Lots of folks comment on the imperative to “get off the grid,” and I certainly understand that. I’m reminded of a young man who wrote to us shortly after 2GreenEnergy opened in 2009 who was so torqued with Pacific Gas and …
Category: Energy Storage
Grid-Scale Energy Storage from Batteries – Soon To Be Economically Viable
A happy consequence of humankind’s progress in energy technology is that all the major components associated with the generation, transmission, distribution, and consumption of energy are improving simultaneously. Here at 2GreenEnergy, we tend to talk mainly about generation, perhaps because …
Grid-Scale Energy Storage from Batteries – Soon To Be Economically Viable Read More »
Obama’s Decision on the Keystone XL Pipeline
Bill McKibben’s and my position on the Obama administration’s approach to energy policy and climate change are identical. In a sentence: Obama can’t have it both ways; he can’t simultaneously be proud of the fact that we now extract and …
Utilities Should Examine the Social Benefits of Energy Storage
I sat through a 75-minute-long session at Infocast’s “Storage Week” show yesterday, on the subject of the economics of energy storage. Three presenters took us through how they develop their models using fantastically complicated spreadsheets. For example, if we deploy …
Utilities Should Examine the Social Benefits of Energy Storage Read More »
How to Prevent Progress in the Generation, Transmission, and Distribution of Electricity
If you’re in the electrical utility business, getting the PUC’s approval to pass a cost you’ve incurred along to rate-payers is obviously a big deal; your goal is not to spend a nickel that you can’t recoup. But, where the …
How to Prevent Progress in the Generation, Transmission, and Distribution of Electricity Read More »
Infocast’s Annual “Storage Week” Show
Next week I’ll be headed up to Santa Clara (about three hours’ drive north from here) for Infocast’s Annual “Storage Week” show. The event’s producers claim that storage is headed for “hockey stick” growth over the coming few years, and …
Integrating More Solar and Wind Will Eventually Require Large-Scale Energy Storage Solutions
Guest blogger Cameron Atwood sent me this graph showing the increase in the use of solar and wind energy from 2005 to 2012. Impressive stuff. Here in the U.S., our grid-mix is currently comprised of more than 4% wind and …
Amprius: Cutting-Edge Battery Technology for Electric Vehicles and Utility-Scale Energy Storage
In the video I’ve linked, the young CEO of a high-tech start-up called Amprius, Chinese-born Yi Cui, talking about his background (Ph.D. from Harvard, currently a professor at Stanford), but, more importantly, providing a summary of his passion: batteries built …
Bill Gates and Energy Storage
Taking my own advice and “following the money,” I note that Bill Gates is investing in a start-up whose product is utility-scale energy storage. We are not far from the robust expansion of renewable energy, propelled by this solution (“aqueous …
Utility-Scale Energy Storage
Energy giant Alstom has nailed down a 120 million Euro contract to build a pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) plant in Israel. Currently, there is 129 gigawatts of this technology installed around the globe, and, as we sit here today, …
