Texas’ battery storage: a boom and bust market? | FT Energy Source

Investment in battery storage systems across the US has surged in 2024, especially in Texas. The FT’s Myles McCormick looks at how climactic conditions that lead to a fluctuating power supply, combined with the state’s low-regulation, business-friendly energy market has created ideal conditions to build battery storage sites quickly and at scale. But are we looking at a boom-bust market?
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[@Craig_Broadbent]

Economics beating politics. Green beating black in TEXAS.

[@WigglyCoop007]

No. Black is still more profitable. Energy demand is just so high Black can’t entirely cover it leading to room for green to take some market share. Also just b/c Texas doesn’t have policies disincentivizing fossil fuels, the US does. Not saying black is better only that it is still winning.

[@Nainara32]

Texas kilowatt hours prices are slightly lower than the national average. However, Texas has had some pretty high profile statewide grid outages in the last few years. I wouldn't hold it up as the posterchild of policy success, especially compared to the likes of Washington state.

[@sebastianorye2702]

@@WigglyCoop007 Sure, but Texas is a prime example of what a free *unregulated* market can do. Sure, there are federal incentives, but no local ones to boost that. And despite that, they are growing faster than any other state in everything sustainability. And the state of local politics makes it ever more surprising. The crazy thing is that California, a state with more incentives, more volatile higher prices (currently increasing), bigger population, higher GDP (total&/capita), and a local government heavily pushing it. And despite that, they are falling short. What makes it even more ridiculous, is that the very company in California responsible for the highest exports and most manufacturing is the company the politicians are fighting and pushing out of state. And that company is perhaps the biggest contributor to a green future, both in battery storage, vehicles and software supporting both.

[@aoeuuaoaou]

@@WigglyCoop007 Winning what? What "profitable" are you talking about? In electricity generation, via the arbitrary ERCOT uplift rules put in place to help out NG and coal?

[@WigglyCoop007]

@@aoeuuaoaou the uplift rules? I don’t know why you think that they specifically help ng and coal. Regardless though. There is a reason ng has over taken oil in energy production and it’s the same reason Solar and wind have yet to over take oil. It is not economically desirable yet. I’m very aware all in solar plus batteries becomes cheaper than oil and ng. But it doesn’t really matter because the infrastructure of the oil and ng is already in place so they will phase out over time.

[@edilee5909]

From watching real time MWh electricity pricing on Ercot's website for almost 2 years, I can tell you that we won't get a bust until at least 20x the current capacity comes online. When the 13 GW solar dies out near sunset, the current 0.3-0.4GW battery output capacity is almost insignificant, and natural gas already almost gets maxed out in the summer.

[@lift_play_boogie]

20x the capacity is a handful of years away give the precipitous drop in battery prices and grid installations.

[@JSM-bb80u]

With the s-curve growth we can easily get 13 GW battery for 4-5 hours within 10 years. Same happened with solar. International energy agency always under estimated it. In 2015 IEA predicted total solar would reach 1600 GW in 2025. But we reached 2300 GW by 2023 in reality. Now IEA updated it's predictions to 3000 GW by 2025.

[@ashleigh3021]

Yep

[@craigwebber2270]

I comission 42 PV sites in Ercot in 2024 all 100-500mw. 80 %of them have plans to add BESS to the sites

[@markthomasson5077]

Factor in wind?

[@FlameofDemocracy]

Batteries can always be moved, or recycled. In any case, store surplus energy, and use it when there are peaks, or as assurance.

[@bicin4k]

"recycled" lol

[@Sagadrequiem]

Nuclear far exceeds all others

[@skierpage]

​@@Sagadrequiemno private utility will ever build another conventional nuclear plant when it takes 15 years and cost 15 billion dollars. A bunch of startups are pursuing small molten sodium liquid modular thorium blah blah generator design, but none has yet demonstrated its approach will be quick or cheap. Meanwhile wind and solar are the bulk of new generation everywhere in the world.

[@Mrbfgray]

They replace ultra expensive, relatively slow responding "peaker plants" and stabilize the grid, responding faster than anything else can, nearly instantaneously.

[@kristine8107]

They've got some really good, novel battery recycling plants rn, just need to scale.

[@qlmbusinessnews]

Absolutely agree! Texas is truly at the forefront of battery storage innovation! The combination of fluctuating power supply and a supportive market environment makes it a unique case to watch. 💡🌟 It'll be interesting to see if this boom sustains itself or leads to a bust. Let's keep an eye on these developments! 🚀

[@aoeuuaoaou]

The huge, and still growing, wind really set this up 10+ years ago. We just needed battery prices to come within range. The huge burst of solar now, we're up over 10% of grid production from solar (passing coal) is creating even more purpose for these batteries than wind, IMO.

