Europe has survived 3 energy shocks in 4 years. The only way out is to stop buying power from its enemies | Fortune
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Oil above $100. Gas prices up 70%. Every crisis has a different trigger—and the same vulnerability. Europe must become the world's first Electro-Continent.
  • BlackLaZoR@lemmy.worldEnglish
    31·
    3 days ago

    That’s happening but moving to renewable isn’t something you can just magically do

          • BlackLaZoR@lemmy.worldEnglish
            6·
            3 days ago

            Nah, if you assume 6-12h of storage needed it’s close to break even. I’d say if prices of batteries get halved again, it’s solved

            • Mihies@programming.devEnglish
              3·
              2 days ago

              Can we do some calculations for worst case, ie winter week with clouds at best? How much does a single household consume when using heat pumps for warming? That would be at least 30kWh per day just for heating. Let’s round it to 40kWh pet day which makes 280kWh per week. Shall we add an EV car into equation? 140kWh? We are at 420kWh per week you might need to back up with batteries. Now multiply this number with millions of households. Or simply take a look at electric energy consumption in your country during winter days (when many don’t even have heat pumps and EVs) and you think there is enough batteries around and is simply a matter of price? Good luck with that. Wind and hydro would help to some extent, though.

              • BlackLaZoR@lemmy.worldEnglish
                1·
                2 days ago

                When I said break even, I meant financial feasibility. Point is you can invest in solar power plus 12h of storage and this makes financial sense.

                As for winter periods, noone expect solar to magically work in winter. Point is to reduce dependency on fossil and this can be achieved. You’d still expect strategic energy reserves and winter power to be delivered through fossil, due to avaliabliy and good energy density.

                You could substitute fossil with wind power during winter, but that still requires storage.

      • WoodScientist@lemmy.worldEnglish
        52·
        2 days ago

        Energy storage is a largely unnecessary. You only need to store a few hours worth of electricity. Solar panels are so stupid cheap that you can solve seasonal variations in solar production by spamming solar panels. You build enough panels to meet all your needs on a cloudy winter day. Then the rest of the year you have abundant cheap power.

        The energy storage problem has been solved by stupidly cheap solar panels. People will whine about the footprint required, but the actual math shows this is just FUD.