco). Edit: This will replac…
> Well played.
Well planned for sure too. These things don't happen by chance. I'm sure they were planning for this all along. Good for them.
Re: Tesla Wins Contract to Help Power the California Grid
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess what I am trying to say is that the future is rather lame and predictable. When imagining the future we are sometimes thinking there will be some giant jump forward, while in reality it is just decades and decades of minimizing microchips, increasing photovoltaic efficiency, improving batteries. This technology (except the microchip) is from the 19th (!) century. On top of that we are using some statistical m…
The day a room temp superconductor is developed (and is scalable to mass production) you'll see that change in a crazy hurry. Assuming we're alive then, which is probably not a safe assumption. There are a few things like that which could change the game almost overnight, but a room temp superconductor would be one of, if not the biggest.
Following my hypothesis would suggest that in the end we will "just" gradually lower the room temperature to -70°C.
Re: Tesla Wins Contract to Help Power the California Grid
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess what I am trying to say is that the future is rather lame and predictable. When imagining the future we are sometimes thinking there will be some giant jump forward, while in reality it is just decades and decades of minimizing microchips, increasing photovoltaic efficiency, improving batteries. This technology (except the microchip) is from the 19th (!) century. On top of that we are using some statistical m…
If the future is predictable to you, use that ability to make trillions of dollars and then use the resulting power to impact the future. Whining about it on the internet just makes you seem dismissive.
I predict that solar will be used in the future. How do I make trillions with that wisdom? You can only make money with predictions you are right on but others are not.
> Whining about it on the internet just makes you seem dismissive.
That was not my intention at all. It was more the child in me that wanted to see flying cars and jetpacks instead of massive adoption of stuff, which has been here for 150 years. I still welcome that it is done.
Re: Tesla Wins Contract to Help Power the California Grid
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
The day a room temp superconductor is developed (and is scalable to mass production) you'll see that change in a crazy hurry. Assuming we're alive then, which is probably not a safe assumption. There are a few things like that which could change the game almost overnight, but a room temp superconductor would be one of, if not the biggest.
Following my hypothesis would suggest that in the end we will "just" gradually lower the room temperature to -70°C.
I wasn't expecting to laugh out loud here, thanks!