Negative electricity prices occurred in Switzerland for a few hours the other day - just a few months after electricity prices reached absolute record highs. Private consumers in Switzerland, however, do not benefit directly from the novel phenomenon.
On windy and sunny Sundays, when wind turbines and photovoltaic systems produce a lot of electricity but little is needed, European electricity prices, and thus also Swiss prices, temporarily fall into the red.
This is not necessarily bad if industries are able to adapt to run their machines during the parts of the day when electricity is cheaper.
But it also shows that renewables are only part of the story. We really need decent steerable energy sources. The problem might become even worse if hydro runs into problems with glaciers melting.
I believe storage is most concerning. Other than pumping water up into reservoirs for later we don’t have any great way to store a lot of energy
batteries do not have enougt capacity. The can bypass a day - maybe two. However, we need a solution to store energy during the summer to use it during winter. And as for now, this is only possible with pumped storage power plants.
Uhm, batteries?
The efficiency of batteries is nowhere near enough for them to be applicable at this scale. That’s why we have pumped hydro storage or (questionable) start-ups like EnergyVault that uses cranes and concrete blocks as a means of storing energy.
EnergyVault is a scam. Just pump water, that’s way better and actually works
I mean most start-ups seem like scams to get investor money. Of course hydro pump storage is good but also those pipes up a hill/mountainside can ruin the view more than some wind turbines would.
And these concrete brik towers are better looking? Need less maintenance? Don’t produce tons of CO2 because they’re made from concrete?
According to their website, one tower could safe about the power generated by one wind turbine. That’s ridiculous. People already complain about wind turbines and now we want to build equal amounts of concrete towers?
If towers are so awesome, couldn’t we just fill them with water? That’s cheaper and better for the environment.
You’ve got the wrong impression that I said that in defense of concrete towers. I wouldn’t like having that in the backyard either and they seem terribly inefficient.
A water tower is a good idea! I mean if people accept those huge grain silos in cities, one filled with water would also work. That way we could have storage closer to consumers and protect landscapes.