The words of
Pablo Casado
in a recent event, in which he denounced photovoltaics for
their inability to generate energy at night
(when demand peaks occur), have generated a stir in social networks and even in the electricity sector. The PP leader used these statements to show his support for nuclear energy, but he was not completely misguided: currently storage is one of the main challenges facing a source that could turn Spain into the Saudi Arabia of the sun .
Within renewables, photovoltaic solar energy is the third source of 'green' generation in Spain, although it is one notch below hydroelectric - it doubles its capacity - and up to two of wind - practically triples -. It is also the one with the most obvious obstacle: every day it gets dark. Added to this is the common challenge of 'saving' energy on a large scale.
The great problem with renewable energies is not their production, but their storage: at these levels, current technology does not allow electricity to be stored as if it were a battery that can be plugged in when the system is stressed and you need to use it. There are already specific battery projects for this purpose, but they are expensive and still in their infancy - a recent Holes Bay battery project in the UK (Clay Tye) has a capacity of 99 megawatts and 198 megawatt hours. On the other hand, in the case of solar it must also be taken into account that all the energy that is produced is consumed, so the batteries are redundant.
"First you have to need the batteries and, for now, in Spain they are not needed", points out
José Donoso
, general director of Unión Española Fotovoltaica (UNEF). As he explains, "we are going to need them urgently", but in the future, since right now the installed capacity of this source is around 10 gigawatts and peak demand is 40. "As we include more renewable energies, we will go needing more storage capacity, because it will be left over ", sums up the manager. In other words, it will not consume all that generated at a given time because the supply will exceed the demand.
The National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) is the document that establishes the energy strategy for the coming years, with a special and obvious emphasis on renewables. With regard to batteries, he intends to go from the current-nonexistent contribution to 500 megawatts in 2025 and 2.5 gigawatts in 2030. For comparison, the 'tube' that connects the peninsula with France has a capacity of about
3 gigawatts
. In other words, it would be close to making it possible to compensate for Europe's energy dependence. In any case, the PNIEC also intends for Spain to go from being an energy importing country (with a net balance of 8.86 TWh for the year 2020) to an exporter in 2030 (worth 2.34 TWh).
"It is necessary to give economic signals as soon as possible for this storage," warns Donoso, who recalls that they are not the only technology for this purpose.
"Batteries technologically have no problems, but it has been a market with no incentive for innovation," he explains.
An example of this is the car battery itself, which in 40 years has barely evolved technologically, beyond saving having to pour water.
Self-consumption and renewables have created a new market.
"The only question is the cost."
At a time like the present, with the price of electricity in the wholesale market soaring, it would be "very profitable."
With lower prices, it will be too, but in a few years.
Thermoelectric
In the case of electricity generation, there is already an alternative to batteries, solar thermoelectric.
This technology works roughly like a thermal power plant, but the heat comes from the sun instead of fossil fuels.
Thus, the solar rays are concentrated with mirrors that generate temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees;
steam is generated and a turbine moves.
This heat can be conserved - for example, by means of molten salts - and the production transferred to the night.
It is not exactly a form of storage -the energy is not saved, it is only possible that it continues to function without sun-, but the PNIEC mentions this technology, which will increase its installed power by 5 GW between 2021 and 2030 and provides nine hours of storage using molten salt deposits.
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