zlacker

6% curtailment seems pretty trivial in the grand scheme of things. Around 20-25% curtailment, it becomes economical to run those hydrogen electrolyzers part-time, even with the capital expenditures required. I wouldn't use that hydrogen gas to regenerate electricity, though - there are many industries that can directly consume that hydrogen gas and avoid the lossy round-trip from electricity->hydrogen->electricity.

I explore this idea further in this blog post: https://www.moderndescartes.com/essays/factobattery/

>>brilee+(OP)
Does your analysis rely on a localized energy market? Because with curtailment it seems to me that there is no incentive for energy producers to sell energy cheaply to factobatteries, right?

>>brilee+(OP)
Agree. It's also a given that a renewable grid has to be overbuilt. Current estimates are by about 50%.

I don't know what the current target is, but 6% is well below what it will eventually be. The article suggests building more physical infrastructure, but that comes with its own cost and environmental impacts, ironically.