We should look at energy storage technology - battery energy storage system
Planning the future energy needs of San Antonio is a tricky issue.
Texas's grid is almost entirely its own.
So almost all the electricity has to be-state.
Our system was built when gas was contaminated.
Cheap and pollution, even the pollution caused by coal, is not a concern.
Nearly half of Texas's energy still comes from burning natural gas, which could cost more in the next few years.
CPS Energy is also unlikely to build more coal plants.
Assuming our city remains growing fast and future residents continue to use a lot of energy, CPS wants to add two new nuclear reactors to the South Texas Project.
Whether we invest 40% of the project, get a smaller share, and even participate in the expansion, remains to be decided.
However, we should consider another factor in the grid: it assumes that energy will be generated when consumed.
Texas also requires 12 suppliers.
5% extra energy to meet the demand for drastic fluctuations.
So, besides during peak hours, we have more power generation and transmission capacity than we need.
And the unused electricity cannot be stored on the electricity network, so this capacity has been idle until people turn on the air conditioner in hot weather.
Texas is also the largest wind power plant in the United States since 2006.
We are likely to be a big solar producer as well.
But while we can predict how much wind farms and solar projects will produce in the long run, we can't predict whether the sun will shine next week or whether the wind will blow with any degree of certainty.
When the energy demand is the lowest and the cost is the lowest, most wind power reaches its peak before dawn.
That is why the global energy storage strategy is developing rapidly.
In 6,000 parts of the country, hot and cold storage facilities are used to cool water or ice at night, and the price is cheap at night.
Time energy for cooling during the day.
It is also a mature technology to concentrate solar energy and boil water to turn the generator.
But it doesn't work at night.
However, if the heat is used to melt salt or pressurize the steam tank, it can generate electricity for up to 12 dark hours.
The new battery type also makes it practical to store cheap batteries
Peak energy to meet peak demand. Recently, 7-Megawatt sodium
Sulfur battery system installed in Ohio, Indiana, and West Virginia, 270-
The MW system has been in use in Japan for many years.
Non-compressed air in underground salt Hill
Peak and use time
With a little gas-
Since 1978, generators have been used during peak hours in Mackintosh, Germany and Alabama. , since 1991.
Perhaps the most exciting of shell and several projects announced last year to pair wind farms with compressed air storage.
The details are sketchy and may be influenced by the decision of the Texas agency.
But the overall plan is 1,500.
Megawatt wind turbines around the county of Briscoe pump compressed air into the underground salt layer at night.
Then the energy of the pre-dawn Panhandle wind will be stored and converted into electricity when it is most needed, and at those times when it is burnt out, it will be sold at the highest price
Or embrace new technologies.
Cguerra @ express-news. net