[@Slickrock72]

Uh, check out Californias battery storage capacity.

[@aoeuuaoaou]

@@Slickrock72 They are also at forefront, with currently larger deployed since they started ahead. Feb 2021 was a real come to Hey-Zeus moment for ERCOT in a number of ways. That was a big motivation for these battery projects commissioning now, a realization that they needed to get a handle on things. The quickly growing wind+solar share of generation also made it clear they needed to move away from baseload generation thinking.

[@banksiasong]

Thank you President Biden for his Inflation Reduction Act (Renewables).

[@lokesh303101]

It's a Blessing and Boom for Humanity.

[@tlw314159]

Seems like a boom with definitely no bust. Demand continues to outstrip supply. Buy materials from suppliers that are outside the chinese market like with novonix or even one day with Talga. These producers will reduce the reliance on one country to produce all battery materials.

[@maximusasauluk7359]

Not to mention Sodium ion developments. Their supply chain is in infancy and technology is not yet mature. But they are even more durable than impressive LFPs (that are now coming to market) and not only are they even cheaper to make, but use no lithium, technically meaning any country can make them, no reliance on foreign lithium.

[@davidnika446]

You stock promoter you! *Me too- good honest way to do it. I approve!

[@freeheeler09]

Batteries, as they continue to grow less expensive, are going to disrupt the current electric utility monopoly and petroleum cartel models for power generation and distribution. For most Americans, it is cheaper, averaged over a time period of greater than 10 years, to power our homes and cars with solar and batteries than with traditional fossil fuels.

[@defertyx]

Until we run out of the precious resources needed to make the batteries.

[@ashleigh3021]

@@defertyxBut we aren’t going to run out of oil or gas? Lol.

[@ImpossibleSolution-k6w]

@@defertyx batteries and solar can and are recycled very successfully. We just need to make sure that they do this with all batteries and solar panels and that nothing gets wasted in land fill.

[@infini.tesimo]

​@@ashleigh3021Not for a long time

[@megaeazy3]

@@defertyxthere are other types of battery technology now like sodium ions battery and Heat thermal battery. These batteries raw material is abundant in nature and we would never run out.

[@gw7514]

This is great example where green is competitive! It would be good to reported on the system weaknesses.

[@crawkn]

The absolute cost of energy isn't the source of profit in storage, the _differential_ cost is. If absolute prices fall across the board, the time-of-use price spread is reduced by a much lesser amount. Grid storage is in massive under-supply, and promises to be so for the foreseeable future.

[@codycast]

Such an amazing example of the free market doing its thing

[@M69392]

Funny enough megawatts are less emotional and simpler than healthcare. No place to hide and rip off people in need.

[@glennnielsen8054]

Texas radiates freedom.

[@cgatito3528]

Except if you want to smoke a little wackey weed. Then you have no freedom in Texas.

[@jaapfolmer7791]

Ahh! The lovely sound of the deathknell for fossil fuels! In Texas of all places. And both solar and battery storage are still getting better and cheaper.

[@magicmathmandarin762]

Fossil fuel has many other uses

[@jaapfolmer7791]

@@magicmathmandarin762 A few, yes, like feedstock for polymers, pharmaceuticals or AG products. But that is a small portion of their market. Their main market is energy and they will now experience actual competition on that market, something they have always considered themselves exempt from. Competition that will eat into their market share and into their profits and rob them of the power to set prices as a cartel. And impede their ability to raise capital.

[@Suburp212]

Just boom, never bust. These storages will save the US from outages.

[@billwilson-es5yn]

The Texas battery storage operations have been complaining about being unable to sell their current during peak periods due to a lack of space in the transmission lines. Governor Abbott said their problem is due to the nature of battery storage systems discharging at different rates so their DC to AC inverters are pushing out current below 60 Hertz. ERCOT won't allow their current to enter the transmission lines if the thermal generation plants cannot spin up additional current to balance the grid as theirs enter the lines. Abbott said the battery operations could sell their current later in the evening for less when the thermal plants have the capacity to balance the grid or the operations could invest in grid-forming inverters that push out current at 60 Hertz. Those inverters use more stored power to do that plus their cost isn't subsidized by the Feds or the state. Some wind farm operations have the same complaints for the same reason. Texas found a solution for those cheapskate renewables operations by allowing them to export current to an electric utility in Central Mississippi thru a yet to be built transmission line running thru East Texas and Louisiana into Mississippi.

[@lu56773]

In case of outage the batteries can effectively support the grid only for minutes not many hours or days. Business case is the frequency stabilization and arbitrage electricity trade.

