tingilinde

thermal energy storage in a depleted oil field

Using solar energy to heat underground water.  Starting small, but real potential

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The GeoTES project occupies a dusty patch of ground nestled between well-plumbed oilfields with hundreds of wells — some idle, some still pumping. Just 1,200 feet below its surface — shallow by drilling standards — are pockets of permeable sandstone, now emptied of oil, into which highly brackish water has seeped.

Like the oil it is replacing, GeoTES begins with the sun. At the surface, parabolic mirrors gather solar energy, which is used to heat a silicon oil flowing through an aboveground loop to 700 degrees Fahrenheit. Comparatively cold groundwater is pumped up, heated by the oil, then sent back down. As long as the sun is shining, the system heats the water in the reservoir. At night, the water continues circulating, maintaining a temperature of about 500 degrees. When called upon to make electricity, the groundwater is brought to the surface through an extraction well, where its heat spins a turbine.

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renewables in china

Beating the rest of the world.

While the GOP is working on a return to buggy whips.. 

 

 

fusion is always 20 years in the future

Another chapter to the story.

Even if it did work, the reactors would probably be so expensive it wouldn't make sense.  If the goal is getting away from carbon, there are many shovel ready approaches.  There's this great fusion reactor about 500 light seconds away.  

 

 

 

gavin schmidt and sean carroll

Sean chats with Gavin Schmidt about modeling climate change.  audio and transcript (I went for the transcript as time and the fact that audio quality is a bit off on this one)

 

 

calculating risk on energy investment

Banks tend to consider low carbon investments a higher risk than fossil fuel investments.

Looking backwards rather than considering the future.

 

 

lithium from wastewater

From the wastewater of Marcellus shale gas wells in Pennsylvania.

a tip of the hat to Greg

 

when supply doesn't match demand

The famous duck curve and California roof-top solar. 

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But now, the state and its grid operator are grappling with a strange reality: There is so much solar on the grid that, on sunny spring days when there’s not as much demand, electricity prices go negative. Gigawatts of solar are “curtailed” — essentially, thrown away.

In response, California has cut back incentives for rooftop solar and slowed the pace of installing panels. But the diminishing economic returns may slow the development of solar in a state that has tried to move to renewable energy. And as other states build more and more solar plants of their own, they may soon face the same problems.

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Storage and better transmission is badly needed.

 

 

 

seasonal energy storage

A 90 GWh facility wil be constructed in Vantaa, Finland.  

(the link has a video)

 

the growth of solar in the us

More than half of the added electric production in the US last year was solar.  Policy and interconnect issues will determine if the pace continues.

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One factor driving all that growth was an easing of supply chain constraints, which had slowed the delivery of solar panels. The problem arose in early 2022 after a small California manufacturer, Auxin Solar, filed a petition with the Department of Commerce accusing Chinese companies of circumventing U.S. tariffs by funneling panels through Southeast Asia. The government largely sided with Auxin, and new tariffs are set to take effect in June.

The dispute “really set back a lot of utility-scale projects,” said Rumery. But, he explained, solar developers found workarounds that helped foster such strong 2023 growth, when projects slated to finish in 2022 finally wrapped up. While the boost from delayed installations will dissipate in coming years, and residential solar faces headwinds due to changes in net metering rules, experts generally expect renewable energy to keep on its torrent trajectory.

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on the energy demands of ai

Elizabeth Colbert writing in the New Yorker..  a fair amount has been written on this.  Many of the techbros invoke the underpants gnome business model for solving the problem.