I often see posted about how covering a relatively small area in a desert with solar panels could power the world – but transferring that energy is too difficult. Why can’t we just use that to charge batteries and ship them places/ everywhere?
In: Physics
Hi OP.
I think you’ve had a bunch of replies that explain well why storing and transporting solar power in batteries isn’t practical, unless there is a further revolution in battery technology.
However, you may be interested to know that there are other technologies that are being worked on, that seek to address exactly the issue you have been thinking about, but not with batteries.
One of the most significant is using ‘green hydrogen’ – using renewable power to produce hydrogen through the electrolysis of water.
This differs from other potential sources of hydrogen – grey hydrogen (produced from fossil fuels) or blue hydrogen (produced from fossil fuels with carbon capture) or white/gold hydrogen (natural hydrogen deposits underground).
Hydrogen is a useful gas to burn with a pipeline connection. But transport over long distances is still hard. Therefore the most likely technology is to turn that hydrogen into ammonia, which can be shipped and then burnt like a fossil fuel, but without the carbon emissions.
Therefore the ammonia acts a bit like a battery, but with more energy density and easier to ship – combining some of the benefits of renewables and chemical fuels in one.
Now there are still doubts about the economic case for green hydrogen. These steps still struggle to compete with fossil fuels on price and our system is not yet properly oriented to generating energy from ammonia, although it can be added at the margin in many thermal power plants.
(And blue which is probably the main competitor – grey doesn’t address carbon and white is highly unproven). But, the economics are a lot closer to making sense than something like batteries, and there are industrial-scale pilot projects underway right now, notably in Saudi Arabia:
https://acwapower.com/en/projects/neom-green-hydrogen-project/
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