This is the conclusion of Prof. David Andelman and Prof. Guy Deutscher from the School of Physics and Astronomy at Tel Aviv University, as part of an article they published about the applicability of using renewable energies instead of fuel
During peak days at the beginning of the month, the electric company announced twice about breaking the electricity consumption record. On August 2, the electricity consumption figure for the residents of the State of Israel was 12,420 megawatts, and the next day 12,800. The electricity company together with several private power producers has a production capacity of about 13,600 megawatts, but the cost of producing electricity during peak hours is very high, and requires the maintenance of production reserves throughout the year, but which come into operation only for a very limited period of time.
Part of this problem could be solved if the unnecessary electricity generated during off-peak hours could be stored and used during peak hours. This is how professors David Andelman and Guy Deutscher reason in the article titled: "Renewable energies as a solution to fuel addiction: reality or dream?", and it turns out that solving the storage problem could allow a massive increase in the use of renewable energies. The article was published in the World Policy Journal in June 2015.
"A challenging problem is the problem of storing electrical energy." the two write in their article. "Since there are no solutions for large-scale storage, the electricity that is produced piecemeal and not continuously by renewable energies must be supplied to the consumer immediately upon production. On the other hand, the commitment of the electric company is for a regular supply of electricity on demand. The problem that has arisen is an incompatibility between the ability to plan the production of electricity from a renewable source (which depends on the weather and/or the amount of sunlight) and the consumption that changes throughout the hours of the day (morning and evening) and according to the periods of the year (winter and summer)."
"A possible solution for storing electricity is to convert it into another energy that can be used on demand at a later time. For example, in Switzerland, excess electricity is used to pump water and store it in surface reservoirs located up the mountain. The water is then pumped down the mountain and drives hydro-electric turbines that generate electricity in times of overconsumption. "
"In the future, another solution for energy storage is the production of hydrogen in commercial quantities through an electrolysis process, in which the passage of an electric current separates the water molecules into their components, hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen is a completely clean energy source that does not emit CO2 or other greenhouse gases, and can be stored and used as needed in fuel cells that produce electricity. Already today there are concept cars in which an electric motor is powered by fuel cells instead of batteries."
Each house will have a battery for electricity that will last for one day
But who said that the electricity storage solution should only be implemented on a national scale?
Prof. Andelman and Prof. Deutscher explain: "Currently, there are still no cost-effective solutions for storing electricity on a large scale. In the short and medium term (several decades), distributed storage in small and medium storage units seems to be an excellent interim solution. Due to the accelerated commercialization of electric cars, there has been rapid progress in the development and lowering of costs of electric batteries with a capacity of several tens of kWh. A small electric car such as the Chevrolet Volt has a battery of about 20 kWh, and long-range electric cars, such as the Tesla Motors Model S, have a battery of 70-85 kWh that allows for a continuous drive of 450 kilometers between charges."
Tesla's initiative
"Recently, the Tesla company also started marketing storage units (batteries) called similar to the private home (with a capacity of about 10 kWh) and larger for industry under the Powerwall brand. These units, in optional combination with a renewable energy source, can provide most of the daily electricity consumption of a private consumer, and are an excellent solution for a large sector of private and business consumers. The electric company can provide electricity during low consumption hours (night), which will be stored by the consumer in order to use it later during peak consumption. Using a large amount of these units can significantly lower the costs of the electric company and "straighten the line" in electricity production. It will also enable considerable savings for consumers, if the electricity price charged to the consumer is adjusted to the daily and seasonal changes in electricity supply and demand. In order for a solution to be economically viable for the consumer. We must make sure that the initial investment in purchasing the storage unit, connecting it to the grid and maintaining it, will be returned to the consumer in a reasonable period of time by saving on the price of electricity."
In a conversation with the Hidan site, Prof. Andelman says: "Elon Musk (the entrepreneur and CEO of Tesla) came out with his announcement in February of this year - distributed electricity storage for consumers by batteries with a power more or less suitable for household electricity consumption per day, at a price of $3,500 per unit . Within a week, he sold the systems for $900 million, much more than Apple's iPhone sales during the week of the announcement, and this is Tesla's production capacity for the next year and a half."
As mentioned, these batteries will help regulate electricity consumption from the grid and thus save the electricity company a lot of money. A significant part of the cost of electricity stems from the great volatility according to seasons and according to the time of day, when the electricity company has to supply the electricity during the peak hours and reserve production reserves.
"Another possible solution is to combine the storage unit with solar panels to produce electricity. For example, in the winter, the electricity will be stored in the storage unit during the day and sold back to the electricity company at a high price during peak demand hours: between 4 pm and 10 pm. It is clear that electricity storage and even its production in a decentralized manner can provide a solution to a number of current problems in the electricity sector, but beyond the technological solutions, it requires significant changes in the policy and pricing of electricity at the national level", Prof. Deutscher concludes.
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It is possible to build two pools at different heights with a turbine between them. At night the cheap electricity will be used to pump the water from the low pool to the high pool and during the day the water will flow and turn on the turbine and generate expensive electricity 🙂
In the summer, the load can be easily handled if there was a government plan for solar energy on the roofs/walls. In winter it might be a bit more of a problem
There was and will never be a historical misstep like the Sherev chimneys.
Indeed an excellent solution, but you don't have to wait for Tesla.
It's not like they have a patent on batteries or the ability to supply the entire world's consumption.
They would do well in Israel if they set up a competing company here to produce batteries with advanced technology.
Perhaps the electric company can take it upon itself through the establishment of a subsidiary company.
It will certainly help to close their budget hole, and they have no problems of marketing, distribution or expertise in electricity.
The whole article is a Tesla marketing project. There are still no rechargeable batteries of the quality, quantity and price that allows significant energy accumulation. Maybe one day there will be.
Meanwhile, the only option for energy storage is a system of two lakes with a serious height difference (about a kilometer) and a reasonable distance (about 10 km). Turbines are used to raise the water and those turbines are used to generate electricity when the water goes down. I guess the losses are 3-5% per cycle. In addition to the Switzerland mentioned in the article, the technology has been used for decades in Colorado, USA.
In addition, the production of electrical energy in photovoltaic collectors almost does not require storage, since the main consumption today is air conditioners, which are turned on exactly when the sun is strong.
There are many ways to save electricity but stupidity rules.
In Israel, water is purified using electricity, then pumped and sent
them to distances and heights also using electricity - with a lot
Losses on the way - then most of the water sent as sewage is also drained
Yes, through electricity - with quite a few losses - and for those who grow a garden
(or just want to flush a toilet) We sell desalinated water
"New" includes all the costs and losses I mentioned.
If domestic treatment and recycling of water were encouraged
Grays instead of sticking sticks in the wheels would save
Lots of electricity and air pollution. And it was also a lot
Cheaper than any home electricity storage.
Energy storage is a good interim solution, it should be taken into account that in every energy storage there are large losses of energy and damage of one kind or another to the environment.
The real solution is to use the Earth's atmosphere as a large energy reservoir and convert the potential energy of the heat in the air into available energy.
Today there is one system that partially knows how to utilize the atmosphere and that is heat pumps, but it is not possible to produce energy other than heat from it.
Another system that is currently in open stages is a system that knows how to convert the heat energy of the Earth's atmosphere into mechanical energy and heat into electricity.