Libs push solar and wind. Obvious con is the wind sometimes doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine.

Coal, natural gas, and nuclear provide stability, but libs claim they are dirty and/or unsafe.

BESS is the short term answer to both. Libs like them and they provide stability. They charge at night when demand is low and discharge during the day when demand is high.

As it stands now, the amount of generation we need is equal to the peak demand load of the day. While the rest of the day these generators scale back. With BESS, the batteries can fill in the peaks and valleys of load throughout the day.

Plop 100 MW battery farms on cheap land and solve our grid problems.

Yes, batteries are dirty, require lithium, and we don't know how to recycle them. But who cares? Because the libs love them for some reason.

Same principle, but would prefer building a giant reservoir that pumps water up during the night and uses it during the day to supplement demand.

Much less resource demand.

Storage (whether mechanical, chemical, or electrical) can provide some value, but introduces waste.

Ex: Pumping water from a low reservoir to a high one (not a greater opportunity in most of TX) has waste in pumping, evaporation of the high pool, and in subsequent hydroelectric generation.

I get that it can help us in the interim, but I'd rather talk bandaids AFTER we identify the viable long term plan and commission the nukes.

Get Off My Lawn said:

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Storage (whether mechanical, chemical, or electrical) can provide some value, but introduces waste.

Ex: Pumping water from a low reservoir to a high one (not a greater opportunity in most of TX) has waste in pumping, evaporation of the high pool, and in subsequent hydroelectric generation.

I get that it can help us in the interim, but I'd rather talk bandaids AFTER we identify the viable long term plan and commission the nukes.

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I agree they all have a drawback. For me, it's the raw material resource requirements of batteries that turn me away.

Pump storage is also something that can continue to be used easily if we ever get our act together and build nuke/desal stations.

Maybe we can just repeal the laws of thermodynamics?

The battery supply chain is pretty poor. Also most lithium ion batteries come from China. But if you could take recycled batteries than this would be ideal, hence with Musk is pushing for BESS

You will also need a way to heat and cool the batteries in most areas, they can only operate from 32-118F before they get damaged. If you didn't have a heating system they would have been worthless during the freeze, if you put them in direct sunlight right now in Midland they will shut down in the afternoon.

You could use lithium titanate but they are twice as expensive or power dense. Taking up more of area isn't a huge deal but the cost would be