{"id":6456,"date":"2018-11-09T18:39:41","date_gmt":"2018-11-09T23:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/herecomessolar.nyc\/?p=6456"},"modified":"2018-11-09T18:39:41","modified_gmt":"2018-11-09T23:39:41","slug":"batteries-are-fun-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solar1.org\/herecomessolar\/2018\/11\/09\/batteries-are-fun-5\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s So Fun About Batteries?!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter V. Grid is Great<\/strong><\/p>\n

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“The energy storage revolution will abandon today\u2019s boring, antiquated, mostly uni-directional grid for the dynamic grid of the future.”<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Well, it\u2019s been a while. I\u2019ve been terribly negligent, haven\u2019t I? My apologies. Damned Sisyphus changed the blog\u2019s login credentials without telling me. The mutinous monarch had grand designs for a blockbuster series of posts on his locomotive exploits, titled \u2013 what else? \u2013 The Fast & The SisyPhurious.<\/p>\n

There was even a poster:<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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What a dork, huh?<\/p>\n

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\u2666\u2666\u2666\u2666<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Here at WSFAB<\/em>, we\u2019re often asked, \u201cHow can I go off-grid?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Our answer, more often than not? \u201cPlease don\u2019t.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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In the popular imagination, energy storage is all about quitting the grid. Indeed, since the rise of solar photovoltaics a few decades ago, lead acid batteries and solar have made a great pair in remote areas. With the solar powering loads and charging the battery for night-time use, a well-designed, off-grid solar + storage system can provide clean, reliable electricity 24\/7.<\/p>\n

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So, what\u2019s the problem? For remote installations, there isn\u2019t one. Wherever you are, it is costly to connect a house (or any other electric load) to the grid, but these interconnection costs skyrocket the farther you get from dense webs of distribution wires. This isn\u2019t surprising. Where there is little infrastructure ready to serve a new load, and new wires must run long distances to reach that load, interconnection gets pretty pricey. The pricier it gets, the more attractive off-grid solar + storage becomes. But \u2013 if you are<\/em> close to the grid, it\u2019s probably cheaper to go with grid-tied solar and pull power from the grid at night.<\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s the cost comparison in its simplest form:<\/p>\n

Off-grid solar + storage cost =\u00a0<\/strong>Solar and storage installation cost + storage replacement cost (if necessary)<\/p>\n

-versus-<\/strong><\/p>\n

Grid-tied solar cost =\u00a0<\/strong>Solar installation cost + interconnection cost[note]This comparison requires a few basic assumptions:
\n–<\/strong> The solar will operate for 25+ years.
\n–<\/strong> The off-grid solar + storage will meet all electricity needs that would otherwise have been met by the grid-tied option.
\n–<\/strong> If the storage must be replaced in ~10 years (since most batteries lose degrade more quickly than solar PV), projected replacement costs will be included.[\/note]<\/p>\n

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If your home is a sylvan backwoods cabin or a sun-dappled island bungalow, going off-grid could very well be the cost-effective choice. But such cases are hugely outnumbered by those for which grid-tied solar is the cheaper option. And believe it or not, off-grid solar + storage is often less environmentally friendly<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>than grid-tied solar. This is because no battery is perfectly efficient at charging and discharging \u2013 about 20% of the energy with which it\u2019s charged will be lost by the time it\u2019s discharged.[note]And don\u2019t forget about the human and environmental costs<\/a> of manufacturing, shipping, and installing batteries. Exporting directly to the grid is much more efficient, meaning grid-tied solar offsets more carbon-intensive grid power.[\/note]<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The gist?<\/strong> In broad strokes, energy storage is reinventing the way we generate, deliver, and value power. But unless you\u2019re out in the middle of nowhere, off-grid solar + storage is typically less cost-effective than grid-tied solar. And that\u2019s fine! Because there are plenty of other reasons to add batteries to grid-tied solar, and if we want to build the dynamic grid of the future, we\u2019re going to need a lot of batteries on<\/em> the grid.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u2666\u2666\u2666\u2666<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Batteries have many flattering traits. Most flattering of all is the load \u201cflattening\u201d they can provide to the grid, by charging when the load on the grid is light, and discharging when it\u2019s heavy. This helps shift solar power to night-time, wind power to low-wind-time, and excess power of all kinds to peak-time. All three of these power-shifting behaviors can drive down electricity costs for utility customers and significantly reduce carbon emissions.[note]Of course, the use of renewable energy at times when the sun isn\u2019t shining and the wind isn\u2019t blowing is essential if we want a low-carbon grid. But what\u2019s the benefit in shifting non-renewable power from off-peak to on-peak times? \u201cPeakers\u201d are our nastiest, most carbon-intensive power plants, and they\u2019re used exclusively during \u2013 you guessed it! \u2013 peaks. If we can flatten grid peaks enough, the peakers won\u2019t need to turn on, leading to enormous carbon reductions. Energy storage is already beating peakers at their own game and, before long, might render them obsolete<\/a>.[\/note]<\/p>\n

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You don\u2019t have to run the Hoover Dam<\/a> or Grimes’ boyfriend’s Australian apparatus<\/a> to contribute – there are many ways in which a more modest grid-tied energy storage system can get paid to flatten loads. Better yet, such batteries can multitask. That is, they can smoothly alternate between different behaviors, maximizing usefulness and profitability. This is known as “value stacking.”<\/p>\n

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Check out all of the fun values in this stack!<\/p>\n

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