[@Nicholas-f5]

I worked on the EV chargers shown in Austin

[@Mrbfgray]

Global batt storage market is massive, way beyond current production, companies like CATL and Tesla are making good money in this market and growing production incredibly fast, in the neighborhood on 100% yr over yr.

[@hkad6252]

The market leader for private home batteries is a German Company called Sonnen I believe.

[@AK-74K]

@@hkad6252 Market leader over the Chinese? I don't think so, they dominate this space.

[@LarsMach]

Well, to me grid battery projects are required to deal with renewables from some relative scale onwards (balancing, when thermal power plants cannot effectively do that to a greater extend), while on the other hand such investments' nature might remind on "hit and run", because when capacities (number of projects) grow, more and more competitors come up for buying excessive electricity from the grid for charging - and tariff peaks will be lowered likewise. Such investments need short payback times to be safe. It reminds me on my work for a Canadian investment fund some 20 years ago: They had invested in biomass plants, and the founder explained the concept to me ("draw a circle around the plant and you get the cost of fuel to ship wood waste that forest owners have to get rid of"). Weeks later he was dismayed when forest owners asked to pay for their wood waste: Another biomass plant was built in the vicinity.

[@urbanstrencan]

Awesome project

[@idiotsloveboxes]

I am glad to see & hear about this. That said, as a Texan, all I can think about is Winter Storm Uri. I was without electricity for exactly 72 hours. That was pretty dang memorable. It was an exceedingly painful experience for Texans. Are these battery storage facilities equipped to handle 6 inches of snow? Is the transmission of power to the batteries from West Texas weatherized? Are the lines that transmit power from the batteries to communities weatherized for multiple days of freezing cold?

[@krakken-]

Battery storage helps certainly. But in Texas, the energy production went offline. Storage can only save Texas for so long without energy production, so Texas still needs to weathers its production capacity to prevent a recurrence of that disaster.

[@skierpage]

Neither the wind turbines nor the unnatural gas pumps in Texas were weatherized for low-temperature operation. The downside of selective and poor regulation.

[@M69392]

​@@skierpagegood luck passing regulation forcing people to pay insurance for something that never happens.

[@skierpage]

@@M69392 huh? It's not insurance, it's requiring that electrical generation and transmission facilities. be able to withstand a cold spell that is not uncommon in Texas.

[@M69392]

@skierpage insurance means means more than you think, look it up.

[@ianpatrick23]

So great to see batteries integrating into our power

[@AquaAdventure-o5v]

Tandem solar cells made with perovskites are entering commercial production, and manufacturers see a path towards a 30 to 40 percent increase in solar panel efficiency over the next 5 to 7 years. If solid state batteries also increase battery capacity at lower cost during the same period, places like Texas may create the conditions for a tipping point in the dominance of renewable energy production.

[@crawkn]

The concept of storage "eating its own lunch" is recursive. It's like saying "we already have a car, therefore we don't need cars." We will have storage because we need it, and having it doesn't eliminate the need for it. When we stop needing more of it except at attrition rates, production will simply fall to attrition rates, as is the case in any market.

[@nicholaslogan7232]

$450k Returns the Lord is my saviour in times of my need!!!

[@bernardallen9058]

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[@nicholaslogan7232]

It's Ms. Susan Jane Christy doing, she's changed my life.

[@AndreWilliams131]

After I raised up to 325k trading with her I bought a new House and a car here in the states 🇺🇸🇺🇸 also paid for my son's surgery (Oscar). Glory to God.shalom.

[@janetfreeman2300]

Absolutely! I've heard stories of people who started with little to no knowledge but made it out victoriously thanks to Ms. Susan Jane Christy.

[@Andrewp226]

Can't imagine earning $85,000 biweekly, God bless Ms. Susan Jane Christy, God bless America 🇺🇸♥️

[@wind-leader_jp]

As the proportion of solar power generation increases, we must consider the risk of sudden drops in power generation due to clouds. This is because if the amount of power generated suddenly decreases, the burden on thermal power plants will increase, and there is a risk of major power outages due to a drop in frequency. That's why I think backup with storage batteries is necessary, but it is also true that a large amount of CO2 was emitted in China to produce these batteries. Nowadays, even if we use the air conditioner on a sunny summer day, it is supplemented by solar power generation, so not much CO2 is emitted. However, after sunset, solar power generation is disabled, so I recommend my wind-based heat exhaust system. In fact, I achieved carbon neutrality this summer with a modest 2.8kW solar panel mounted on the roof and an Icon wind cooling system. Newer homes that boast zero energy require solar panels of 6kW or more, so reducing CO2 emissions with a 2.8kW solar panel is excellent and also helps reduce electricity consumption after sunset.

