I was thinking solar + battery energy storage for when the sun is ‘unavailable’. It’s not like having like 1k MW capacity and nothing to power makes any sense, but an area with panels and storage can definitely get things started, at least…
For sure, and that can definitely work. But, you will need three times the number of solar panels (since half the time the panels are doing nothing and if you’re storing a lot of energy, that means there’s a proportional amount of storage losses.)
And I honestly don’t know how much mass in batteries would be needed for 15 days worth of storage, but my instincts say too much.
Keep in mind that total mass to deliver can sometimes be the biggest cost limitation. A nuclear generator that gets delivered in one launch could be cheaper than otherwise much simpler solar panels and batteries if that solution requires two or three launches.
I was thinking solar + battery energy storage for when the sun is ‘unavailable’. It’s not like having like 1k MW capacity and nothing to power makes any sense, but an area with panels and storage can definitely get things started, at least…
For sure, and that can definitely work. But, you will need three times the number of solar panels (since half the time the panels are doing nothing and if you’re storing a lot of energy, that means there’s a proportional amount of storage losses.)
And I honestly don’t know how much mass in batteries would be needed for 15 days worth of storage, but my instincts say too much.
Keep in mind that total mass to deliver can sometimes be the biggest cost limitation. A nuclear generator that gets delivered in one launch could be cheaper than otherwise much simpler solar panels and batteries if that solution requires two or three launches.