Energy subsidies should focus on storage!

[Workingman]

What is this? Joined up thinking from government! A long overdue first if ever there was one.

Back in the days when plentiful renewable energy was only the dream of environmentalists, people were saying that because it was intermittent some storage would be needed to make it truly useful.

The response was the serious nodding of heads before the nodders went into Homer Simpson mode; twiddling their fingers and mumbling "Hmmmm. Windmills. Solar." drool.

The result of all this enthusiasm for energy production is that we are at least a decade behind where we should be with storage. This is now impacting the introduction of more renewable. We cannot simply load up the grid when renewable supply is plentiful by turning generating plants on or off, life is not that simple. What we do instead is turn off the windmills and let them stand idle.

I hope the shock of realising that research into storage is going to cost as much, and probably more, as the cost of getting the windmills up and running. They must not allow that to throw them off the path.

[Suff]

Back in 2000 I was on a flight with a specialist in the world of Energy production and delivery. He told me then that the main problem with renewable was the almost total lack of storage capability for large amounts of energy. There were only really two ways, raising large weights or pumping water uphill to be used in the hydro system when it's needed.

Since then, pretty much 16 years later, very little has changed.

If the Government has finally learned the lesson, that managed baseload power is the key to the renewable energy conundrum, then that is huge progress. About 20 years too late.