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Vermont replacing power plants with home batteries

389 points · 304 comments · devonnull

  1. snickerbockers · · focus · HN ↗
    >The US now has over 40GW of virtual power plant capacity, according to internal analysis by Wood Mackenzie. It's still relatively small compared to the roughly 600GW of natural gas and 200GW of coal, but a total of 160GW of capacity could be unlocked by 2030, according to a 2025 US Department of Energy report – equal to some 20% of the country's expected peak energy demand.

    >Through GMP's programme, its virtual power plant has quietly become Vermont's biggest source of power. Now, the state is testing how far this "hidden" form of power can go.

    Does anybody at the BBC actually understand what batteries are, and why they cannot possibly compete with power plants!?!?

    1. murkt · · focus · HN ↗
      Batteries compete with peaker power plants, though.
      1. red75prime · · focus · HN ↗
        Batteries compete with peaker plants for diurnal variance, but they can't replace peaker plants for seasonal variance. It's an interesting dynamic.
        1. hamandcheese · · focus · HN ↗
          Are there peaker plants that come online for seasonal variance?
          1. entech · · focus · HN ↗
            I think what he was saying is that with a peaker plant you have an extra source of power. So if you have a low wind/low irradiance period - you can rely on peaker to provide more power, but by this stage batteries are long gone.
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