[cc2k]

dhs12345 wrote:

Too bad they can’t figure out how to store the energy. AC power has a lot of merits but storage is one of it’s limitations. And conversion to DC and back to AC is not the best solution.

Nope, there are losses in the conversion, plus batteries are nowhere near 100% efficient.

For large scale storage, pumped storage hydroelectric is the best technology we currently have deployed. There's a pretty big lake (Carter's Lake) with this type of operation not too far from my old home in north Georgia.

[dhs12345]

Cool. Uses gravity. Makes a lot of sense.

How about some type of resonant system sort of like a tesla coil that can store millions of watts.

[dhs12345]

Cool. Uses gravity. Makes a lot of sense.

How about some type of resonant system sort of like a tesla coil that can store millions of watts.

[Peet]

For large scale storage, pumped storage hydroelectric is the best technology we currently have deployed. There’s a pretty big lake (Carter’s Lake) with this type of operation not too far from my old home in north Georgia.

Correct.

There’s a pumped storage facility just north of where I live (tiny, but there it is). They are putting in a solar collector farm right on the road — publicity, no real use to anyone.

This summer, though, we visited a REAL pumped storage facility in western Michigan. Largest earthen dam in the (world? US? I forget). The thing was freakin’ HUGE, we drove miles of road along the base of the dam. I doubt, though, that it makes a big dent in lake michigan while they’re filling it. (Found it: Ludington Pumped Storage Plant; had to dig thru photos...the sign says 27 billion gallons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludington_Pumped_Storage_Power_Plant)

[steve8714]

Yeah, that worked out fine at Taum Sauk.