Nobody is making them - yet. As I understand it, there are two paths being studied, one of which is being done out west and might involve some investment from the likes of Gates and Google, and this other design that is being developed by TVA and possibly Ontario Hydro up in Canada.
I’ve kind of looked at it from the standpoint of how they’ll help in operating the power system and meeting the needs of the customers, but I have not looked deep into either design concept.
As was mentioned earlier, they can be made a lot smaller than the huge ones we see now in the industry. There are some economies of scale, but there’s also a case for smaller power generators placed in better positions on the grid.
We’re seeing a lot of problems involving, for example, the enormous amount of wind generation being built in OK, KS, NE, IA, MO, SD, and ND - the amount of transmission lines needed to get that power to where the customers are is a huge issue. There are entities that want to build from the wind farms to locations like Chicago, but they will pass through areas that aren’t benefitting from the line and thus are fighting the construction at every turn.
Realistically, putting the generating source closer to the customers makes a lot of sense in terms of logistics. You can’t really do that effectively with wind or solar. Also, making it a reliable source like Nuclear, gas, hydro, or coal (nobody likes coal any more) offsets the intermittent supply characteristics of wind and solar.
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