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wwarnout t1_irvulpc wrote

Reply to comment by minitrr in Geothermal May Beat Batteries for Energy Storage: Enhanced geothermal systems are well suited to store excess renewable power as heat. by filosoful

Another disadvantage is that converting electric power from wind or solar to heat, and then converting that stored heat back to electricity, is much less efficient than storing electricity in batteries.

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theseldomreply t1_irw0myd wrote

Probably still more efficient & feasible than making hundreds of gigawatts worth of batteries.

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El_Minadero t1_irw6td0 wrote

But you can store excess power for years underground

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KevinFlantier t1_irwdgmt wrote

If you generate enough power and your batteries are big enough, efficiency barely matters. A simple, easy and non polluting way to store energy would be a lot more useful than a very efficient one that relies on rare-earth metals, that is extremely expensive to scale up and that wears down over time.

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LaserAntlers t1_irwcia5 wrote

That's why we should just do solar thermal for projects like this one a large scale.

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