Renewable advocates pin hopes on batteries to fix intermittency, but costs are prohibitive: report

How many batteries would have to be built? How much mining would be necessary? How much CO2 will be emitted?

The subject of how to store the energy generated by so called renewable energy sources is often omitted or deliberately avoided!

"... Researchers with the National Center for Energy Analytics set out to find out if it’s possible to power the grid with wind, solar and batteries. Their report, which was released Thursday, casts considerable doubt on renewable energy proponents’ promise that batteries can resolve the problems of intermittency with wind and solar. ...

“This study demonstrates that a wind-solar-battery policy to meet electricity demand is physically implausible, cost-prohibitive, and unjustifiable on the basis of goals to reduce CO2 emissions,” the report concludes. ..."

"... While the quantity of battery storage has grown rapidly, it remains a minuscule share of total U.S. electricity consumption. At the beginning of 2026, total grid-scale battery storage could supply about 15 minutes of average U.S. electricity demand. ...

This study evaluated the physical and economic feasibility of building a reliable electric system primarily powered by wind, solar, and battery storage. The analysis used a model of the PJM Interconnection system, the nation’s largest grid operator, which covers 13 states and the District of Columbia and serves more than 67 million people. 

Using PJM’s long-term forecast through 2045, the study estimated the quantities of wind, solar, and storage batteries that would be needed under three scenarios: renewables only (RO), which consisted of wind, solar, batteries, and existing nuclear plants while retiring all coal and natural gas generation;

natural gas and nuclear (NGN), which comprised existing and new natural gas generators along with new nuclear plants; and

NGN+B, which added battery storage to replace gas-fired generators during peak demand periods. 

The analysis showed that to compensate for the intermittency of solar and wind, roughly tenfold more total generating capacity would be required by 2045 under the RO scenario than the NGN scenario. The additional capacity would be needed not only to serve daily or seasonal variations in supply and demand but also to accommodate well-documented wind and solar droughts—that is, multiday periods with little to no sunshine or wind. ..."

Renewable advocates pin hopes on batteries to fix intermittency, but costs are prohibitive: report | Just The News "“This study demonstrates that a wind-solar-battery policy to meet electricity demand is physically implausible, cost-prohibitive, and unjustifiable on the basis of goals to reduce CO2 emissions,” the researchers conclude."

Batteries and the Grid: Hype, Hope, and Economic Reality "A PJM-based analysis finds a wind-solar-battery grid is physically implausible and cost-prohibitive—costing ratepayers over $4 trillion, roughly six times a natural gas and nuclear system."