[@stephenmiller5308]

The idea of charging batteries when solar and/or wind has excess (cheap) capacity and using the batteries later when solar and/or wind are less available seems like a great idea. The problem is that that with our largely deregulated energy rates, there is an enormous potential for aggressive price gouging like what happened in February 2021 when during the period of outages, the wholesale electric price was $9,000/megawatt-hour, compared to a more typical $25/MWh. There was evidence that some power producers deliberately took some energy generation offline in order to create the shortage to justify the price gouging.

[@Nun195]

Yep, this is why markets shouldn’t exist for essential goods and services.

[@richardnwilson]

Grid size battery storage is a fantastic compliment to intermittent Alternative Energy but To say a grid battery can power 20,000 homes is a totally useless statement. The key thing is for how long? People who report on alternative energy need to understand these subjects better before they report on them.

[@krakken-]

The statement is incomplete, not “totally useless”😊. Today, battery storage is sized for up to 4 hours (because that’s where the economics are superior). Other storage technologies are more cost effective for longer durations. Although, with battery costs decreasing by 10%-20% each year, batteries are increasingly competitive even for longer term storage. (But the battery production volumes aren’t yet there to expand to arbitrary durations).

[@JSM-bb80u]

A place like Texas or California can easily mange with only 4-5 hours of battery storage. Also battery costs are plummeting. And newer battery technologies like sodium ion are coming to market. Sodium is the perfect technology for grid storage.

[@Nun195]

I agree but megawatt hours don’t mean anything to an average person, ft is tailoring is reporting to an audience below your competency .

[@rhiantaylor3446]

This briefly touches on a huge issue - who is going to pay for the over-provision of wind and solar PV, for there to be enough capacity for times with little wind or sun ? It is easy to see the economics or providing "enough" supply capacity but if you need 3 to 4 times as much supply capacity as compared to normal demand, the economics are very different.

[@kev4241]

normal demand keeps growing abnormally

[@skierpage]

Solar and wind plus battery storage will increase to meet more demand more of the time, as explained in this video. Variable demands like space pre-heating and -cooling and EV charging will will you use more energy when renewables are generating, and natural gas plants will start up to handle those rare periods when they're not. Decarbonizing the last ~25% of generation will be challenging.

[@lawrenceheyman435]

My understanding is that these are privately owned companies (all energy generation and batteries). So if they lose money, it's their problem. If you don't agree, please explain why.

[@offthegridwithrashad]

Hey family!! Welcome to the trials and tribulations of living a peaceful life off grid lol. The road that cuts through our property is about half a mile of sand that’s about a foot deep and turns into mud when it rains so I know all about getting stuck out here! Time for some all terrain tires!!

[@Eponymous300]

Of course if Texas were hooked up to the national grid, they could ship excess energy across state lines (and vice versa) and lessen the need for batteries.

[@gianpaulgraziosi6171]

How much water can they hold?

[@JohnMcLovin-xq3qg]

Where’s the bust? Those batteries are going to be helpful during those brutal summers.

[@OptimusPrime-x9x]

If you’re going to keep their power grind disconnected from the national grid, it make sense.

[@bluettr250]

Remove all subsidies

[@gpsfinancial6988]

Yes, the oil and gas ones in particular. Farming subsidies should go, but Trump is about to kill export markets again so the farmers will stay as welfare queens or they will go bankrupt.

[@jaadotech]

Good to see Rainman got a job at a battery storage facility 👍

[@dylanwomack]

No mention of Tesla Megapack

[@andkosification]

No mention of any other storage supplier as well.

[@KevinLyda]

What I don't get is why those battery farms don't have solar panels on top of them. Especially in Texas where you'd reduce cooling costs. Even better if you could pull off the heat and do something with that.

[@skierpage]

We should put solar everywhere, but at most 10 kW of solar panels on top of a 750 kW container-sized battery doesn't make much of a dent. "Doing something" with heat involves moving it around with pumps, tanks, and heat exchangers; unless you have a need for low-grade heat nearby it's inefficient and high maintenance.

[@keesvandenbroek331]

Now, find a way to get rid of the lithium in batteries. There are other chemical solutions out there. still in prototype phase, but promising more environmentally friendly solutions.

[@cdavey7654]

Seems strange that Telsa was not shown or mentioned in this video/story (unless I just missed it)… 🤔

[@KevinLyda]

Is Tesla allowed to sell their cars in Texas yet?

[@cdavey7654]

@@KevinLyda I think so, maybe they just have to order online or something vs going to a showroom. Not 100% sure on that.

