Elements of Renewable Energy
Elements of Renewable Energy
Renewable Energy has many parts, and some of them can do jobs that others cannot do. It is important to work together to bring the best renewable Energy to the world that we can hope to achieve.
This diagram represents a short overview over different elements of a renewable energy network, and what the different parts can do, and what not.
For example, Hydropower can be both an energy source (flowing water through a turbine) but also a means of energy storage (by keeping the water behind the dam). Renewable Biomass can be stored well, but can also be turned into a renewable source of energy. Batteries can store energy well, but cannot produce energy.
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Sorry if I'm not following: solar or wind power cannot be stored - like, in batteries?
They aren't forms of energy storage on their own. Just like batteries aren't a source of energy on their own.
If only we could find some way of storing some wind so we could release it when there's no natural wind around.
I understood that reference
You can't turn other forms of energy into solar or wind and store it in those forms. In contrast, hydroelectricity can store energy in pumped storage systems where excess electricity is used to move water to higher elevation (exchanging electricity for potential energy).
yes, and more importantly, normal Hydro plants could be updated to release water at selected times, to create "on-demand power". The energy is stored in the water behind the dam. So conventional, already-existing hydro dams can perform a two-sided function: Storing water, and to release it on-demand. Like a battery that is refilled by nature.
AFAIK, that's exactly what storage power plants do https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumped-storage_hydroelectricity