SC | agenda How batteries could change our energy future
Timing for the best price:
The cost of the electricity
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Businesses around the world are betting big on batteries for electric cars, and in a roundabout way, this trend could change how electricity is delivered to your home. Over the past eight years, global battery production capacity has grown eight times to supply the expanding market for electric vehicles. New manufacturing plants under construction in the United States, Europe and Asia could increase capacity another five times in the next eight years. As battery production increases, consumers can expect improved performance and lower prices, says Jan Ahlen, the director of energy solutions for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). The benefit for home electricity consumers is that these better and cheaper batteries can be connected to make large “utility-scale” batteries with multiple applications. Here are three ways batteries could change the future of electricity.
This 13-megawatt Tesla solar field, which is coupled with a 52-megawatt-hour battery storage system, is owned by Kaua’i Island Utility Co-op and allows the cooperative to store solar power during the day and dispatch it over a four-hour period during the evening when energy demand is high.
varies with seasons and even the time of day as demand for electricity fluctuates. If your cooperative can buy electricity and store it in a battery when the price is lowest, then draw from the battery when market prices are highest, members may benefit from lower rates. Helping renewable energy:
There’s no solar power at night or wind energy in calm weather. Utility-scale batteries could change that, storing electricity during peak production, and making it available when needed. Outage management:
Utility-scale batteries are an important part of microgrids, a new concept for handling widespread power outages. Microgrids use independent
Placing hot food in the refrigerator makes the appliance work harder than necessary, using more energy. Allow food to cool down before you place it in the fridge. 6
SOUTH CAROLINA LIVING | MARCH 2020 | SCLIVING.COOP
power sources, like batteries, to keep electricity flowing to highpriority facilities like hospitals, storm shelters and gas stations until service can be restored for the entire community. “Batteries are becoming better, faster and cheaper,” says Ahlen. He adds that they are a trend that’s “opening up many new opportunities for
utilities to help provide more affordable and reliable power for their consumers.” writes on consumer and cooperative affairs for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the national trade association representing more than 900 local electric cooperatives. PAUL WESSLUND
GONE FISHIN’ The Vektor Fish & Game Forecast provides feeding and migration times. Major periods can bracket the peak by an hour. Minor peaks, ½ hour before and after. Minor
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