[@falkenvir]

Tesla doesn't play utility scale BESS

[@cdavey7654]

@@falkenvir Do a search for Telsa Megapack. (seems maybe YT deleted the link I tried to share)

[@michaeldiaz4942]

@@KevinLyda Tesla has been selling cars in Texas for years. What Tesla couldn't do until about a year ago was submit the vehicle registration for you like the dealerships could, so they would mail you the registration paperwork and you would have to register it yourself.

[@robify4]

🙌🏽

[@rl8571]

These are still Lithium Ion and not Lithium Iron. They designed for fire safety. Had they used lithium iron they could stack those on top of each other as it has less risk of a fire hazard. Destroy and replace as the real estate can be used more efficiently.

[@Jp-bowser5]

Thank you Lord Jesus for the gift of life and blessings to me and my family $14,120.47 weekly profit Our lord Jesus have lifted up my Life!!! 🙏❤️

[@johnmightymole2284]

Vehicle to grid will disrupt this

[@gus473]

With a big battery and solar, why put my rural home on "a grid" at all? Getting difficult to see much advantage to it. Particularly with the energy auction pricing model! (⁠/⁠¯⁠◡⁠ ⁠‿⁠ ⁠◡⁠)⁠/⁠¯⁠ ⁠~⁠ ⁠┻⁠━⁠┻

[@richardnwilson]

Initial Capital cost is the only reason I can see and that is getting lower everyday

[@Alelifechannel]

If u were on a national grid this would be less necessary

[@a.wgilbert5001]

Mr.. Drill baby Drill Will call this a hoax.

[@greetings2510]

Interesting how they keep saying "noo its not because of climate change, its because of profit!!!!"

[@krakken-]

It is because of profit. Civilizations don’t do well addressing risks 5+ years away, but renewables and battery storage are already economic winners today.

[@azerko]

It's not totally clear. Batteries are great for supporting the grids during changes. But it's going to be very expensive to keep them supplying the energy for hours and hours. It's that's a Mix between batteries and gas will be the way

[@krakken-]

Batteries are cost effective (currently) for 4 hours of storage. There are other technologies that are more cost effective (for now) for long term storage. But, as battery costs decrease by 10%-20% each year, batteries are increasingly competing even with the longer term storage

[@JSM-bb80u]

​​@@krakken-When sodium ion becomes mainstream other technologies would become less relevant. Last week BYD commercialized it's mega watt scale sodoum ion battery. CATL introduced it's second generation sodium ion batteries too. Natrion is building it's factory in USA

[@ashleigh3021]

Nope. Batteries are much more cost effective than Gas and cost will decline far more

[@Tourian]

If the video is "Supported by Iberdrola" then it's not news - it's an advertisement.

[@morganmuffel2678]

Is he from Roscommon? All I can hear Roy from the IT Crowd in his accent.

[@agaragar21]

In Home batteries can ensure YOU make the profit , and not these shitbirds !..............build your own solar and battery system !

[@PhongNguyen-nz9kz]

What company is deploying these batteries? Buy that company.

[@Ducotevision]

So now imagine always having a flexible buyer of that supply at all times… that can shut off when the grid needs it… “Bitcoin miners”😊

[@barbarar1169]

One question. How much energy is used to cool/maintain those “off-line” storage units while awaiting the need for their deployment?

[@LoganKaser]

By definition, less cost of energy then they are able to get from selling the energy later, otherwise they would lose money. Lithium-ion is very round-trip efficient compared to other forms of storage like pumped hydro, but the efficiency doesn't even matter that much if you have a big glut of excess cheap solar during the day and strong demand in the evening to fill, which is the case here.

[@barbarar1169]

@ Thank you.

[@udishomer5852]

The fact that they are very profitable means the energy for cooling them is minuscule compared to their output. Most of the cost is actually the initial setup - buying and installing the battery systems.

[@wolfauu]

Check out Tesla's massive battery storage facilities! They are far more advanced, efficient and more powerful.

[@mandy2tomtube]

Smart appliances your home your refrigerator ARE batteries they should’ve cooled before the sun went down and really it should only cool air conditioner house at night, but certainly not in the peak of the duck curve. the biggest battery everybody has is their house if your price for the duck curve and you’re smart appliances the problem goes away even without batteries and the batteries are getting much much betterand cheaper

[@kev4241]

that would suggest time of day pricing. it would improve the market response

[@TheMighty_T]

Sodium based over lithium for static battery storage = much reduced fire risk. I would hope Tesla is looking at this, especially after BYD has released cars with this tech.

[@udishomer5852]

There is little to none fire risk at these large battery storage systems which are located in the middle of nowhere.

[@ashleigh3021]

No reason to, fire risk is extremely low

[@bicin4k]

they started as a battery company, it only makes sense their battery tech is way ahead.

