Wind and solar need storage diversity, not just capacity
In practice, energy storage is often oversimplified as a tool for “capacity compensation”—the idea that merely increasing the scale of storage can bridge the
Solar and wind facilities use the energy stored in batteries to reduce power fluctuations and increase reliability to deliver on-demand power. Battery storage systems bank excess energy when demand is low and release it when demand is high, to ensure a steady supply of energy to millions of homes and businesses.
Energy storage is a technology that holds energy at one time so it can be used at another time. Building more energy storage allows renewable energy sources like wind and solar to power more of our electric grid.
Solar and wind provide “intermittent” electricity, meaning their energy production changes depending on the weather. People often need energy when the wind is not blowing or the sun isn't shining, so we can end up with too much electricity at some times, and not enough electricity at other times.
The fact that “the wind doesn't always blow, and the sun doesn't always shine” is often used to suggest the need for dedicated energy storage to handle fluctuations in wind and solar production. Dedicated energy storage ignores the realities of both grid operation and the performance of a large, spatially diverse renewable energy source.
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