A brief look at batteries and why they’re needed.
Because both Energy Generation is Bursty and we humans have a very wavy Energy Demand Curve, we have to store excess energy when production exceeds demand, so that we utilize that energy when demand exceeds supply. This is also how hybrid or electric vehicles work, breaking power is regenerated when mechanical energy is no longer desired.
Energy storage can be done in many ways. In descending order from most common to least common methods:
- Chemical batteries
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- Gravity Battery
- Mechanical energy storage - such as spinning a flywheel or stretching a band.
..and unfortunately nothing up there has anywhere near the storage efficiency (Energy Density) of a liquid fuel we could mine.