[@ommanipadmehung3014]

Clean energy is the cheapest energy init

[@Ray_of_Light62]

There will never be a thing like too many batteries on the power grid. The energy density is low, and their cost is high...

[@jimurrata6785]

And yet investors are tripping over each other to deploy more. If they didn't think this was something they wanted to have a leading position in, or the ROI was not there, there wouldn't be any capital available.

[@ashleigh3021]

Not sure about that, the cost has come down by 100% or so in a decade

[@samuelwilliams7331]

Cost is dropping and there i plenty of space in West Texas. I remember a decade ago when people said wind and solar was too expensive and now its the cheapest energy source in the state.

[@tonysu8860]

The US badly needs to invest in an upgraded grid and more broadly energy storage, including but not specifically batteries. And, there should probably be a ban or at least limitations on using lithium batteries except where this no other choice where lithium is probably superior to other formulations.

[@charleswillcock3235]

Why ban lithium batteries?

[@ashleigh3021]

@@tonysu8860 0 reason to ban lithium batteries. Transmission capacity is extremely expensive and not worth it in a lot of cases, easier and more economic to just use storage and demand flexibility in all but the most important cases.

[@kev4241]

lithium supply is ramping as well

[@JakobFischer60]

Will give China huge profits from that.

[@docstockandbarrel]

Now if we can find a way to bottle people's natural gas...

[@beyondfossil]

Grid-scale storage is accelerating and leading us towards dispatchable "firm renewables" which will be checkmate for all other utility-scale energy source on Earth.

[@moletrap2640]

Obviously you have never put pen to paper to look at the economics. The amount of batteries required to firm up 20% capacity factor solar in 35% capacity factor wind is completely unfordable and would make both tech technologies significantly more expensive than nuclear power. Days worth of battery backups are required for solar and weeks for wind which can experience up to months-long wind doldrums (see UK in 2021 and 2022). Right now Texas has 11 gigawatt hours of batteries installed which is about 16 minutes of demand. We are so kidding ourselves people. Another Pollyanna anecdote story without and context on the true scope of the disconnects with intermittent energy sources.

[@beyondfossil]

​@@moletrap2640 It will be a challenge and nobody's expecting this is going to happen overnight. We need to factor in effects exponential growth and the effects of emerging technologies. Firstly, lithium batteries are only one type of grid-scale storage. Others arriving will be fractions the cost and many times the cycle life while using common materials such as sodium, liquid-metal flow batteries, compressed CO2, thermal ceramic/sand. The grand-daddy of them all is actually old pumped storage hydro (PSH) accounting for a huge most of the storage we have today at 9TWh globally as individual storage sites have huge capacity. However, battery storage is growing exponentially at huge rates. Almost certainly, lithium will *not* be the dominant form of storage as the economics of other storage types will just be better. Even so, you can see lithium has advanced greatly as almost all Lithium battery storage uses Iron Phosphate as the cathode allowing for 30% savings per Wh capacity vs nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) Lithium - while providing significantly increased cycle count. Almost all home and grid-scale batteries now use LFP. The US currently has about 45GWh of grid-scale storage (not including residential). The NREL estimates it needs 3000GWh to 6000GWh of capacity. But with exponential growth rates, this is not unreasonable to reach. Current estimates are at 27.2% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) but even the CAGR value is increasing. Using this CAGR though, the US would hit about 6000GWh storage by 2045. Which is in line with EU, US, China's goals of net-zero economy by ~2050. In 2023, the US added 24GWh of storage and expected to add ~32.7GWh in 2024. This faster than 27.2% actually.

[@beyondfossil]

@@moletrap2640 Secondly, basic science of the natural world around us and of basic economics tells us that renewables will dominate the world. It already does really powering the biosphere to the weather systems to the very energy flowing in your veins as you read this. The sun provides the Earth with a constant cosmic-sized 173,000-terawatts of power non-stop. Or about 1000W/m² peak on the ground and its always peak somewhere. At 99.9-percent the mass of the solar system, the Earth is just a tiny crumb next to a large watermelon. Especially considering the remaining 0.1-percent mass is mostly Jupiter and Saturn. All the combined fossils there are and ever was, would amount to a bucket in an ocean of water compared to the sun. A bucket! There is no source of power even remotely close to us within over 4-light years from here. For reference, 173,000-terawatts of power would provide all the 620-exajoules the world uses in a 1-year in just 1-hour. Or we could tap on average just 1/10000th of that over the course of a year. Much less than 1-percent of the world's land surface in just current & previous-generation photovoltaics can power all the world's grids. There is enough offshore wind to power the world several times over. Renewables, especially utility-scale solar, have reached historic low costs per MWH and still driving lower.

