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Britain’s biggest community solar farm forced to shut over grid overload fears (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 2 months ago by to c/energy@slrpnk.net
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Timing of Devon switchoff ‘could not be worse’, says board, as members face an estimated £2m in lost revenue

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[–] 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I'm wondering, would hydraulic accumulators be a viable option? I've heard the scarcity of lithium cited as a reason to hold off on expanding the grid, and I've been wondering if maybe there's a solution in old tech rather than new. But idk if lithium scarcity is actually an issue in this regard or just pointed to as a scapegoat.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    We can indeed use things like pump storage and gravity batteries, but we don't really have to. The next element down on the periodic chat from lithium can be used in place of lithium at half the energy density. Which to save you time, it's sodium, which can be found in salt, which we have quite a bit of on the planet.

    Sodium ion batteries were slightly researched but lithium got the money because it has twice the energy density (amount of energy you can store per kilogram). However, for giant batteries that never have to move, sodium ion batteries are ideal for grid storage.

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