At COP28 in Dubai, there was an intensity of debate, a tsunami of evidence, a profusion of advocates, an electrifying urgency and a grasp of consequences we lack in New Zealand. Rod Oram reports.
I agree we are a long way from not needing a grid. I think the point of residential solar is that if you have solar panels on lots of houses, then part of the peak can be managed by stored power in batteries. You do this by using variable cost power (like some companies already do) along with battery systems that can schedule power from the battery for high cost times. All this technology already exists ,and means we don’t need more capacity (especially long distance line capacity) for moving the power, or for producing it because the issue is peak production not total production.
Pumped hydro is a great idea for power storage but the poster-child project has been cancelled now so it remains to be seen what will come of that.
I agree we are a long way from not needing a grid. I think the point of residential solar is that if you have solar panels on lots of houses, then part of the peak can be managed by stored power in batteries. You do this by using variable cost power (like some companies already do) along with battery systems that can schedule power from the battery for high cost times. All this technology already exists ,and means we don’t need more capacity (especially long distance line capacity) for moving the power, or for producing it because the issue is peak production not total production.
Pumped hydro is a great idea for power storage but the poster-child project has been cancelled now so it remains to be seen what will come of that.