[@beyondfossil]

@@moletrap2640 It will be a challenge and nobody's expecting this is going to happen overnight. Firstly, lithium batteries are only one type of grid-scale storage. Others arriving will be fractions the cost and many times the cycle life while using common materials such as sodium, liquid-metal flow batteries, compressed CO2, thermal ceramic/sand. The grand-daddy of them all is actually old pumped storage hydro (PSH) accounting for a huge most of the storage we have today at 9TWh globally as individual storage sites have huge capacity. However, battery storage is growing exponentially at huge rates. Almost certainly, lithium will *not* be the dominant form of storage as the economics of other storage types will just be better. Even so, you can see lithium has advanced greatly as almost all Lithium battery storage uses Iron Phosphate as the cathode allowing for 30% savings per Wh capacity vs nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) Lithium - while providing significantly increased cycle count. Almost all home and grid-scale batteries now use LFP. The US currently has about 45GWh of grid-scale storage (not including residential). The NREL estimates it needs 3000GWh to 6000GWh of capacity. But with exponential growth rates, this is not unreasonable to reach. Current estimate are at 27.2% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) but even the CAGR value is increasing. Using the lower CAGR growth rate, the US would hit about 6000GWh storage by 2045. Which is in line with EU,US, China's goals of net-zero economy by ~2050. In 2023, the US added 24GWh of storage and expected to add ~32.7GWh in 2024. This faster than 27.2% actually.

[@beyondfossil]

I have a detailed reply to all of this but KZbin is blocking them for whatever reason. But basically there are other storage technologies arriving other than Lithium. Also look at the exponential growth of grid-scale storage.

[@maisorychacha5619]

Whether batteries come from China or Bermuda Triangle, the future is inevitably battery storage.

[@MietoK]

How about sand battery? Does that count? Or water tower?

[@maisorychacha5619]

@@MietoK Whatever works with you.

[@jjackson6928]

Bust

[@abhi739]

Left loonie FT jealousy at peak

[@laker6943]

No matter how big these batteries are they simply cannot supply a base load, for even one day. When you tell that to a Greenie it’s “deer in the headlights “ time. They don’t have a clue.

[@ashleigh3021]

Wrong, firmed renewables can and do.

[@averagemillennialinvestor]

FFS, just use Tesla Megapack, cheap and way more storage and efficient. Financial Times needs to get on board and don't be biased. Tesla and Elon is leading the way for battery storage.

[@A3Kr0n]

Ten years from now all those batteries will need replacing.

[@paulsondj]

Every few days your oil and gas need replacing.

[@sebastianorye2702]

not true. Tesla's Megapack includes a 20 year warranty with minimal maintenance required during that period. And even in 5 years, all the end of life batteries will anyway be recycled into new ones at a low price.

[@skierpage]

One hour from now the thousands of tons of fossil fuel crap we shoveled into thermal plants will need replacing. The lifecycle CO2 emissions of renewables + battery storage per MWh are around 90% less than a "natural" gas plant.

[@Fabian-bx5pm]

This is the way! Renewables have won! Oil drilling & usage is too expensive and unsafe!

[@user-ln7of9gs4s]

Calm down. We still need oil and drilling. Renewables are great; and have their place.

[@tomnguyen9931]

It the next gold rush. Given at real peak, EROC will pay up to 10K per megawatt of power.

[@Alexiscool782]

If California changed CEQA, they’d be able to beat Texas on this and housing

[@American_Energy]

Amazing the lengths FT took to avoid mentioning Tesla in this segment😅

[@mitchconno]

Zzzzzz

[@trondialsingh594]

Tesla is dominating this market. I'm surprised they didn't mention anything about tesla with battery storage

[@andkosification]

Tesla is NOT dominating this market! Just google the marketshare of energy storage.

[@darbycaneen5774]

Tesla mega pack but no I will just keep buying shares. We don’t need recognition, we just build products and sell them all and you can continue to snub us for clicks

[@RaveFathercom]

Build Nuclear.

[@udishomer5852]

Since its much more expensive to produce energy from nuclear plants, its not likely to happen.

[@beyondfossil]

Commercial nuclear: way too expensive, too slow to build (a decade or more) along with a long list of other problems with it. The next 10- to 20-years will be critical to mitigate the worst effects of climate change, but it takes 10- to 20-years to build a single utility-scale nuclear power plant! Nuclear won't even put a dent in the large amount of energy needed to really displace fossil fuels. There is only one energy source that can, and about 10,000 times over at least. Ironically, it's the same energy source that originally created fossil fuels in the first place.

