Green Energy

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Energy storage has a dual purpose: it plugs gaps when the wind drops or the sun stops shining, and it allows users to buy cheap off-peak power and use it when they need it.

But there’s growing interest in storing energy in the form of heat – and that’s where the everyday ingredients such as air, salt and bricks come into the picture, because these materials are really good at holding warmth.

Spain has more than a decade of experience using molten salt to store heat to be discharged at sunset to create steam that makes electricity overnight.

Unlike much sought-after electrical battery components, salt is widely dispersed, easily extracted and able to store heat with minimal degradation or toxic by-products.

Beyond that, there remain potential commercial risks arising from the relative novelty of the industry and the varying maturity of different technologies, given that businesses often have expensive, drawn-out investment cycles.

Ultimately, with the pressure on to hold down carbon emissions as fast as possible, heat storage start-ups may lose out if the easiest route appears to be to turn to established technologies.

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