[@Nicholas-f5]

way more expensive

[@RaveFathercom]

@ myths

[@moletrap2640]

Once again zero context provided other than solar plus batteries will be our savior. Here's a little context, that hundred megawatt battery facility would provide less than a minute's worth of power used by the state of Texas. In total the state of Texas has 11 giga-watt hours of storage, that's less than 16 minutes of demand. Solar has a capacity factor of 20% meaning it is only available 20% of the time on average, wind is 35%. Days of storage are required for solar and weeks of storage are required for wind versus 16 minutes. Please, please provide context in these Pollyanna stories about intermittent sources of energy. Wind and solar are momentary arbitrage opportunities for cheap energy when the sun shines and the wind blows. The amount of batteries required to make them 24x7 reliable is completely economically infeasible. Finally, the cost of lithium ion batteries has flatline for the last several years and is equal to the value of the raw material. New technologies like sodium only provide small incremental cost gains. Unless we are pursuing a 24 x 7 always on green energy (hint nuclear power) we are just kidding ourselves.

[@skierpage]

You can keep shaking your fist at the blunt fact that the majority of new generation everywhere in the world is wind and solar, but it's not going to change anything.

[@UKFP23]

@@skierpageagreed, there will continue to be nay sayers right up until (and probably beyond ) the full Green energy transformation

[@MainMan7012]

One of these systems, powering 20,000 homes for an unknown period of time and at an unknown cost, doesn’t seem to contribute more than a drop in the vast energy demand bucket.

[@lylestavast7652]

except it's NOT a 1:1 map there. Those batteries might be adding back onto the grid in volume during an outage, but other times they're selling their power for power regulation puposes (keeping voltage/hz rates stable) as well as bidding for volume sales onto the market. Multi-purpose, flexible and milliseconds available vs spin up times in longer periods up to minutes for some of the other generation types.

[@richardnwilson]

It may right now only be a drop in the bucket at certain times but sometimes a drop in the bucket is all that is needed to keep the grid up and running. for the grid to function you need a full 100% of the demand. Even a 1% drop in the supply we'll take down the grid.

[@zhaobb]

Just imagine how many tonnes of CO2 released just to produce and store these toxic batteries! 🙄

[@krakken-]

A lot less that the CO2 produced by continual combustion to create electricity. The battery production CO2, while significant, is only at production, vs every day for fossil fuels.

[@skierpage]

Nobody's forcing you to spout fossil fuel industry lies. Once built, the battery stores and releases clean renewable electricity without requiring tons of dirty fossil fuel to operate. Lithium-ion batteries are not toxic compared to oil and coal, and when they actually start failing in large numbers we will recycle old ones to make new ones.

[@prashanttayshetye8469]

THIS SOUNDS LIKW A DISASTER

[@JohnMcLovin-xq3qg]

How so? Learn how to spell before you post.

[@Paul-e9x4h]

Multipel kapasitas daya pada lini produksi baterai ini saja oplah produksinya sangat luar biasa banyaknya

[@inigoromon1937]

Why do they create an environmental disaster with each battery storage? Why no trees, no plants? And then they put refrigeration.

[@ashleigh3021]

@@inigoromon1937 they don’t, stop talking nonsense.

[@skierpage]

It's sad that you have been conned into worrying more about the environmental harms from making millions of tons of recyclable batteries than the massive worsening harms caused by mining, refining, shipping, spilling, then BURNING _billions_ of tons of fossil fuel.

[@Frederic383]

Not a single word about batteries and lithium needs. Battery have a short life about 1000cycle. And after? Not to mention the lining of lithium

[@fs3859]

Grid scale batteries have a lifetime of 10 to 20 years. Afterwards, most of the materials (>90%) can be recycled. If we take the negative scenario (10 years lifetime and 90% recycling), we need thechnological progress to enable us to use the recycled materials 10% more efficiently every 10 years in order to get the same battery capacity for eternity(!) without any additional mining requirements. Currently, technological progress is much faster than that. There won't be a shortage of litihium. Lithium prices are lower today than they were 5 years ago. Also, if there ever was a shortage, sodium ion batteries would fill in the gap.

[@RiRian-cw7pr]

Sodium battery more lasting

[@northernouthouse]

The pace of innovation in batteries is accelerating. Catl, a leader in the industry, just came out with an EV battery rated for 1 million miles and a 15 year warranty. Most ice vehicles don't reach 1 million miles. Similar advancement are being made on grid tied batteries as it is the new frontier.

[@ashleigh3021]

Because it’s irrelevant and a solved issue.

[@udishomer5852]

Modern LFP batteries can last for 20 years as energy storage systems. After that they can easily be recycled.

[@Rodney.or99]

Nice ercot and you have here 😂